How hard is it to get Hired as a(n) (Electrician, Carpeneter, FOH Engineer, Seamstress, Designer, ME, Deck Hand...etc.)?

Well, that's a hard question. I'm going to answer it, but I would like people reading this to keep in mind that I am 18 and haven't actually "broken in" yet.


I have two things to say on this topic so far, and this is the first.

In most other fields, you just get hired at a job and work your way up the ladder. In this industry however, if you're a freelance anything, you have to start over with a new group of people sometimes every day. How do you overcome this? My scenic design professor put it best:

"There are 8 people in the entertainment industry, and we all know each other."

If you work with one guy, and you do a good job, eventually other people in the area you did the work in will find out, and when you apply within that area again, even if the person interviewing you has never seen you before in their lives, they will have an opinion of you to base their decision about hiring you off of.

On the other side of the coin, if you show up late and are lazy...well...good luck finding work in that hemisphere again.

So, that pretty much boils down to: "If you get any job in the entertainment industry, no matter the size or length, do it to the best of your ability, because every boss you could ever possibly have is watching."

This is the second, and I have a personal experience to support it.

So, someone who was teaching me about audio for a show that was way over my head offered me a job at the end of the show. I was really excited so I agreed to take it. He gave me someones email address and told me to contact them about filling an open A2 position. I did, and I waited for a really long time...a really. Long. Time.

The person didn't get back to me.

I just assumed that he didn't need anyone and that not responding was his way of telling me "No."

I talked to the person who offered me the job again, and this is approximately what the conversation went like:

"Did you email him?"

"Yeah, but he didn't email me back..."

"When was the last time you emailed him?"

"Uhh, the day after you gave me the address?"

"...Dude you should have been emailing him twice a week. Technicians of his caliber are constantly busy, and if you only contact them once, chances are they won't have time to respond!"

"Isn't that annoying?"

"Granted, some people find it annoying, but 90% of technicians see it as a sign of presistance and appreciate the thought. Next time, don't be so email shy."

This sentiment was then reiterated by every single one of my professors. It's a hard one to believe, I know, but I think if us younger technicians start realizing that older technicians know what it's like to be young and trying to "break in", we would see that that they probably do want to be contacted a ton and given the chance to help some struggling kid out

This was a long post with no pictures. My bad. Sorry.

-Me.