Get A Survival Job ASAP With These 3 Easy Steps
By literally broke
If you’re a grown-up adult human, you probably need a job. And if you’re an artist you’ve 100% been told you need a “survival job” (translation: a job that pays your bills without completely crushing your soul).
Whether you want to bartend, get that pilates cert, or sell candles at a Christmas market, here are the three things you need to do to secure that coin, stat.
Learn How To Build A Resume That Works
It’s amazing how many smart, well-educated people fuck this part up. I’ve seen SO many actor/dancer resumes that are two pages with an attached headshot.
NO. MORE. HEADSHOTS. I know this is hard to hear, but no one is going to hire you to sell term life insurance because you were in an experimental production of Oklahoma.
Focus on your work history i.e. work you were paid for that has soft and hard skills you can transfer to another work environment.
Familiarize yourself with resume do’s and don’ts and get your friends (and fellow starving artists) to edit your resume and look for typos. If you attended college you can also share it with your school’s career center for additional feedback.
Remember, using a thesaurus won’t make you look smart but action verbs will.
Focus Your Job Search
I don’t like to waste time walking around looking for businesses that are hiring. It’s no longer the 70s (sorry, dad) and the person you talk to probably won’t have any idea if their workplace is hiring.
I’m personally a fan of thinking about the business/industries you like and targeting the fuck out of them. Make a Google Sheet of all the businesses you frequent and apply, apply, apply.
When you run out of companies to apply to, look at who those companies follow on social media. Using this method, you can quickly build a list of prospects.
If you’re only relying on one job source (LinkedIn or Craigslist, for instance) then branch out. For remote or freelance work, look into BuiltIn, Upwork, Remote.Co, virtual personal assisting, or your college’s alumni job board.
Do you know someone who works at a company you’re interested in? Reach out to them and ask them to get coffee. Networking doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be as simple as buying someone a latte and asking about their work experience.
Prepare For The Interview
Interviewing is like dating. You want to show you’re interested but not desperate. Desperation is turn off in bed and it’s a turn off in life (just remember that, friends).
The most important thing you can do is research. What does the company do? Who are their customers? What are their customers like? How did you hear about the job? What made you apply? Why do you think you’d be a good fit? A good interviewee (like a good date) asks questions.
You should be prepared to introduce yourself, walk someone through your resume, and answer common interview questions. You can review common interview questions here and here. When in doubt review this tip sheet.
Make a list of 5-10 questions to ask about the role, the company, and your interviewer’s experience. Practice naturally asking them so that when your interviewer says, “so, do you have any questions?” you can sound like an actual human being.
Remember: unless your interviewer is a sociopath they want to like you. Now, get out there and get that paper!
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