Student Blog: God I Hope I Get It!: Applying For Your First Arts Job Isn't Easy

I woke up this morning, on the fifth morning of my summer vacation, at 7:30am. I promptly fell back asleep until 8:07 and launched myself out of bed. I ate a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, put on a nice blouse, brushed my hair, and logged on to my Microsoft Teams meeting with three minutes to spare. Those three minutes were just enough time to compose myself for an interview with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

This is how a lot of my job interviews have been going lately. In this unprecedented merger of COVID-19 and post-graduate life, you have nothing but time to search and prepare for a job opening. I have spent the last five months scouring LinkedIn, ArtSearch, League of Chicago Theatres, and contacting references, professors, colleagues, and more in an attempt to find the perfect entry-level arts management position. If you read my blogs (thank you!!), you know that my interests lie in the theatrical realm of marketing, programming, and production management. While I have great passion in these fields, interview after interview has left me contemplating whether or not I have the skillset to undertake the job of my dreams.

I have applied for over 30 jobs. I have sent out dozens of resumes, received responses from a mere half of my applications, scheduled a handful of interviews, and all it takes is one offer to put the misery of waiting to an end. Even so, I have received a few job offers that have turned out to be less than promising: poor pay rates for my stage of life, inaccurate descriptions of the job, or a poor representation of the organization's culture. Pair that with the increasing number of rejections and you've got yourself one dejected applicant.

I realize that this may not be interesting to any of you: you, dear reader, might be a performer or a technician, and you're still waiting for live performances and cattle call auditions. I fully respect that. I see your struggle and raise you the added baggage of 'corporate' America. I envy those of you that can pretend to be others, because being yourself in front of a complete stranger is one of the most difficult things you can do.

Even so, at 8:42 this morning, I had one of the best preliminary interviews of my job search journey. The recruiter at the Kennedy Center and I spoke of meeting patrons where they're at in terms of returning to live performances. We shared laughter over memories that have shaped the arts advocates that we are. I smiled the entire time because I knew that no matter what happens, I'm going to end up where I'm supposed to be. But as for the Kennedy Center, GOD I HOPE I GET IT.

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