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« on: Oct 16, 2007, 06:01 am »
I think this topic hasn't come up as often because folks generally stop coming by the site after they leave the industry. I can give you a few pointers from a couple of perspectives, both as someone who left stage management and as someone who has worked in corporate recruiting.
First of all, there's a ton of stuff that can transition from stage management to other positions, including some that might not initially cross your mind. Corporate middle management, certainly -- there was a time when IBM preyed on former arts managers for middle management positions, although I don't know if they still do. What I found was useful was to draw the parallels by couching it in corporate language. They're looking for the business verbs: I managed, I supervised, I organized, I created, I saved. As an SM you regularly supervise a crew. You coordinate supplies and organize paperwork. You observe risk management policies and perform quality assurance checks on the show. This is stuff that will speak to a corporate audience.
As an AEA SM you also have experience with union regulations. As a part of a technical staff in a rapidly changing environment you have the ability to learn quickly and shift gears just as fast. You've shifted from project to project to project as a self-starter in a supervised but highly independent position.
A lot of resumes these days are run through a scanner for keywords upon receipt. If those keywords pop out, it frequently doesn't matter what environment they come from.
One thing to watch out for is the shift from being essentially self-managed to being more directly supervised. This will happen in almost any situation. As an SM you generally enjoy more autonomy than you would in any standard business environment. If you're ok with being an ASM on a regular basis then this probably won't be an issue for you. For me, I suck at assisting and generally make a pretty crummy subordinate, so my adventures in big corporate were brief and pretty disastrous.
Without knowing your new chosen field I can't really give you too much specific advice. I can tell you that I did have better luck finding people who would give me a chance *and* a flexible schedule by looking on craigslist and in the free weekly papers. The big sites like Monster.com and the big city daily papers are generally looking for too much experience for a career shifter. I've wound up doing commission sales - I fill apartments for a living. I know many folks have done well as real estate agents, too. (If you can persuade an actor that he really wants to shorten that slowly lengthening beat while calming down the soubrette with a run in her stocking, you can convince a high strung yuppie couple that they really want a particular house.)
Some areas where you'd have the flexibility and autonomy:
Sales, Catering and event planning, Housekeeping, Professional Organization Consultant, Outcall tech support, web design, editing, tutoring. There's also some fields where a quick study for a license would help you out - home care, massage therapy, real estate, etc.
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