National Careers Week 2026 is all about getting young people up to speed with their current options for the future.
We welcomed Vidar Hjardeng MBE, Head of Inclusion and Diversity, and Gary Newby, News & Content Editor at ITV News, to Cadbury Sixth Form College for an employer-led session, to increase awareness, inform and inspire our learners on their journeys.
The session explored careers in journalism and broadcasting, the importance of diversity within the media industry, and the practical skills, behaviours and professional attitudes that help individuals stand out in a competitive field. Learners gained valuable, real-world insight into what employers look for and how to begin building credible pathways into the sector.
The visit concluded with an interactive Q&A, giving students the opportunity to ask thoughtful questions and hear honest, first-hand advice from professionals working at the forefront of UK media.
Developing work-ready skills and connecting learning directly to industry impact
So, what did the experts say about getting into broadcasting, and the importance of diversity?
Gary: “We’re trying to get students to think about careers, and just explore with them some of the many roles that there are in broadcasting and TV news in particular. Maybe some are still undecided about what they might want to do in the future, and we hope they left with some thoughts they didn’t have at the beginning.”
Vidar: “It’s really important for every workplace to be inclusive and to be diverse. Everybody has different views. Everyone comes from different backgrounds. Everyone has different lived experience of a whole range of aspects around disability, and socio-economic conditions etc. We’re all individuals. We’re all different. We all want to be respected. We all want to be treated fairly and engage with as many other people as possible, so whether it’s working for the public sector or the private sector, or the voluntary sector, I would hope that everybody is signed up morally and ethically and every way else to be inclusive and diverse, treating everybody with respect and fairly.”
Gary: “And in TV news that means of course that we’re sourcing stories and researching them, finding contributors that are inclusive and diverse as well, so we’re appealing to as many people out there as possible, as much of the audience as possible and to communities that might not regularly be watching us, but might then start to watch us because of some of the stories and issues that we’ve chosen to highlight. We have to make sure that we are diverse and inclusive in terms of our newsroom colleagues to ensure that we’re having discussions about stories and issues that are relevant to different communities and as many communities as possible. We need to be relevant to our audiences.”
