I constantly see big organizations such as ABC, CNN, Turner Broadcasting, ESPN ect. advertising for positions such as this one on their websites:

http://diversityinc.careercast.com/careers/jobsearch/detail?jobId=5013776

and usually I will submit my resume already assuming that I will not hear back from anyone (which has always been the case so far) My question is, who gets these jobs? Are they people with great connections? Great experience? I'm guessing a little of both. Is there anyone out there that has relatively the same experience as me that has applied and heard back?

Just to tell you a little bit more about myself as well, I graduated college in December 2006 with a degree in Film, Video, and Media studies. The school I went to was a MAC school in Michigan. I have completed a couple different internships including one with FOX news and worked a paid position with Major League Baseball Online Services. I have intermediate experience with AVID and Final Cut Pro not to mention a good number of different HD Cameras.

Also, I currently live in Chicago. If anyone knows of any PA work in that area or any kind of other work that you think a beginner in the industry could handle please let me know. If you would like to see my online resume from this site, let me know as well and I will make sure to arrange that. Thanks!

Check out the Chicago film commission, they may be able to direct you to a city / state production listing / directory. Get your self in the community and get involved.

Try www.shoots.com

I'm sure that many are legitimate listings, but I, too, am beginning to wonder. I have almost 30 years in television and have won many awards and I never get a reply when I apply to, say, NBC-Universal for jobs I could do with my eyes closed. Weeks later I get an automated e-mail telling me the "job has been filled." Oh yeah? By whom? Spouse/brother/uncle/cousin of the person posting the job?

I know what you guys are saying, but as for me, I just want an editing job!
I live in Maryland, but not very close to DC. Yet, it seems most video jobs are there. I see all sorts of jobs listed and I send out resume after resume, but no luck! I have over 20 years exp. in film/video production, yet getting a job in the market is tough!

Everybody who checks out my site says that my work is impressive, yet...no job swings my way! I'm ready to go into something else!

I would add, who gets the jobs from this website? I know about 12 people using this service, all very experienced, have never even received a reply. It is starting to feel like this is just a fancy Craigslist site.

Hey folks - I've read all the posts to this question and can feel everyone's pain... and, let me add my name to the list of experienced but unseen.

Strap on your seat-belts kids cause I feel a books-worth of words are gonna spew from me on this.....

I've been in this industry for 28 years. Things really changed about... jeez, ten years ago now, with the proliferation of cheep cameras and the ability to edit on a reasonably inexpensive desktop computer system. By "cheep" I mean cameras and computers for 5 to 10 grand tops instead of 100K Plus.

When equipment became available to the mass, anyone who bought the equipment instantly became a producer/director/shooter/editor - it didn't matter that they never done it before. As quickly as the equipment became available these unskilled and untrained "artists" started "working" for a "Network" credit and that forced the market to change.

True story here - The NFL Network once looked for a "producer/camera person with a camera, wireless microphone and basic lighting package for a one-day shoot." The rate - 300 for the day! (At that time you you couldn't get a BetaSP camera for 300-bones a day let alone all the other stuff.) When the network was told that they said, "Just give a PD150 to an intern and show them how to run it - they'll do it for the credit." Yup...no sh&# - true story.

As that crap was going on, inside the networks people who had never written, produced shot or edited a frame of film or video (but who were 'great people') started getting into positions of power and control...because they had great personalities and made network parties fun to attend. In their new power positions these great personality people had to start making hiring decisions to fill slots vacated by people who saw the proverbial writing-on-the-wall and decided to jump ship.

Now lemme axe you a question.... if you don't have any practical experience producing anything but your daily stool sample and you're tasked with hiring a producer or a writer or a camera operator who you gonna call? Answer...Your friends. Abso-friggin'-lootly.

I'll be honest with you all - in the last calendar year - April 2007 to now - I was able to produce two very, VERY cool - high profile - productions ONLY because two friends asked me to work on to them. To be even more frank, and in no way conceited - I've got a BOAT load of experience and have developed, produced and shot a TON of high-profile, award winning programming both here and abroad. If these two these gigs had been posted and had I submitted my resume, without my friends there to know me or ask for me, I assure you I would NEVER have gotten the gigs.

Unfortunately our industry has changed from a skilled professional system to a 'good buddy' system... no wonder programming sux.

How's that for an answer?....discuss.......

That info really isn't all that new. For years, this whole industry was based on WHO you know, not WHAT you know. It's always been about networking!
I like the mind set: "Well I don't know you, therefor, I am not going to hire you". Yeah that makes sense!

The other problem seems to be, that many companies these days, never even send out any letters, calls, emails, etc. on receipt of getting resumes! Hey, it's only decent to let you know whether you're in the running or not!

I'm just sick of never getting a break in this business!

A few buddies of mine and I started a video company doing weddings and events. Now, nobody in town wants to pay for our services, because everyone else out there, charges way less!

Come on, $400.00 for a complete wedding package??? You can't live on that!

I'll add my disappointment in the media hiring process to the pile. Some of it, however, is understandable. If you had a choice between hiring someone you'd worked with before and know their ability/ work ethic and someone who you have no clue if they're even telling the truth on their resume, who would you choose? I'm in the predicament right now of having just moved to L.A. and knowing almost no one out here, so I'm definately in that boat of having a hard time finding work because of lack of contacts, but I can't get too down on the people doing the hiring because I do understand, at least in part.

Also, there is just so much competition out there it is ridiculous. They can get away with paying people less than what they're worth (or nothing at all) because there are too many people willing to do it. That's the part that bothers me most.

I will say in defense of this site, however, that I have had some responses from jobs I've applied to on here. It's been relatively small (I've been contacted about 4 times out of a total of over 100 resumes sent over time), but that's more than I have gotten from Craigslist or Mandy.com.

One person I interviewed with from a job post on this site told me that he got around 300 responses in the first two days! A friend of mine who worked in a post production house told me when receiving resumes, she was told to only print off the first 15 for the president to look at! I think that is a big part of the reason we don't get responses from a lot of companies- they simply just can't process all the applications. There are simply more people in (or trying to break into) the business than there is work.

Answers? Sure beats me. I guess if you're like me and just can't see yourself doing anything else, you just keep on working hard and try to be as smart about it as you can, and hope it pays off. Praying helps too.

I work for a cable company, and while it may not be "the industry" I have a feeling something similar to our hiring process is going on...

When our department wants to hire an intern who has finished their internship is going to start actually making money, they are LEGALLY OBLIGATED to make a job posting online, and the intern must apply through the website. This is to ensure that the hiring process is fair to everyone, when really they don't bother looking at all the other applicants, and just go for the intern they wanted to hire in the first place.

Replace the word "intern" with "friend, cousin, mistress" and you get a ton of job postings that are a waste of digital space, because their intention is never to find the best person, but simply to fulfill their legal obligation.

I've made over 10 submissions and have received no replies yet - and i've got over 10 years experience...