Messages

16

Employment / Re: "Stop using these 16 Terms to Describe Yourself"

« on: Jun 10, 2013, 01:30 am »

The best cover letter I wrote, I actually thought I might've been going insane while I wrote it. I was applying to quite a few jobs at the time and it started to feel like I was just spitting out the same cover letter over and over. I read a job posting that struck a chord for some reason - I think it was that the posting didn't seem quite the same. It had some more colloquialisms than most and just funny terminology for things, so the cover letter I wrote was very laid back. I recall specifically that they wanted a stage manager that could "put out fires." At the time, I was working on a cruise ship and had just completed a marine fire fighting course, so I put as a P.S. something like "and as for putting out fires, no worries here, I just aced a marine fire fighting course."

I sent it off and thought I would never hear back from them, or all the humor I'd put into my cover letter would be lost. I got an interview and a job offer. I wound up not taking it, but it certainly gave me a new perspective on cover letters. Not that that's always the best approach by any means, but it did make me wonder how many opportunities I'd missed by sending out "safe" letters. 

17

Employment / Re: Continuing Education/Certifications through Employer

« on: Jun 10, 2013, 01:00 am »

Some other ideas -

Psychology classes? Especially behavioral psych...
Music theory
Shakespeare
Dance classes
MA School
VariLite School
EMT Training

18

Employment / Re: Websites

« on: Jun 10, 2013, 12:57 am »

Hey Alyssa,

I don't know if you're still looking for feedback on your website, but I just noticed a few things.

*I like how you've split your stage management experience and your other skills. It comes across very clean.
*I do think your "Skills" section under other skills is too wordy. I think you want to be very to the point with anything resume related (ie. instead of "Well versed in Vectorworks 2008 and 2011" I might just write "Vectorworks 2008 and 2011" or "Has had experience ushering" write "Ushering")
*I really like how it loads thumbnails of your paperwork samples.
*I think Home and About could be combined into one page. I'm actually much more drawn to the picture you used in the About section than the one on your Home page.
*On your Home page, I would possibly delete the Current Project section if you don't currently have one. I think the information you have in your About section would go much better where you have Current Project, Location and Interests listed and then have those items in a text box below them, if at all.

Anyway, just some opinions.

If anyone out there is still lurking in this forum, I'm thinking about updating my website soon and would love any feedback about its current state: http://melissabondar.webs.com/

Thank you!

19

Tools of the Trade / Re: Backstage pants

« on: Oct 04, 2012, 04:30 pm »

AKBowman, that is totally them! And you're right about having to get long's too. I wonder if anyone's told Kohl's they have the industry standard for SM pants...

20

Tools of the Trade / Re: Backstage pants

« on: Oct 02, 2012, 06:06 pm »

My favorite go-to pair of black pants are actually just a pair of basic black slacks from Kohl's. They have them in khaki and several other colors too, and always seem to be out of the way against a back wall. They can take a lot of abuse, but they don't have an excess of pockets.

My favorite pair of cargo pants are female EMT pants. They cost a little more but the pockets on them are unbelievable. You can find them all over the internet if you just google women's or female EMT pants.

21

Employment / Re: Cruise Line Recommendations

« on: Jul 29, 2009, 06:14 pm »

Hi,

I work for Holland America. From what I hear, they're pretty much the best paying line for tech jobs, although I've heard a lot of really good things about Princess, too - especially if you don't mind sharing a cabin. I've never heard anything good about Carnival and I know a lot of people who I work with now left Royal Caribbean.

You probably won't be able to get a general "stagehand" position because those are usually filled by Filipino's on most lines - they're a lot cheaper to hire than any of us. Cruise ships aren't really a place to go to build up experience, you need to have good grasp on your job there because things are often going to go crazily wrong, while you're at sea and you are the onboard "expert" in your area. That said, working as a stage manager I have built on all my tech skills because I take the time to hang out with each of my technicians while they work on their equipment and ask them to teach me about it. But if I hadn't already known how to stage manage when I started working there, I would've been screwed.

You also need to be prepared to work 7 days a week for months at a time (on the plus side, you do get 1-2 months off at a time between contracts). You'll have to answer to Cruise Directors who often don't have the first clue about running a theater. And like I mentioned before, when things break, you're pretty much on your own - if it can't be fixed by your or your techs, it becomes a big hoopla to get outside contractors onto the ship to fix the equipment and if it's not absolutely show stopping sometimes it takes a while to get anyone there.

You also get to see the world and meet a lot of cool people while working in a theater instead of flipping burgers somewhere.

I hope that helps a little.

22

Employment / SMing in Las Vegas

« on: Jun 11, 2009, 06:13 pm »

Has anyone here worked Vegas already? Do you have any tips for breaking into Stage Managing out there? I'm thinking of moving there after I finish up my current contract on a cruise ship.

Thanks!