Informational Interview Report: Creative Director (Television Broadcasting Company)

[Thanks to Debbie for sharing her informational interview with a creative director.]

The person that I interviewed for this informational interview report is my father. He is a creative director of a television broadcasting company.

Although his career is totally unrelated to my major, psychology, I’ve always wanted to know more about his career, as I think his career is very interesting and mysterious. Yet, ever since I was little, my father seldom talked about his job.

When I asked him if I could interview him about his job this time, he, surprisingly, said yes immediately.

As this is my first time interviewing another person about their career, I used the list of sample informational interview questions. Below is the interview:

1. What is your job title?

My job title is Creative Director for a television broadcasting company.

2. What are your responsibilities?

I have a lot of responsibilities. There is administrative work, like directing writers and creative teams, giving direction, thinking about the program formats, doing presentations, having meetings with sponsors about the sales sponsor programs, and many other things.

3. How long have you been doing this job?

I have been doing this job for about 30 years.

4. Briefly, can you let me know how you got to where you are today?

I first started at a different TV company, and then I was recruited from the TV company that I’m now working for. I started working as a research writer. Then I got promoted to senior researcher. After that, I got promoted to script supervisor.

Then I got promoted to creative director, which is what I am right now. I can be what I am today due to being very hard-working and having a passion for my job. What is more, I know how to assign people jobs that are commensurate to their abilities.

5. What is a typical day like?

In a typical day, I have lots of meetings, like meetings with sales and sponsors. I’ll also watch television to know what is going on out there. Moreover, I’ll check the progress of different programs.

6. What skills are required for your job?

The skills that are required for my job are the ability to establish and maintain personal connections, to be able to keep in step with the world, and possess good creativity, good sense of humor and excellent Chinese writing skills.

7. What activities do you enjoy doing the most? What are 3 things that you enjoy most about working at your company/organization?

The activity that I enjoy doing the most is training the writers and the supervisor, as I like to see them grow. The three things that I enjoy most about working at my company are: 1) Like I said before, to see the supervisors and writers that I trained grow; 2) To know the programs that I produced are being popular; and 3) To know the programs that I produced received awards. Many of my programs have won a lot of different awards, like the New York Festivals awards.




8. What is the greatest challenge of this job? What are the 3 most challenging aspects of working at your company/organization?

One of the greatest challenges of this job I recall was from many years ago. I was in charge of producing the Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony. In the ceremony, Chow Yun Fat (a famous movie star) was one of the presenters. He arrived 30 minutes before the show, and he found that he forgot to bring the speech notes. Unfortunately, the staff who was responsible for the speech part was nowhere to be found at that time.

Therefore, I decided to write it myself. I immediately found the recipient and interviewed him, and I managed to give Chow the speech notes right before he went on stage.

The first most challenging thing is to produce big shows like a beauty contest (Miss Hong Kong) and the Transfer of Sovereignty of Hong Kong ceremony. The second most challenging thing is to solve problems when there is an argument within a team. The third most challenging thing is to conceive a new program format.

9. What skills are the most important for you to learn to be successful in this career?

The most important skill is to be able to know what is going on in the world. I have to know the trends of society. I also have to know what new developments are taking place at other TV stations. I have to pay attention to all the new things and talk more with young people to keep track of the newest trends.

10. What professional organization would you recommend that I check out to learn more about this career?

There is no professional organization regarding my career in Hong Kong.

11. What is the typical salary range?

The typical salary range is about HKD 50,000 to HKD 70,000 per month, which is about USD 6,410 to USD 8,974 per month.

12. If I wanted to start in this career area, how would you recommend that I go about it?

If you wanted to start in this career area, you have to first be interested in TV programs. Second, you have to like expressing yourself. Lastly, you have to be willing to accept others’ comments and decisions, as others may ban your ideas.

13. If you had a chance to do it all over again, what would you have done differently?

If I had a chance to do it all over again, I would do the same thing. I love my job.

Reflection

As I said before, my father seldom talked to me about his job in the past. This is the first time that we talked about his job on a serious level. Almost everything he talked about was new to me. The job responsibilities, what a typical day is like, etc. were all new to me. Before the interview, I never know what my father did at work. Now I know.

I thought that most of the information was very interesting. For instance, conceiving of a new program format is very interesting. Needing to watch a lot of TV is definitely the other interesting aspect of his job. Before the interview, I could hardly imagine that one’s main job responsibility is to watch TV.

I think this career is very interesting yet challenging. However, when I think about the needed skills for this career, I think that I would not be suitable for it, as my Chinese writing skills are not very good, and I don’t really have good creativity. I still believe that careers related to psychology and possibly working with children suit me better.

This interview was a very precious experience for me and very helpful. I learned more about a different career through this interview. In the past, I only focused on careers that related to psychology or children. For the first time, I learned more about a different career and different career perspectives

Thank You Message

Thank you very much for letting me interview you about your job. This is the first time that I heard such a lot of things about your job. I think your job is very interesting and challenging. Thank you for letting me know that a career that is not related to psychology or children can also be that interesting. Again, thank you very much!!