As the media industry is ever growing, you need to constantly improve both professional skills and technical skills. Learning new software and new techniques within the software is a good way to keep up to date with the ever-evolving industry. This will help you improve your efficiency of paid work as you will know how to do the tasks you are trying to do.
No matter how long you have been using software, they are constantly getting updated so making sure that you know what is changing is a good idea. This could be done by going on training courses on new software or even software you already know.
Work experience is a way of getting into the industry, it allows you to get a taste of what you would be doing if this was your full-time job. It also allows you to network with the people you are working with and potential future employers.
Work shadowing is similar to work experience but in this case, you will follow an industry professional to learn from them along with helping them with occasional tasks. This is a good way to network, be able to ask questions directly to someone in the job role you wish to go into, ask for advice, watch them work and learn from the mistakes they make.
As a way to show employers and potential clients that you are constantly improving and want to get better, you can show evidence of new techniques, editing skills or even new software you have learnt. These can be displayed in things such as your CV, showreel etc. Showing that you are continuing to develop your skills is a way to keep up to date and ahead of other less motivated people in the industry, this helps you be more likely to be selected for work than others.
Keeping your CV, showreel, social media pages and websites up to date, can display your most recent work and can show the development of skills. Keeping your CV up to date is essential when you are applying for jobs, if you forget to mention something on your CV and then bring it up in an interview it is likely to get questioned and could give the impression that you are unprepared and unorganised.