As TV stations, media and entertainment companies report difficulties in replacing a generation of retiring engineers and technologists, the recent TV Tech Summit featured a session focusing on the importance of building more diverse tech teams that featured experts offering practical advice on finding the next generation of talent.
The issue is important because the tech industry, in general, has long had a poor record in terms of diversity and because the TV industry, in particular, needs to find a new generation that can help it better compete in terms of streaming, mobile and digital media. With a large body of research showing that African Americans, Latinos, Asians and younger women being much more active on digital media than than the general population, these groups offer companies the kind of talent they need to strengthen their competitive position.
One problem with attracting that talent is that many younger people are not aware of the opportunities in the television industry and are more likely to look for work with big tech or in corporate IT departments, the panelists noted.
“Today, you’ve got to stretch,” your recruitment efforts, said Nikki Bethel, president and CEO of the Emma Bowen Foundation. “The days of everyone coming to you are over. Right there are too many fish in the sea to think that you can just be the big bear and watch all the salmon come in. You have to be thoughtful about partnerships” and make a real, carefully planned effort to “be in the trenches attracting talent.”
In this environment, companies also need to work extra hard to educate people on the many opportunities in the TV industry, added Michelle Duke, chief diversity officer and president, NAB Leadership Foundation, at the National Broadcasters Association.
“When most people think about local radio and television media in general, they think about what they can see on screen or what they can hear on whatever platform they're using,” she said. But there is all this “technology involved that goes beyond that. When we attend conferences, we run into these engineering students who are asking us `why are you even here’ because `none of us want to be on camera.’ And we’re saying, `no, you need to understand that there are so many other important things that go on behind the camera.’ So there’s an education piece that has to take place in the industry.”
Jim Ragsdale, executive director of Society of Broadcast Engineers added that long-term tech trends have automated and eliminated many of the older entry level jobs where younger people once got their start.
“I've been with the SPE for three years and I've heard from day one from broadcasters and state broadcast associations and individual engineers that there's a desperate need for broadcast engineering talent in the industry….As I started talking to individual chapters…one person came to me and said `we don't have a farm system. We don't have a development, organization or program to develop the talent like we used to [because] now we have much smaller staffs at broadcast stations and we're not developing that entry level of broadcast engineering talent.”
To overcome these and other barriers that make it difficult to recruit talent, the panelists outlined a host of practical measures companies and stations can take.
One key area is better outreach. “We've started talking to local chapters about holding field trips or getting involved with middle school STEM teachers,” Ragsdale said. “And we’ve found that high schools and some chapter states are doing fantastic jobs developing high school broadcast engineering talent. Indiana, for example, has an Indiana Association of School Broadcasters and they have 70 plus high school programs in radio and another 20 in let's say video production. Those are the kind of successes we need to expand.”
Duke added that the industry also has to step up its efforts to train and develop talent. “Other industries are eating our lunch because they will invest the dollars in training as opposed to expecting them to walk through the door and being able to perform as well as the chief engineer even if they are in a lower position,” she said.
In response, the NAB and the NAB Leadership Foundation set up a technology apprenticeship program and other programs. As part of the effort, it has been working with stations in smaller markets who may lack the money to train entry level people.
“Another bottleneck that I hear often is `no one wants to move to my small town’” Duke said. “I think they're neglecting the opportunity to grow their talent, the talent is in their own backyard. We did research with students and [found that]....Students usually choose…their first job based on where they completed their internships. But when we asked the stations if they offered internships and they all said no.”
That opens up an opportunity to work with schools to create a curriculum for students to come in as interns and participate over the summer, she said.
Bethel added that in general, stations and companies must become much more “intentional” in their efforts to build a more diverse workforce by thinking outside the box and creating new programs that attract workers.
For example, Bethel said that young students of color might be reluctant to move to a small town that is less ethnically diverse. But, companies can overcome problem that by demonstrating how a station in a rural market could provide them with the training and opportunities they need to advance their career.
“It’s a matter of being intentional about it,” she said. “It's not that the talent doesn't exist. If we were intentional around money, because it does cost to invest in them, and pay them…and show them what the return on the results for the investment can be for [them] personally and for the organization,” they can recruit the people they need.
More practical advice and resources on recruiting the next generation of tech talent are available by registering for the free virtual Summit and viewing the session on demand, here.
