OK so update, it has been months since I have had anything to write about.
About a month ago I sent my resume to yet another cruiseline recruiting agency or "hiring partner".

On Oct 5th I received an email asking if I would be interested in interviewing for an entertainment lighting job and to please send my availablity for a skype interview.
I responded and arranged to have an interview the following Monday.
I rearranged my room etc, and made myself available for the interview...and waited and waited...but no one came on skype for me. So I sent the woman an email asking to reschedule or whatever.

That afternoon I received a phone call from her, she explained that because it was a holiday in Canada she was attempting to work from home and was unable to log onto her skype account for some reason. She asked if we could reschedule for the next day...same time.

I interviewed with her, she told me that I was a very strong candidate, and we discussed the difference in contracts between Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruise lines...both of which she recruits for. Basically it was that they paid the same, but Celebrity pays for the first airline ticket, where RCL makes you pay for your first ticket. There were a couple of other little things too. She said that she was going to be setting up an interview for me with HR for the next day.

Towards the end of our conversation she asked if I had spoken with anyone else from the company, I explained that I had interviewed months ago but had never heard anything back. She then proceeded to tell me that she is not allowed to "steal" other representatives people and that she would have to make a phone call, and asked me to stay online and that she would be back with me in 30 minutes.

So the waiting began, 30 minutes turned into an hour which turned into 2 and then I pretty much gave up. I figured she found out that I belonged to another recruiter and just wasn't going to get back to me.

I sent her an email saying how I had been hoping to speak with her again, and also included a couple of short video clips of my previous lighting designs. I said something along the lines, that if this is the type of work they are looking for then to contact me.

I went and ran some errands, when I returned I had an email from the first guy I had spoken with months ago asking if I would be available for an interview with HR from celebrity tomorrow ( the same person and time that the person I had just spoken with had mentioned). I replied that I was absolutely available.

Then a couple of minutes later I was contacted by the woman from earlier in the day on skype, and we spoke for about 10 minutes. She explained that she was going to be turning me back over to the first hiring partner ..but that she really did want me to succeed and made me promise to keep her updated. She then briefed me for the interview, and sent me all sorts of paperwork to fill out and a copy of the employee handbook.

So I interviewed with HR, they asked me a lot of theatre lighting questions. The interview ended with the woman from HR telling me that they were recommending me for the position and telling me the pay rate and a whole lot of details about the job.

They asked that I send in a copy of an updated resume for review from operations, which I have done.

This is where I stand, not quite sure if I am really getting the job, and waiting once again for the next step.

giving up hope

So It has been about a month since I had the interview with the recruiting agency, I was told that I would be getting an interview with the cruise line and that has not happened. I emailed the guy that I have been working with about 3 weeks ago asking how long it typically takes to get the cruise line interview, he emailed me back saying that sometimes it takes a while etc.
Last night I emailed him again asking for information for a friend, and he did not reply...which is odd because he has always replied almost immediately, I mean within the hour most times.
Also, my friend who recommended me for the position, no longer works for the cruise company he got fired or was forced to resign something along those lines. Apparently it doesn't look good if you get off the ship at a port and miss the ship when it sails...even if it is totally not your fault.

So I have been doing some more research online and have put together a list of cruise lines and the contact information for them. There are websites out there that claim to have all of this information but they want you to pay to have access to it, I am simply not ready to pay for it yet.
So the plan is redo my resumes and write cover letters and send them out to the contacts I have researched...hopefully this will get me somewhere.

research

So I am attempting to learn what it is like to work on a cruise ship. I have been following a couple of blogs. I have purchased a few books.
All of the books stress the fact that there is very little down time while at sea, and that dealing with some passengers can be difficult. That passengers ask the same questions day after day.
Other things I have been learning:
time passing is counted by cruise not weeks, days etc.
There is a hierarchy of staff on board and the usual breakdown seems to be by what country you are from
Americans are the butt of many jokes, because they assume every country is just like theirs and often only speak 1 language

I contacted my recruiting agent to find out when he expects to schedule my interview with the cruise line. He told me that typically it takes about 2 weeks to get an interview scheduled, but the cruise line recruiter is currently traveling on business so it may take longer right now.

In the beginning

This blog is to document my adventure in attempting to obtain employment in the entertainment industry. Mostly this is an attempt to keep me motivated and not just accept the status quo anymore.

A little about me, I have a degree in theatre arts management, with a strong background in technical theatre. Immediately after completing my course work I got hired at a large theme park, initially I was hired as a ride operator, but soon I was brought onboard as an entertainment tech and within weeks I was promoted to a supervisor position.

I worked there for 2 years, most of my job took place in the summer but there was a little bit of work to be done year round. I spent the rest of my time taking some classes at the local community college, and working as a lifeguard and swimming instructor at the local YMCA.

In the fall following my 2nd year at the theme park, I moved about 4 hours away to be closer to my family. I quickly found a job at the local YMCA and took an EMT course and ended up getting involved with EMS for a couple of years.

I found myself longing to get back into the theatre scene and did some community theatre work before finding some regional theatre gigs.

I once again moved, this time out of state to return to school. I worked on a lot of school productions, and had an awesome job as Technical Director of the student run theatre. I got to oversee the use of the theatre and teach and supervise students. I designed a few sets and got the chance to do the lighting design for a lot of the shows.

I got the opportunity to work at one of the biggest most influential musical theatres in the United States for a summer. It was great; I oversaw the intern program and got to work both in stage management and company management.

I eventually moved back close to my family, when I couldn’t find any theatre work I took a job at the hospital in the ER doing a lot of the same things I had done while working on the ambulance. After about a year I was itching to get another theatre job.

I started looking online for jobs and applied to a job at the local professional theatre and was offered a stage management position but it didn’t start for a few months. I then was able to land a summer stock position working backstage and supervising the theatre rigging, something that I didn’t have a lot of experience with (but boy do I now).

When I returned from summer stock I started my stage management and was having a blast until I injured my back while working. Next thing I new I was being told that due to budget issues my position was being cut.

So back into the world or EMS I have gone, and this is where I am now.

I recently have begun looking for a theatre job and employment on a cruise ship.I have learned very quickly that finding a job on a cruise ship is really difficult. There are all sorts of websites that claim to have the golden ticket of sorts on how to get hired, but of course they all want you to pay them for this information….something that I am just not willing to do at this point. I found a couple of email addresses etc and have sent off my resume, but I doubt I will ever hear from those attempts.

One of the guys I used to work with is currently working for Royal Caribbean; I asked him how he got his job. He said he had gone through an agency and gave me the contact information to the person who had helped him. He told me to tell the agent that he recommended me.

I was very hesitant to contact a recruiting agent, so I initially did not email him. About a week later the guy who I used to work with asked me why I had not contacted the recruiting agent yet. So after being teased about it I finally sent a quick email to the recruiting agent. I never thought I would hear from him.

After I sent the agent the initial email I got a response within a few minutes asking for my resume. I sent him a very brief resume, just where I had worked and what my job descriptions were. The next day I got yet another email asking for specifics on what equipment I had worked with. This is not really information that I had readily available, I am not really an equipment person…I am the type that if I already am familiar with the light board..Great if not I read up on it but don’t keep track that I am using brand XYZ running ABC version 4 etc. But apparently this is the information that they wanted, so I called around to places I had worked at obtained the information and sent it to the recruiting agent. I got a response saying…great I will send this to the cruise line and will contact you if I hear back from them.

Again I thought, well I will never hear from them. About a week later I got an email saying that the cruise line was interested in me and the recruiting agent would be scheduling an initial interview with me.

The next week I had the initial interview via Skype, it was very basic just about cruise life not anything about the job. At the end of the interview the recruiting agent said that I did really well and that he will be scheduling me an interview with someone from the actual cruise line, and that it will be more job specific. He told me that if I have any questions to contact him and that I will receive an email when he gets the interview scheduled.

And this is where I stand now.

I have only applied to 2 cruise lines, and I am debating whether I should wait this opportunity out or continue to apply to other places.