About Us
Mission Statement
The Media Network has one simple aim – to offer the most qualified recruitment consultancy to employers recruiting magazine and online journalists and editorial staff in business, consumer and contract publishing and corporate communications.
History
The Media Network was set up in 1989 by Allan Cross, a former EMAP publisher whose idea for the company sprang from his own experience of using recruitment agencies. He was regularly disappointed and disillusioned with response to the editorial vacancy briefs he issued to media recruitment agencies at the time. Their often poor level of understanding about the editorial dynamic in publishing resulted in an inconsistent standard of candidates being put forward. This led to great frustration, and much wasted time which could otherwise have been used to develop the business.
He identified the potential to create a point of difference between The Media Network and other recruiters in the market by applying the same discerning judgement to the screening of his clients' candidates as if recruiting them to his own team.
Today
Over twenty years since the company was founded, this ethos has become embedded in the approach by The Media Network’s consultants. We have also continued to develop our expertise though a continual process of learning, as the introduction of new technology has evolved different ways of working and required candidates to develop new skills. Similarly, our clients’ expectations of candidates and the roles they play have broadened as business imperatives have ushered in new publishing models and strategies. We often find ourselves exploring the commercial nous of editors as much as their editorial judgement and creative flair, and examining the ability of journalists to write the same story in two different styles, depending on whether it’s to appear in print or online.
We are not the largest media recruiter in the UK – nor do we want to be. Such an aim can only jeopardise the quality of the work we do. For The Media Network, recruitment is not a numbers game. To us, it’s about the satisfaction and enjoyment that comes from helping our clients strengthen those businesses where the employment of talented editorial craftspeople is essential to their future success.