We’ve all been there. You see a job advertised that you really really want, more than you want that last slice of cold pizza that’s calling your name from the fridge. You spend ages researching the role and and then even longer, painstakingly filling in the application form, answering questions about your availability and experience, updating your CV and carefully constructing another amazing cover letter that this time, will definitely convince your future employer you're the one for the job.

Filled with hope and the certainty that you are going to get the job, you hit the send button and boom. You’ve applied. Then one day passes and then the next and before you know it, it’s been a few weeks and... nothing. Not a bean. Not even a ‘thanks but no thanks’ or a ‘sorry you haven’t got the job’. It can be so frustrating!

Believe me when I say we share in your frustration. Even in non-film related jobs, the lack of response has become commonplace. In general, you won’t hear from a prospective employer unless you’ve been lucky enough to get an interview. This can be down to any one of the following reasons: 

• The production office can be exceptionally busy, so coordinators might not have the time to get in touch with everyone.

• Some employers don’t like the thought of offering feedback for legal reasons.

• There can even be complications when more than one person, or team, are involved in the selection process; so it becomes harder to get good, constructive feedback.

On a daily basis, we are trying hard to change this for our members. As part of our service to you, we ask recruiters to keep us updated throughout the process; so we know when a job has closed, who has been shortlisted and, eventually, who the successful applicant is. Once this information has been established, we also proactively ask the employer for some feedback, so we can pass back to you.  

This feedback should be constructive and helpful for making your next application. After all, it’s coming directly from film industry professionals themselves. We ask them things like ‘What made the successful candidate stand out?’ and ‘What advice would you give to our members, looking for their first job in the film industry?’ We also ask them what makes a CV stand out, so you can use the information to improve your future applications. Often the feedback that we get back is general and will not be specific to each individual applicant, but that’s only because the clients don’t have the time to respond to every single application. This is something that we are working hard to improve on, looking at systems and processes to make it easier for employers to supply us with the information.

And we don’t just ask employers for their feedback. We also ask every MFJF member who have been successful in a role, to provide us with a testimonial about their experience. We ask them things about the interview, about their CV and what the actual job involved. Using our new Facebook group, we will pass all of this great advice on to you, so make sure you join! We also like to hear what you really think about our service and how we can improve. 

So, whilst you might not always hear back about a job that you’ve applied for, please know that we are doing our very best to make sure this improves and you get the best advice, information and feedback which will help you as you start out in your film career.

If you would like to give us some feedback, or if you have had an experience, good or bad, that you would like to tell us about, please email us at [email protected] using the subject line ‘MFJF Testimonial’. We’d love to hear from you so that we can share your experiences with rest of the community.