'I want to work in big global tech. But don’t have the experience.'

Today I’m analysing the situation of a young woman who reached out to me wanting to work in a big global Music Streaming Platform (MSP). 

We’ll call her Sarah.

Sarah wants to know how to navigate her career from Music Partnerships in a music agency to working for a MSP (think Apple Music and Spotify). 

What’s the challenge?

Sarah is mid-career with 7 years music industry experience under her belt. 

But she wants to move away from Music Partnerships and into a more niche area in a MSP.

She knows the role she wants but never gets an interview when she applies. Sarah has had direct feedback from two people in these companies that she needs to get experience in a specific area of the music industry before they would consider her application.

How did she get here?

Sarah has always been passionate about the music industry. But it was only after she was laid off that she decided it was time to make a serious career change.

Losing her job gave her the drive she needed to want to ‘shoot her shot’ on the role she really wanted. 

How can she move forward?

It’s very competitive to get into companies like Apple Music or Spotify. You are competing with a lot of talented people, for a small number of roles.

However, I can tell from our conversation that she is hugely committed to this goal. Which is very important, as this is not an easy move to make. You have to really want it. 

I speak to a lot of people who tell me ‘this is my dream’, but in reality it's only their dream if it comes easy. Sarah is NOT one of these people.

My thoughts

It’s a very tough move to make if you don’t have direct experience. The big global tech companies are notorious for hiring only very experienced people, so it’s unlikely they will take a chance on someone with no experience - even though Sarah’s music industry experience is solid.

Option 1

If Sarah wants to go directly into one of the MSPs, she will have to leverage the experience she already has - Music Partnerships. Even though her desire is to move into another area, leveraging the experience she already has means she might be able to make the move quicker.

Once she is inside the company, the chances that she can move into another area of the business - where she still has no experience - is greatly increased. 

Big global companies will often take a chance on their current employees who want to grow and learn, before offering the opportunity externally. So getting in there with her current experience is a great idea.

Option 2

However, from speaking to Sarah, I know she is very eager to move away from Music Partnerships. And as this is the case, she has no choice but to find a way to get the experience she is missing.

Smaller companies will be more willing to take a chance on someone with no direct experience if your other skills are valuable to them. Remember, a smaller company will be less specialised than a big global company and therefore, other skills will be important.

I encouraged Sarah to look at the work history of those already working in the MSPs. Linkedin makes this very easy. Quickly she will be able to see where current employees were hired from, giving her a list of target companies for her job search. 

With these smaller companies, I suggest she targets jobs where the roles are a hybrid mix of her Music Partnerships experience and the area where she has no direct experience. This way she will be able to get that direct experience whilst also working for a company she KNOWS the MSPs have hired from in the past.

Dreaming of a role in big global tech but not sure how to do it? The Creative Career Level Up might be the right solution for you.