Professional Ethics: Hearing about a job

[MatthewShiner]

So, let's say you are working on a show with another stage manager, and you hear they are applying for a job with a SM you have a connection with.

And you are interested in applying . . .

Would you go ahead and submit your resume?  Would you tell the SM you heard it from?  Would you ask if you could apply?  Would you do it on the sly?

Thoughts?

[PSMKay]

What do you value more, the relationship or the gig?
How will you feel if you both wind up on the gig?
How will you feel if they turn around and do the same thing to you?
How will you deal with gossipy fallout that could affect others sharing future opportunities with you?

Personally I see this as comparable to stealing your friend's date. Sometimes you are the better person for the position but the timing is not really appropriate.

[SMMeade]

Hypothetically, would I have only heard about it from the SM I was currently working with?

[MatthewShiner]

Hypothetically . . . yes, you heard it from the SM.

[iamchristuffin]

And, hypothetically, would you have applied for the job if you had found out about it from another source?

[MatthewShiner]

Yes, one has to imagine, yes, if you had heard about it from another source, you would have applied.

In this case the person hearing about had applied previously to the PSM on multiple occasions.

[PSMKay]

And in this totally imaginary scenario, did you give any hint to this person that they were providing you with new information?

[SMMeade]

I can't pontificate on the ethics of the situation, but my first reaction is that if it's not posted publicly, and I only heard about it from Current Co-Worker, I'd stay away. Unless the PSM of the open job contacted me, my thinking is that since they know me already, if they thought I was a good fit, they'd have let me know.

I've been thinking about similar situations recently. I'm PAing around the city right now, and it's been interesting to see all the PAs I work with and how we're all finding jobs. Sometimes it's a bit of a balancing act between trying maintain relationships with people you may or may not work with again vs. trying to climb that next rung on the ladder.

[MatthewShiner]

What's tricky about the city - is we all know each other or know someone who knows everyone.

In this case, I heard about this position on a national tour from my current assistant.  It's not really a job I am interested in, but it's a PSM I am interested in - someone who I have applied to a few times in the past.

What I did, was after my assistant interviewed, and set up his final interview with the GM, I sent a resume to the PSM saying, "I hear you have filled all your positions, and wanted to get you a current copy of my resume . . ." - so it was a way of networking, but not horning in on the job.

It's a very fine line.

In reality, it's a small enough world - we all know each other, and even if I had seriously wanted, and had horned in . . . there might have been a 100 other ways I could have heard about it.  And it's not quite private what shows are going on the road, and who is PSMing them . . . or what show is coming to Broadway and who is PSMing those.

[dallas10086]

Did the SM grab it, lick it, and call dibs on it?

If not, I don't see anything wrong with what you did.

[SMMeade]

Ahhh that makes much more sense. Excellent points Matthew!

[Maggie K]

Interesting.  On the one hand, competition for jobs among your theatre friends is part of the business.  If my co-worker/friend and I are both going for the same job and they get it, I know that it's business and not personal and wish them the best of luck.  On the other hand, that competition can be easily mishandled by either party and that's where the line gets slippery and people get mad.

I was actually on the other end of a situation, where I was up for a job that was not being advertised at the theatre I was working at.  A stage manager I was friends with found out a lot of information about the theatre and the job through me and applied for it as well.  I didn't know that she was even interested in the position (very different theatre then she usually worked at) let alone applied for it until I found out that she had been hired.  While I was happy for her, I did feel a little used.  I was actually more upset about the way I found out and the fallout, an entire situation which was massively mismanaged by her and the theatre (but that is a different story for a different thread.)

In the situation Matthew described, I would be interested in knowing how the assistant found out about the position in the first place.  If it was a more "commercial" way, such as a website, then I'd feel that I could apply if I was interested but would inform the assistant that I was doing so.  However, if they found out through a more personal connection I would be reluctant to take advantage of that.

[Plabebob]

This situation has come up for me a bunch of times as we all gossip about who's hiring & I often find out about jobs from friends before they're advertised. It's no big deal, just ask them if they mind if you go for it as well. It's not someone's boyfriend, it's a job, that's how the industry works. Maybe don't go & do it secretly, but you can't have dibs on a job application.