NEP’s Scott reveals the path she took into her role and what a typical day has in store now she’s returned to work after maternity leave

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I started as a production coordinator with NEP, looking after crewing and planning of outside broadcasts, and have progressed to my current role as scheduling manager.

Having studied broadcast journalism at university, I was eager to get into the industry. Following some work experience roles, I applied for a job in outside broadcast in 2010 and have never looked back.

I had a lot to learn (and still do) but continue to enjoy the opportunity to work with some fantastic colleagues on some incredible and historic events. One of the most privileged moments of my career was returning from maternity leave last year to work on the Queen’s Funeral. It was an honour and privilege to be part of a team that worked very closely together in such a condensed space of time on the delivery of such a momentous occasion. It’s something I will always remember.

I thought I’d outline a typical day in my role as a scheduling manager.

Morning (pre-work):

I have two children of pre-school age to get ready and out of the house before 8am – I often have to deploy diplomatic levels of negotiating tactics to achieve this.

Typical start to the day:

Coffee and emails – always a good start.

Morning:

My morning begins with a meeting to look ahead at the Premier League’s football crewing, or the football schedule for a leading broadcaster.

The rest of the morning is spent working with engineers to plan their leave and days off, in lieu of jobs they’re working on.

I am also part of the weekly call with the heads of departments at NEP UK to discuss how to develop our teams and act on their feedback with regards to what they’re interested in. Part of my role is to discuss each person’s progression plans and special interests, whether this is technology or events, to ensure we are taking this into consideration when planning future projects.

Mid-day:

At midday I spend time looking ahead at jobs we’re quoting for and liaising with the commercial team and engineers to make sure we have the best possible crew across each project. It can be challenging balancing both the business’s commercial and operational needs, so you must be incredibly organised for this role. It’s also important to develop people skills and diplomacy as a scheduling manager, as you are collaborating with a variety of people within this role. You also need to be able to work under pressure. You are often required to adapt and sometimes even drop everything when something changes. It is an ever-changing environment, so it is important to always stay calm.

Afternoon:

Today I finalised crew for the host coverage for one of our largest summer broadcast sports events. This involved working closely with our technical project manager to ensure we optimise staff engineers’ skillsets within key roles for the best delivery onsite and for this project.

Evening:

Once the regular to-do list is tackled, my evening usually involves a good drama or documentary and a gin and tonic.

One of the great things about my role is it provides the opportunity to work on events from initial quoting to closure and delivery, collaborating with various departments within the business along the way.

It’s been great to see the industry diversify, in many ways, over the past 12 years. NEP is leading by example. It’s positive to see that we’re finding the best possible talent to deliver an exceptional service to our customers.

 Liz Scott is scheduling manager for NEP UK