Outreach moves you up the career ladder

2016-02-15T15:16:13+00:00

Beth Salmon is a researcher with ��̳ Outreach. She has analysed and mapped organisations and groups which bring the ��̳ closer to its harder to reach audiences in priority communities. She has worked on location at outreach events, and now prepares to join ��̳ Children in Need.

‘��̳ Outreach experiences are definitely linked to me gaining my next role.’

I have been working with ��̳ Outreach as a researcher since October 2015 as part of the ��̳’s Extend Scheme. Before I started with Outreach I had little knowledge of the ��̳’s workings or what ‘Outreach’ actually meant. Five months later and it’s my last week in Birmingham – because my Outreach experiences have helped me gain a permanent job with Children in Need. I leave with so much valuable knowledge about how ��̳ Outreach and outreach principles connect ��̳ staff with varied and diverse audiences.

Two of my highlights in the last five months were when I worked at the Who Benefits? TV & Poverty conference which took place in Manchester in November 2015, and when the ��̳ Music Awards came to the NEC in December 2015.

Here’s a little more of what I have learnt along the way.

��̳ Outreach unites audiences and staff
If you want to engage with the ��̳ or a particular ��̳ audience, then my colleagues at ��̳ Outreach should be your first port of call. The ��̳ Outreach team has insatiable passion and energy for producing high quality events which engage with some the UK’s hardest to reach audiences.

A highlight: One Direction heading for the 2015 ��̳ Music Awards at the Birmingham NEC.

��̳ Outreach is diversity and inclusivity
��̳ Outreach embodies the ��̳’s aim of being one ��̳. Outreach works across the ��̳’s departments, regions, and nations. Outreach’s work has highlighted to me the diversity and nationwide reach of the ��̳. As a member of the Extend Scheme I have been included in the team with open arms and more than adequate understanding and adjustments. Outreach meets audiences and staff where they are at, helping to ensure that the ��̳ is accessible and engaging no matter what your circumstances.

��̳ Outreach is new ideas, skills, and perspectives
As the one of the world's premier public broadcasting organisations with a vast and diverse audience, the ��̳'s constant challenge is to stay engaging and relevant. Outreach work generates new skills, perspectives and experiences within both audience and ��̳ staff populations. For example, I have learnt how to film with iPads, to engage young people in STEM careers, and to generate relationships with disparate grass roots organisations. I also now know about social media strategies and how to generate GIFs. ��̳ Outreach equips me (and the wider ��̳) with an increased ability to engage and communicate with diverse, young, and technology-savvy audiences.

These skills and my ��̳ Outreach experiences are definitely linked to me gaining my next role with Children in Need - testament to the fact that Outreach is all about mutually-beneficial outcomes.

Another highlight: the conference Who Benefits? TV & Poverty. It heard from no-nonsense nun Sister Rita, the subject of an observational series on ��̳ One, Sister Rita to the Rescue. She is pictured, left, with Natalie Carter.

Volunteering, engaging with audiences, stepping out of your comfort zone can be challenging, but it’s also highly enjoyable. Outreach’s commitment to representing and engaging with all of the UK is a value which sets the ��̳ apart. I’m a bit biased, but I would now recommend volunteering in communities to all my ��̳ colleagues because you will learn a lot and have fun in the process.

��̳ Outreach & Corporate Responsibility brings the ��̳ closer to its audiences - particularly those audiences we have identified as harder to reach - with face-to-face activity, community support and staff volunteering.

������̳ Outreach & Corporate Responsibility Feed

Outreach moves you up the career ladder

��̳ Outreach & Corporate Responsibility Feed