Author Topic: Hiring a Friend  (Read 4512 times)

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MatthewShiner

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Hiring a Friend
« on: Apr 28, 2016, 02:59 pm »
Me and my boss are discussing this issue . . .

Hiring someone you know personally versus hiring someone you don't know?

My personal philosophy is that I can't hire anyone I am not willing to fire - and sometimes the friends I have are worth more as a friend then a team mate. 

Although I am also arguing that sometimes, I just want someone I know, someone I can trust and someone who's stage management philosophy lines up with mine . . .

Maybe it's worth the risk.
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Anything posted here as in my own personal opinion, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of my employer - whomever they be at a given moment in time.

BayAreaSM

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Re: Hiring a Friend
« Reply #1 on: Apr 29, 2016, 01:55 am »
Interesting - I've been there and had it backfire, but not in the way you think.


I wanted a PA for the entire season, but if I hired a friend, I would only have them for the 1st half and have to hire someone else for the 2nd half. Or I could hire someone I didn't know and have them all season long. I was talked into hiring my friend. She was amazing, but the person I had to hire for the 2nd half of the season was awful. (Though one never knows if the season-long person would've been good or not.)


In other cases, I have hired my ASM from the ballet for two different jobs/companies (one as my assistant PM and another as a technician). Both times she's been amazing. And it's been really helpful in making me feel more at home in new places, by having her around.


While having a friend with similar styles/philosophies is appealing, you never know what fresh, new ideas come from hiring someone you don't know.


It's a crap shoot either way.

SMAshlee

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Re: Hiring a Friend
« Reply #2 on: Apr 29, 2016, 11:38 am »
...it's been really helpful in making me feel more at home in new places, by having her around.

While having a friend with similar styles/philosophies is appealing, you never know what fresh, new ideas come from hiring someone you don't know.

It's a crap shoot either way.


Having been that person that was not hired because the PSM hired a friend instead, it sucks. My situation was most likely a bit different though. I had been with the company for two years; I was the stage management sub and prior to that I had been a PA for the sm team. The friend was completely new to the show and was learning everything from scratch while I had already been trained on all but 1 deck track. Especially when I was not given a heads up that the hiring decision had been made and was called in to cover a track while the friend started training. It was handled poorly to say the least.

I agree with BayAreaSM though, you just won't know what you're missing one way or the other.

LexieTaylor

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Re: Hiring a Friend
« Reply #3 on: Apr 29, 2016, 01:40 pm »
Interesting - I've been there and had it backfire, but not in the way you think.

In other cases, I have hired my ASM from the ballet for two different jobs/companies (one as my assistant PM and another as a technician). Both times she's been amazing. And it's been really helpful in making me feel more at home in new places, by having her around.


I like this situation the best. A "work friend" that you know that you work well with, but isn't necessarily a close personal friend outside of work.

DeeCap

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Re: Hiring a Friend
« Reply #4 on: Apr 29, 2016, 01:58 pm »
A crap shoot is the best way to describe it. I've been told to hire people who were "great" but turned out to be "meh". I've taken chances on hires and turned out to be my best employees. 

When I was a resident PSM we were planning to do two shows in rep. The Artistic Director told me I could hire whoever I want as my Equity ASM. I hired my former ASM who slayed on the previous show we worked on. This show got him is Equity card, insurance, etc.

I don't know if he got it in his head that now he was Equity ASM he could slack off, but he was not the person who I worked with before. It got awkward when I had to tell him that slow times during tech was not the best time to go outside to throw a football around. It took awhile for our relationship to return to where it was before.





 

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