lol over the last several years actual leftists have repeatedly told me (as in, on more than one occasion) that entertainment unions aren't real unions because our jobs aren't like working in factories
When my cousin decided to quit stage management and interviewed for emergency services dispatch this was basically how it went: "Oh good, you already know how to deal with people panicking"
Hah. No lie.
My best shut-an-interviewer-down moment was in a different arena, but just as effective: getting asked to talk through a high-stress situation I’d experienced at work, and I was just kinda like, “Well, I was working in national news on 9/11…” I actually saw the guy’s jaw drop.
It's funny in retrospect what it actually did to my ability to handle workplace stress, to be honest. In some ways I suspect I got more frustrated/stressed with how much pressure there somehow always is about things that DO NOT MATTER. Actual crises, though? Just buckle down and do the work.
A work friend who used to supervise the public safety comms center swore bartenders made some of the best 911 dispatchers. As soon as he said it, I was like "yup. that makes sense".
I've read multiple science fiction stories in which bartenders have evolved, getting counseling degrees and solidifying their place as good listeners with good advice.
reading through this thread and jobs I've had: bartender, operations manager, raid team leader (2 years), red team, L2 ops center shift lead, SRE project manger/response lead. But, can't find a job for anything right now. :/
Can I replace our head of HR with you? This line of thought is just better than every idiot I've had to try to get a resume past.
((Then again, if my company hired you, you'd be running my department as soon as they realized what they'd done.))
The other thing that strongly predicts success has to be teased out in interviews because people don't put it on resumes, but: MMO guild/raid leader is a *great* predictor for "getting people to execute on a complex plan with lots of moving parts in a timely fashion while adapting on the fly"
No lie, I would have no idea what the *details* of that meant but I would recognize it as a strong indicator of strategic vision, ability to break strategy down to tactics, communicate tactics, and get people to execute on a plan and really want to talk to someone about it in the interview!
The part that I think really matter is that a 40 man raid kill on a complex target like Yogg involves... 40 people. 40 /gamers/. And every one has to be informed, focused, and committed.
"Well, I had to tactically decide who would go inside a giant brain and hope they weren't being grabbed by tentacles while also praying my raiders could manage their sanity."
Real talk, I helmed a raiding guild back in the day and we ran 2 10-man teams. I used that in my cover letter for a job At Blizzard. Still didn't get an interview. 😆
How would you sort for a technical support position? My team has the hardest fucking time finding people who can actually successfully dig into a problem and troubleshoot, and asking the right questions to see if someone has it is surprisingly hard.
Hmm. Look for any history of "profession that has complex problems that need narrowing down", then in interviews ask them to walk you through a time they did extensive troubleshooting (with a backup scenario on hand for if they blank, like "my laptop stopped playing video" or something)
Example I just did recently: "A friend says as of today, their web browser has replaced every video on YouTube with a grey square that won't play video". Troubleshooting steps I did in order were: what browser (Firefox), disable extensions (no), reboot Firefox (no), reboot computer (no)--
My old boss would ask something along the lines of "You found a wet spot under the sink. What do you do?" And it seemed to work pretty well at weeding out people who couldn't troubleshoot
I used to use this question:
You get a call from a user. They are having an issue with an application. You have never heard of it, it's not in your documentation, no other techs know of it, and you can't find it online.
What steps would you take to assist the user or get closer to a resolution?
From experience in working with plenty of other techs, the best ones have an interest and drive to improve systems, learns quickly, can come up with creative ways to troubleshoot issues (and should know a bit about each part of the tech stack that they touch to be able to do so)
One of the best conference presentations I ever gave was temporarily marred by Powerpoint freezing up and more than one person came up to me after the fact to compliment me on the way I handled it.
I was a raid leader in WoW (okay, my guilds weren't doing world first anythings), and damn straight I put it on my resume. I don't devote that amount of time to gaming any longer, but yeah. Those skills translate.
Shout out to every member of a production tech team. Light board & spot ops, master electricians, hang & focus crew. Sound board ops, mixing professionals, mic specialists, engineers. Prop masters & artisans. Drapers, wardrobe, dressers, milliners, hair & makeup. Carpenters, riggers, running crew.
Shout out to catering who are patient with us, and fast with the food
Shout out to location security, especially to Tiny at Pinewood, you guys are awesome
Shout out to my AD crew and the minibus drivers
because when a white Ford Transit is the first thing I see in the morning, I know it's going to be a good day
Follow spot ops are incredible. The timing and control required to do the job right are amazing. And a good lighting crew is essential to any production. Problems with lighting are some of the most obviously visible ones to an audience, people who maintain and run lights are absolutely critical.
