Creative and media workforce skills gap to increase dramatically by 2024

“It’s such a great learning environment at CONEL” says Safa Radwan – Games and Animation student

When Safa Radwan completed her GCSEs, she wasn’t sure what to do or where to go. Safa loved animation and when she saw the Animation and Games Design course at the College of Haringey, Enfield and North London (CONEL), she knew she had to apply.

On the course, Safa gets to make both 2D and 3D games and can immerse herself in all aspects of animation and concept art. Safa and her fellow students recently spent some time in a professional animation studio which really opened their eyes to the work that they could do in this rapidly developing area in the future. As a woman in what is still a predominantly male industry, Safa stands out a bit, but that’s OK. She says, “Our class is quite male dominated, but I’m not put off by this. It’s a very friendly and welcoming environment.”

Safa is enjoying the step-up in responsibility – and the extra maturity that goes with it – from life at CONEL. “College is different to school; you are given a lot more freedom and can have a lot more fun with that freedom. You can do projects in different ways and even though you’re studying the same course, you get so many different results. This college brings in a lot of people from varied backgrounds with different thoughts and ideas. It’s such a great learning environment. “Recently I won an excellence award and my parents came as well as my classmates. It was a great celebration of our efforts; I was very proud.

There are opportunities outside the classroom too. Safa says: “We go on a lot of trips on our course. Recently we spent time in a professional animation studio. We got to talk to real professionals in the industry, it was fun and exciting. It really stuck with me, I knew more about what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go after that trip.”

Nationally, the creative and media workforce is projected to grow by 4.2% between now and 2024, creating 3,900 jobs. In the same period, almost a third of the workforce is projected to retire, creating an additional 29,500 job openings.

So now is the right time to gain the skills needed to get into this exciting industry. CONEL offers a number of Creative and Media courses at both their Tottenham and Enfield centres. Studying a Creative Media course or an Apprenticeship at CONEL could result in one of the following jobs: (Annual pay)

-Music Promotions Manager: £33,800
-Computer Games Developer: £33,800
-Animator: £29,640
-Studio Sound Engineer: £26,000
-Web Designer: £30,680

If like Safa you would like to get your career off to the best possible start, come to CONEL: https://www.conel.ac.uk/for-learners/how-to-apply/enrolment.html