What it means to work on 4Schools

By Jess Fisher

Posted: 17 November 2022

Jess, our 4Schools delivery facilitator, shares her thoughts.

What is your favourite aspect of working with 4Schools?

It's challenging to put this into words. But I’ll try my best to explain why this project is chock full of warm fuzzies.

The first thing that springs to mind is having the chance to work with a company like Channel 4. Channel 4 not only promotes diversity and inclusion but also challenges it and strives to create change with the content they deliver. 

The brand's value of "Altogether Different" is an excellent one to highlight in our collaboration with 4Schools. Through the work that we do, we strive to collaborate with and inspire students from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds and demonstrate that there is a place for them in the TV and Broadcasting industry.

Channel 4’s dedication to the next generation

Another great thing about working with Channel 4 is that every single employee I have interacted with, whether that be for content creation or at a Q&A event, is so inspiringly passionate about their job which is really great to see.  

It goes without saying that working with students is super rewarding, but even more so when you can tell you are having a huge impact on their future decisions! Due to the nature of our content, the workshops and assemblies are really fun to both deliver and take part in, and it’s great to be able to start building up a rapport at each school I visit. 

Often, students will come up to me after a session and ask further questions like, “I really want to become X. How can I do that?” or “where can I get into the industry?”. It’s so great to see that our content is having that inspirational effect on students up and down the country – particularly for students who would never have thought of this career path as something that’s an option for them, or those in more deprived areas. 

Collaboration is key

It's also great to be able to work so collaboratively when it comes to content design and planning. I’m lucky enough to work with an amazing team of coordinators, designers, copywriters, marketers, editors, and developers (and the list doesn’t end there!). 

Without the incredibly diverse skill set and creativity of the team, the 4Schools project wouldn’t be anywhere near what it is today! And what’s even better is that I get to deliver the content that we have made and see the real-life impact this has on real-life people. 

Our core values

The project is incredibly value-driven – and the values behind 4Schools and GetMyFirstJob are very similar. At GetMyFirstJob, we live and breathe our values and aim to make them present in everything we do; this means that the project is sort of a match made in heaven! 

One of our core values at GetMyFirstJob is "Inspire," and the driving idea behind the 4Schools programme is to ‘inspire’ young people from all backgrounds to see that there is a career for them in the TV and broadcasting industry. This means that every piece of content we create, every delivery date we facilitate, and every resource we design is inspired and value-driven.

Growing up at school, I can remember how confusing, scary, and stressful it was whenever I had to try and think of what I wanted to be when I was older, so being able to be that voice that comes in and says “well hey, have you ever thought about this?” is something I’m really proud of. In fact, although I didn’t know that my job was actually a real job when I was at school, I can confidently say that I am ‘what I want to be when I grow up.’ 

If you’d like to find out about booking a 4Schools event for your students, please get in touch on info@4-schools.co.uk