The Week in Numbers

I don’t know why I always get so freaked out when I have to search for a job because I am literally a machine when it comes to job hunting. Here’s how I’m doing so far:

• Jobs applied for: 47
• Recruiters met with: 9 (and let’s say I met with an extra 5 who weren’t on my calendar.)
• In-person interviews: 2
• Phone interviews: 3
• Other emails sent to contacts: 10,000 (that’s an exaggeration but you get it.)

I have a call tomorrow and two in-person interviews on Thursday.  And this is just in my first week. Like I said: machine.

Searching for a job is a full-time job, and although it’s not always fun, at least I still have time for yoga.  I have a full day tomorrow and in between appointments I’ll likely apply to the 13 job listings that I found this morning (having a Macbook Air is a lifesaver – so easy to carry around).

I had to stop by my old office today to pick up a bag of things that I’d forgotten and one of the account girls followed me out the door, hugged me, told me she was so sorry and that they missed me already, and then confided that she’d resigned yesterday. Maybe I smiled, just a little bit.

Everything’s alright. 

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Here’s a proposal!

Hear me out. But know that I wrote this in a moment of utter disappointment and despair earlier this evening:

I don’t think there’s an industry that pays worse than entertainment, specifically theatre. I make a decent salary but no where near where I would be doing the same thing in another industry. I’m frustrated because I began realizing today that the opportunity to make Real Living Wage is getting smaller and smaller (and it’s probably my shrunk fractionally by the time you’ve finished reading this sentence).  You know why this is? Supply is low and demand is way. too. high. I’ve known people to take assistant jobs starting at $18k.

People, friends, colleagues: we are worth more than that.

Anyone see how high ticket prices are nowadays? $400+ for a premium seat? If the stage hand gets to earn $500 whenever he mops the stage, surely the industry can afford to pay the “little guys” more too.

The only way to really bring about change is if they couldn’t find anyone to work for $25k-$30k. What could we all do in the meantime? Work at jobs that paid a lot more and didn’t require a 60 hour week, so we’d have the time (and, uh, money) to express ourselves creatively outside work and eventually (hopefully) parlay that into a full time job that we love.

Is this a fantasy? Yes. Probably. No one would ever leave their full time (highly underpaid) job in theatre for a job in something like a job in finance to prove a point. Not in this city. I just wanted to plant a seed.