Three quarters of creative industries jobs go to friends and connections reveals Bectu’s Bectu Survey

Three quarters of jobs secured by creative industry workers in the last 18 months came through a friend or contact, according to new figures released as part of Bectu’s Big Survey.

Bectu’s Big Survey of over 5,500 creative industry workers in non-performing roles – from theatre to film and TV to fashion – gives a unique insight into the perspective of workers in the sector.

The results have raised fresh fears about a lack of open hiring practices in the creative industries, with jobs going to the well-connected and many workers marginalised from the industry.

Key findings include:

• Overall, when asked about all jobs that they had applied for in the past year and a half, three quarters of all creative industry workers (75%) said that they had gotten the job through a friend or contact.  This increases to 82% of those working in film, TV drama and fashion, while for theatre, this was true for 64% of respondents.

• Only 37% overall said that the position was advertised publicly, while the proportion for TV drama (25%), film (27%) and fashion (27%) was even lower.
• And just 37% of all respondents – including just 23% of fashion creatives, 30% of those working in film and 31% working in TV drama – said that they had been invited to a formal interview.

The research would suggest that the closed nature of hiring practices make it especially difficult for workers to be open about their personal and accessibility needs in the hiring process.

Overall, 22% of creative industry workers said that they concealed information about a life commitment, situation, or diagnosis when applying. The figure was twice as high for disabled workers (45%), while for carers this figure was 37%.

The quick turnaround nature of work in the creative sector can lead to productions needing crew at very short notice, so going to those they know is seen as the easiest option. But these last-minute practices leave workers vulnerable. More than half (55%) of creative industry workers have experienced a job being cancelled at short notice in the past year, undermining their ability to earn a reliable income and plan ahead. A further 43% said they had started working without a formal booking confirmation, leaving them vulnerable to non-payment and last-minute changes.

Head of Bectu Philippa Childs said: 

“These findings make clear that the creative industries continue to operate a closed hiring culture which is leaving many talented workers out in the cold, often driven by last-minute decision-making by studios that incentives people to hire those they already know.

“This is a vital sector of the economy, but these archaic hiring practices mean that many talented professionals find it impossible to build a career in the sector because they lack the right connections, wasting their talent and crushing their hopes of a creative career.

“The situation is much worse for those from marginalised backgrounds. Creative talent isn’t the preserve of white middle class people with social capital, but if nothing changes then we will find that these are the only people able to get ahead in the sector.”