Plan Your Career: Vibrant personality essential to join visual media

Everyone in his or her bucket list will have a dream place to travel. You seem to be dreaming of a job that would be a bucket list full of travel. The channels, as you are aware, are travel-based and adventurous in content. Among these Discovery Channel stands a cut above in its reach worldwide. While Fox Life and Discovery channels are US -based, Travel XP is an Indian based channel. All the three are available in different languages. 

I am sure you are also aware of other broadcasters of similar nature. There are also National Geographic (Nat Geo), History and others. No wonder that you wish to be part of these channels given the  fact that you are an ardent photographer and traveller. There are different types of presenters, the backpackers who are meant to be out in the wild and the programmers in the studio. It is better to be good at both. Get a perfect resume ready. 

What do I mean by perfect? Along with your written resume, you should prepare a travel video presented by you in a DVD. Take a trip to an exotic destination and make a video in the lines of what you see in the channels. You should do a thorough homework about the place and develop quality content. With a good content and camera, get a friend to shoot your first show. But before backpacking your stuff try out video presentations and repeat the process until you are ready. 

Here is where apps like Dubsmash can help at a very early stage. But don’t waste your time on it. A couple of times for fun and as an icebreaker to ward off your inhibitions are sufficient. You have to move on to shoot presentation videos with good content. 

Apply with your show-reel to the channels and package it in such a way as you see it in these channels but short and crisp. It should almost be like watching it on the channel except for the logo! Self-assessment is important. Check your personality. If you are a person with a natural posture with a spontaneous smile, an extrovert making friends at the first handshake, staying positive on and off the screen, you are ready to go. It is highly competitive to get into these channels. You need to reach a professional or a promising level. The channels do not look for qualifications with a specific degree, but a graduation connected with Journalism and media can be an asset. 

Neither does it demand an overseas degree. It is all about talent, being lively and passion for travel. A vibrant personality is not a requirement but a prerequisite. For a work experience, you can try out in small television and radio channels. 

Get into all that are necessary for the job. Meet new people, be part of trekking groups or organize one and volunteer during crisis and conflict situation. All of these could contribute professionally later. If you achieve what you wish to achieve, you will be both earning handsomely and collecting delightful memories with a sense of satisfaction professionally. Finally, while the job might sound non-stop fun, it is enormously demanding.