Is an Entertainment Career Right for You?

It may seem overwhelming if you are trying to figure out the best career in the music industry, especially if you don't really know what you want to do. But the reality is that there are so many options and ways to help you make the decision.

You will first have to make a commitment to the time and energy this is going to take to make your decision. Before you can make a career choice you have to analyze yourself -- interests, skills, values, your personality, etc. There are some pretty cool free career tests that you can take to help evaluate your strengths and weaknesses. Then once you have gone though the list of possible occupations you'll need to narrow that down to a short list. You are gonna narrow it down to the one career you want to pursue

Let's say you want to learn how to be a music producer. Well, the reality is that there are many more jobs in the music industry, and the reality is that it maybe a better choice to become an audio engineer or a mixer. Learning how to explore careers like this is much easier today thanks to all the information available on the Internet. Sites like http://www.therecordingconnection.com/, for example, have live interviews from both students and teachers who are mentors in the business, and a wealth of inside information.

At this point you should only have a few occupations left and now you need to get in-depth information. Your best source of this information are people who have first hand knowledge of the your chosen occupation. Identify who they are and try to get meetings or telephone time with them to ask questions - or sometimes even email will do. Next, hone the list of possible occupations down to what seems realistic.

Now you need a plan and some goals. This career action plan may or may not require getting some extra schooling in your preferred field, or to train for your new career. There are several ways to accomplish this - you can earn a degree, do an internship or take courses to learn the required new skills. But here's the very best way - a mentorship program like the Entertainment Career Connection schools, which are fully accredited, and for a reasonable cost, can get you both trained AND working with a music or recording professional who is already working in the business. At Recording Connection you will always learn from a working professional in the recording or music business, and your classroom will be a real recording studio in the town or city where you live.

What's even better is that this mentor will probably help get you your first job after you graduate. 72 percent of the students who graduate are placed at jobs within the music industry.

So you Want a Career in the Film Business?

You may be interested to know that if you want a career in the film industry, you are looking at a pretty competitive business. But the good news is that many people are getting jobs in this area. The thing is that even when the economy is suffering from a slump, entertainment is the one thing people still spend money on. Following are some statistics that you may find of interest.

It seems as if theater admissions have declined in recent years, and the year 2006 ended a three year downward trend as admissions increased 3.3 percent over 2005. However, ticket sales revenues increased by 5.5 percent, making 2006 a $9.49 billion year. Pretty big numbers! And the total number of movies released in 2006 (607) marked an 11 percent increase over the number of 2005 releases.

As for career in film, or if you want to learn how to be a director or a producer the latest published data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that the film industry provided 157,000 jobs for actors, directors and producers in 2004, and this number is expected to grow between 9-17 percent by 2014.

As of the year 2002, there were about 360,000 jobs in the motion picture and video industries. Most of these workers are involved in the production end of film making. There are many companies in the industry employ 10 workers or less. The good news for you is that a 31.1 percent increase in jobs is expected industry-wide between 2002 and 2012. Plus, this growth is roughly twice the 16 percent growth expected across all industries combined in that period.

And if you are wondering how much money you can make by getting a job in the film business, it appears that median annual earnings for producers and directors, who are on salary, were $46,240 in 2002. And if you are really good, and lucky, the top ten percent earned over $119,760.

If you are really serious about a career in the film business, then you really should take a listen to all the students, and mentors, at the Entertainment Film Connection. You will find a Los Angeles film school, a New York film school, and actually, one in just about any major city in the U.S.