Five career lessons from my stint as a ‘runner’
(Holmes Associates, Rathbone Street, 1990)
After I graduated from university I began a full-time career as a ‘runner’ in a TV production company. A runner didn’t just run videotapes around London, although ferrying tapes and packages on foot throughout Soho was one of my roles. I did a load of other stuff too - manning the front desk, answering the phone, booking couriers and helping out on shoots and in edit suites.
I learned a lot during my short stint as a runner. I continued to use these five tenets throughout my career. And when I mentor young people today, I give these tips as the foundations of any career advice:
Do the basics well. One of the first things I was tasked with was photocopying a script. Some of the pages had to be copied onto different coloured paper so it needed a little more effort than just pressing a button. I learned that if you embrace the basics like photocopying, you’ll get a reputation as a safe pair of hands. Invaluable in any organisation. People knew I could be trusted and it helped me progress.
Understand you’re in the hospitality business. In the early days I spent most of my time behind the reception desk. Those on front desks are the first port of call; we’re the face of the company. It was my job - whether greeting Dudley Moore (both of which were career highlights!) or answering the phone to David Byrne or accepting a delivery from a courier - to focus on how I made people feel. It’s so true today in whatever I do: it’s all about how I make my clients or people who reach out to me feel. If part of what you do is about how others feel, then you’re in the hospitality business too.
Create your own path. The goal of the runner was to progress off the front desk as soon as possible. Most wanted to become researchers. It was a competitive environment. I figured production management was the less cool route so I asked a production manager if she’d show me budgeting software. And that move paid off as I was soon promoted to post-production assistant on a music TV show.
Sexy opportunities don’t always come in shiny packages. It would have been easy to dismiss mundane tasks as below me. After all, many of my friends were working in graduate roles in big companies and I was ferrying tapes through central London. But I soon discovered how an ostensibly non-glamorous job - like carrying the tripod on a shoot - could be sought-after. Because that’s how I got to meet Stevie Wonder, when he asked to shake hands with every member of the crew. Including the runner carrying the tripod!
It’s all about relationships. The great thing about a company’s reception desk is that it’s the beating heart of a building. You hear and see everything that’s going on. And you’re on show every day. So I demonstrated interest and built relationships with everybody I could. Being confident in small talk with managers and executives who came in and out of the building put me in a good position when it was time to progress.
(I don’t have any pictures of me as a runner, above is a photograph I took during that time - Friday drinks at reception!)