Hey
@gafftaper, here's some answers to your
feedback! I appreciate you taking the time to write, by the way.
There are many easy routes to finding hourly work that
cover me for the vast majority of hourly work in the area. Why do I need you?
Let me ask a simple question: if you could find a passionate individual who not only met your requirements, but exceeded your expectations in a multitude of ways, met your budget cap, did great work, and at the end of the day walked away with a high
level of work satisfaction, would you hire that person? I see no reason you wouldn't; in fact, common sense says it would be foolish not to, it's basically gold on a silver platter. Here's the issue: at the end of the day, all recommendations (good or bad) about who you should hire 1) are prone to
bias and 2) don't always aptly describe techs trying to make their break into the industry.
Say Jo Shmo is starting out as a Lighting Technician. He lives in a small town with 16,000 people. His local theater is not hiring and he can't afford to donate hours to his community theater since has to eat and pay the rent. He needs quality work. He hears that a theater run by gafftaper (<insert your name here>) in Seattle is hiring. He looks up a
profile for this particular client and realizes it's everything he could possibly hope for in starting off as a Technician. Let's say that you glance over his
profile and notice that he runs a positive
track record of motivation, willingness to learn and adapt, and a
level of knowledge that he has gained through study on his own personal time. He has neither professional degree, work experience, nor qualifications, but he is a worthwhile investment because he is inexpensive to hire, is willing to move and work, and is a low risk hire. What are the chances your friends know Jo Shmo? He's from a small town of 16,000 somewhere in Arizona. His passion is to become an LD. He has no opportunities to
advance. But your
theatre is hiring.
What do you do? Your recommendations, an application, and a resume aren't going to solve this situation. And before
anyone says that "this doesn't happen," I advise caution. Research indicates almost 30% of starting techs didn't have connections, a degree, or previous experience to start with. And if that research isn't good enough, I myself am an example.
If you have the time and willingness to read one more scenario, please consider the following:
Let's say you are the lead singer of ABC Rock Band. You're from a decently artsy town (say, Miami or LA) and you've been gigging for a while. You've got some cash, some good tunes, and a few venues. However, you know no professional Entertainment Technicians, your budget is limited, but your imagination is not. Who do you aim to hire? You could scour some Classified Ads (risky), perhaps ask the Union (there's always strings attached), ask some friends (but if you're just starting off your odds are still slim), place a hiring ad on a website somewhere (also risky), or use this thing called RTECS. You don't know the difference between a Lighting
Programmer and a Designer, and you don't know why the
acoustics of a room matters to your Audio Technician. You just know you need people.
What do you do? RTECS could recommend someone to you who, while they might not have 20 years of experience, is willing to tolerate and work around your lack of knowledge of the industry... someone who is willing to carry your passion into their technical work and give you a great result, all for a great price. Best of all, these techs you're shopping for just happen to dream of tech'ing it with a rock band. What an awesome coincidence!
Again, before anyone says "this doesn't happen," yes it does. All the time. Too frequently. Believe me, without money, technical expertise, or an amazing business
pitch, many talented band gigs, corporate events, and small clubs and bars end up getting staffing that is sub-par, and hurts their bottom
line. Worst of all, the cycle of poor budget = poor tech = poor result = poor budget
etc,
etc, continues ad nauseum.
I aim to fix that.