London-based Ben Farmer is Senior Vice President, People Experience, at Sony Music Entertainment. In his role, he leads the company’s International HR team, covering regions such as EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) and APAC (Asia-Pacific).
Below, Farmer highlights three key things to consider for those seeking a job in the music industry…
1) Show a passion for music
At Sony Music we expect whatever your role, you’ll have a creator-first mindset, ensuring they are at the forefront of your decision making. This is important for anyone wanting to work in the music industry, particularly if you’ll work directly with artists and their teams, songwriters, producers or other creators. Even if you aren’t working directly with artists or other creators, you should still be able to connect the dots and understand how the work you do will have an impact.
Demonstrating your passion for music is essential and this should be apparent from both your application and throughout the interview process.
When it comes to applications, tailoring to both the role and company you are applying to will help the hiring team see where you can really add value. Demonstrating your passion for music is essential and this should be apparent from both your application and throughout the interview process. You may choose to outline or elaborate in a cover letter, particularly if your previous experience has been outside of the industry.
2) Showcase your Impact
We are relentless in our efforts to deliver excellence and high standards in the work we do.
As a candidate, both in an application and interview setting, we would recommend you showcase the value and impact that you have brought in previous roles. Highlighting the quality of your work and the results you achieved on your CV or resumé is a great way to demonstrate this, as opposed to a copy and paste of your job description.
Candidates who demonstrate the ability to creatively solve problems or spot opportunities to replace outdated ways of working impress us most.
It’s a competitive market and having those high standards front of mind when applying to a role and in the interview, process could make a huge difference. This starts with your preparation. If you want to work in a label, as a minimum we would expect that you have done some research on the roster, the team you are meeting and are familiar with some of the recent releases and campaigns.
Our industry is evolving, we expect our people to embrace change and feel excited about the opportunity to shape what’s next. Candidates who demonstrate the ability to creatively solve problems or spot opportunities to replace outdated ways of working for more efficient or innovative practices impress us most. Especially when they’ve been able to turn those ideas into real impact.
3) Contribute to the Culture
We believe that collaborative and inclusive teams are integral to cultivating an environment of trust, one where we support and elevate each other.
For those in people leadership positions, having strong examples of delivering results through others and contributing to the development of people in their team is crucial.
It’s a great signal that you have a growth mindset and a willingness to adapt.
Whether you have been a people leader or not, it’s always great to hear about individual success and how in your previous role(s) you have contributed to the achievements of a team.
However, having the ability to recognise when you haven’t hit the mark and demonstrate how you’ve learnt from that is a great signal that you have a growth mindset and a willingness to adapt.
