24 Nov 2022 | Aisling O'Toole

Why are creative careers cast as ‘dream jobs’ without the monetary reward?

Mediatel Jobs

From the struggling writer painstakingly creating a masterpiece to the starving actor refusing to give up, the romantic notion of creators has always been based more on the results than the practicalities. Who needs food or money when you have the privilege of creating for a living?

Well, everyone actually. Like all other professions, those based in the arts or creative industries require skills, talent and dedication, yet they’re seldom as well rewarded. Financially at least. If man could live off praise alone, the latest WeTransfer Ideas Report would tell a very different story.

As it stands, the report reveals that 56% of creatives don’t feel successful; most struggle with making enough money, and nearly 60% feel ill-prepared for a future that’s being largely defined by technologies like AR, VR, and AI.

Shocking statistics

These statistics might seem shocking, but they are not a surprise to anyone who has worked in a creative job. What is a surprise is the openness with which workers are now sharing their experiences.

Salary transparency is hard to achieve when jobs are priced by the individual and often based on years of experience rather than the output per project. For example, art directors and graphic designers may be able to create a logo in a day, but that’s because they’ve spent years working with fonts, colours and designs and innately understand what will and won’t work.

The client is not just paying for the logo, they’re paying for the expertise. And so it can be hard for workers to receive appropriate financial compensation, or to discuss it with peers. That’s before we get to the fact that 78% of those surveyed are willing to make personal sacrifices for the sake of work.

A stark contrast to results from a survey carried out by Aviva across financial industries which showed that post-pandemic, workers were more militant about maintaining a work-life balance, and protecting their boundaries.

So what can those in creative jobs do to ensure they’re being properly compensated? Going in-house is one answer. Working for yourself can be difficult, and puts you at the mercy of external factors. Taking your skillset in-house and working for one client – your employer – not only ensures the paycheck, but also ensures that your salary is on par with others, regardless of their department.

The Mediatel Job Board has dozens of such companies currently recruiting for creative roles. We’ve found three of the best below, but make sure to browse all available opportunities to reinforce the notion that a creative job doesn’t have to mean a low paying one.

Senior Product Designer, ITV

The Role: As Senior Product Designer with ITV you will work in a cross-functional product group whose mission is to create solid and delightful experiences that meet user needs and business goals.

The Responsibilities: You will be responsible for developing and maintaining positive relationships and collaborations with product managers, engineering and delivery in addition to leading design workshops with senior stakeholders.

The Requirements: You will be an experienced product designer who is an excellent communicator and is at ease working with a complex mix of engineers, designers, and stakeholders in a larger organisation as well as proven experience in a consumer tech product design role, and an ability to demonstrate your impact on the product’s trajectory is essential.

Apply for the Senior Product Designer role or browse all available opportunities at ITV.

Creative Strategy Director, Bauer Media

The Role: In the Creative Strategy Director role you’ll generate market-beating responses in line with clients’ needs, working from brief to pitch and ensuring the smooth transition into delivery, you’ll find the right audiences, hit the right tone and worth with the content teams to create engaging campaigns that inspire action.

The Responsibilities: You will be responsible for taking ownership of projects, applying instinct and insight at the heart of the response. This includes designing creative partnerships and campaigns to run on Bauer Brands in line with client objectives.

The Requirements: You should have experience working across media brands and should have an innate understanding of audiences, brands and platforms, as well as the world at large with the ability to translate that understanding into insights which ignite ideas.

Apply for the Creative Strategy Director role or browse all available opportunities at Bauer Media.

Senior Product Manager – Android Media, Google

The Role: As Senior Product Manager with responsibility for Android Media you will lead the ecosystem developer strategy for video editing, setting the product goals, strategy, and roadmap for building great video editing experiences.

The Responsibilities: You will be responsible for the Jetpack libraries and platform components used directly by developers to build high-quality multimedia experiences in their applications.

The Requirements: You will need experience developing and executing strategies, and roadmaps; as well as demonstrable experience in product designing and building video editing and social media applications.

Apply for the Senior Product Manager role or explore all available opportunities within Google.