Hi, my name is Emma. I am going to start my dream, full time job on today (5th of December) and I thought I’d share with you all how I got it, so that maybe you can apply yourself to what you want to do, and do the same!
All my life I have wanted to be in the music industry, but it’s such a hard one to break into! I did my Certificate II in Music Industry in high-school, and applied for the Certificate III for when I finished high school.
I wanted to be a sound technician, but there didn’t seem to be any opportunities. I started to sit at school assemblies while the principal and others spoke into a microphone, fiddling with the buttons and trying to make it sound as good as I could. When my church said that they were looking for someone to do sound, I put my hand up straight away and asked to do it. That was one of the dodgiest set ups I’ve EVER seen. There was a wire that when the players onstage were playing, it would glow red hot, and I came very close to singeing my hair a few times.
One of the men at the church that I was good friends with told me that he did sound for a theatre group that operated locally out of a civic centre around the corner. He told me that he had done it for ten years or so, and he was moving away to look after a farm he had bought, and that if I wanted, I could come and watch him do a show on the weekend. If I thought I could do it, he would hand the job over to me.
The job ended up being relatively simple, and for two years I worked unpaid with the theatre. In the meantime because I had done the unpaid work at school, and the church, I had gotten into the Certificate III at TAFE. I was working as hard as I could there to try and meet as many contacts as I could.
My brother had a performance night at the big Performing Arts Centre. I had been putting in my resume almost constantly while I had been doing my Cert III, and I was now on the Cert IV. My mum and I watched the performance, and after I went up to the sound guy, Pete, and asked if I could do work experience. He said no initially, that there wasn’t any work. I left my mobile number with him. The next day they and they rang, asking me to come in early on Saturday and help unload a truck. I went, and had a lot of fun helping a touring show to set up all their gear, and I got asked to come in and watch Pete run a show. After I did that, I got asked to sit down, and they hired me as a casual sound technician!!
I was working on both theatre shows, and doing my Cert IV. I started to mix bands at TAFE, and outside of TAFE and the next year, got into my Diploma.
I began working very closely with my musician friends, and one of them passed me an email that they had of a PA company looking for a sound technician. I emailed them, not thinking anything of it, and they asked to meet me! I did a lot of casual work for them over about 6 months, leaving the small theatre due to time constraints, and eventually the Performing Arts Centre.
I have continued this year doing my Diploma, playing in bands, mixing bands, and working for the PA Company. Just recently, they offered me a contract for Full time work. So after 3 years of unpaid work, long hours, early mornings and late nights, all my work has paid off! I’ve got my Cert II, III, IV, and Diploma of Music Technical Production, and a full time job with a chance to move up in the business.
You need to make sure you take every opportunity. One door leads to another, and you never know what it could lead to!!
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