Would appreciate some advice regarding an employment position

[Dan Gruner]

Apologies if this is the wrong section of the forum to post this question, but it seemed the best place for it!

 

Last week, I attended a job interview for the post of theatre technician at a prestigious independent school someware in the UK. It would be a part-time flexible post, so I would still be able to run my own company, albeit on a reduced level and "do my own stuff" also.

 

The position will be a fairly demanding wrole, that would involve a lot of teaching lighting design, sound design etc, as well as supervision, equipment maintenance, testing etc. They were very keen to hear that I am a qualified electrician also and have plenty of IT experience. I could see myself being roped in to lots of things!

 

The interview went very well and the school had a lovely, vibrant atmosphere that was evident for the short time I was there. I am pretty certain that I will be offered the position.

 

However the pay for this wrole is only £7.50 per hour, that took me by surprise when I was told. For a position that requires skills and experience, a well as experience of working with children (of which I have plenty), I was a little shocked that a theatre technician position seems to be held in such poor regard financially. I know its not a brillianty paid position to begin with, but at £7.50 per hour, I can earn more being a cleaner! Is this a "normal" rate for such a job?

 

Not sure on this one. If I get offered the position I would very much like to take it, but not meaning to sound arrogant, I value my skills and experience a little more than £7.50/hour.

 

Thanks,

 

Dan

[PDD]

Difficult to say with it only being a part-time role, and I only really have a frame of reference for full-time roles in schools. Pro-rata speaking, it's not that low (unless we're talking London), but it's all relative. For my first job as a school theatre technician (full-time), I earned roughly £6.80/hr to start (if I remember rightly), rising to only about £7.10/hr by the time I left. (Obviously difficult to be accurate as I was salaried monthly and hours were flexible). Even now as a 'manager' it's only up to just over £11/hr. I also know some school technicians working for around the minimum wage, full-time.

 

Remember we're talking about a school - in most cases a 'technician' in the basic sense is pretty low on the scale. My best casual staff at my current job are only on the same scale as our cleaners, and that was only with a bit of pressure on the Bursar.

 

I would imagine that, if it's a brand new post, a Head of Drama has had a long fight to get any technician at all. Having succeeded, that is the best salary they can offer. Or, perhaps you are simply over-qualified for the job and they'll be glad of you but would have been equally happy with someone with lesser experience? Like I said, all relative and very difficult to answer. Hope that helps a bit.

 

Incidentally, all independent schools think of themselves as 'prestigious' :) ;)

[MarkPAman]

I'll echo PDD's comments on the rate probably being about right normal for a school technician.

 

What worries me is that you say "a lot of teaching.........". £7:50 is definitely not a teaching rate, even if your only looking after a few students, and are not responsible for a class. For any teaching that involves preparing a lesson & assessing outcomes (rather than a quick "can you show me how to do this?" that takes 5 minutes), I would expect to get 3 to 4 times that amount.

[Wuddy]

Having personal experience of the world of education it appears to me that the post being offered is really that of Teaching Assistant with technical experience and dressed up under the title of School Theatre Technician.

 

You say it wil involve a lot of teaching, I'm sure that in order to teach you need a Cert.Ed. or similar qualification, do you have one?, if so as MarkPAman says you want paying at a teaching rate.

 

I wondered why someone running their own Company, where they should be able to generate income significantly higher than any school or theatre post should want a position as part time school theatre tech., unless it's for personal gratification.

 

Rates of pay in theatre land are historically low, they are the types of jobs done as much for love as for money.

 

If you require employment with a reasonable income, have you considered the construction industry, as a qualified electrician you should be able to secure a well paid job as they are crying out such people.

[Andrew C]

You say it wil involve a lot of teaching, I'm sure that in order to teach you need a Cert.Ed. or similar qualification, do you have one?, if so as MarkPAman says you want paying at a teaching rate.

Not at an independent school; they can employ who they please (subject to CRB). Pay is on the grim side, but the hols are good! (unless you have lots of "lets" to outsiders.)

[paulears]

For your qualifications, the rate is, to be fair, a bit of an insult, isn't it?

 

Many of the words in your post worry me. Teaching, supervision, maintainance, testing. Two of those involve a skill level not always found in a typical technician, and as has been said - if you are working with people being paid 4 times as much as you, and they defer to you to teach their class when they get stuck, once the gloss wears off you will be pretty miffed. Not wanting to put people in any kind of pecking order, but the caretaking (estates staff) people have no direct contact with the kids, and get more than this.

 

Sounds a bit of a compromise - not good for job satisfaction

[kerry davies]

I have no experience of private educational schools other than getting reasonably well paid for one-offs and advisory stuff. I did some time at an FE college some 5 years ago in order to get an FAETC. The college housed a local council funded community theatre so I did the tech for incoming shows as well, which suited me as being already on site.

 

The lowest rate of pay was £10 per hour for school tech work and around £13/15 per hour whilst teaching theatre technology. The current minimum rates of pay for teaching start at £20K and for FE teaching I think the minimum rate for part-time teaching is £18/19 per hour. (Just FYI, Paul, the best paid caretaking job on offer right now is under £20K pa and some poor sods get less than £6 an hour, without accommodation.)

 

If you really want to do the job then do it, but private schools can often regard "hired help" in a most Victorian manner, generally believing that the school is doing them a favour by allowing them to work. You should get a CRB out of them and the work can be truly rewarding, but remember that the school will be charging the parents top dollar for your teaching time, and possibly even adding a charge as an "extra". I would certainly advise a complete clarification of your job description before you sign up for the work, you rightly say that it appears to be an open-ended affair. I would also recommend seeking further details of the requirements in terms of hours/days/weekends they would need you available. Rehearsals on a Sunday morning could prevent you earning anything outside the school for the whole weekend and travelling in for one hours work 3 times a day and 7 days a week will be a bind and is a definite possibility as split shifts are fairly normal. Watch out for the tax situation if you are set up as a freelance, working predominantly for one employer can be challenged by HMRC as can an hourly/daily rate.

 

Other than all that, I really enjoy the teaching and have had some memorable moments and successes which are worth a lot more than money.

[Dan Gruner]

Thanks for all your reply's. To answer one posters question, I am looking for a position like this to help gain a REGULAR income and assist with the business, which is still in the early stages, although gaining pace. I enjoy working with young people and this position sounds ideal, although not well paid!

 

Dan

[dave1970]

a lot of "prestigeous" independant schools that do not already have theatre technicians seem to be jumping on the band wagon to keep up with the Jones`s as it were. Unfortunatly some tend to plumb for the P/T postion as they have no frame of refrence/concept of what you will actually be doing!

If you are lucky you might get a Director of Drama and/or a Headmaster that is intrested/knowledgeable enough to know what you [A Technician] actually do and therfore what you are worth!

As most people that work in School Theatre will attest to a "Part time" Technician`s job is probably harder than a full time position, there are only so many part time hours in a day/week etc...

The real worry is you will get shafted unless you keep a close eye on your time sheet!

 

...and one more thing, you are worth more than £7:50/hour!

[paulears]

One thing to remember is that despite being part-time, they will assume they have first call on your time. So when you have a nice private job paying much better rates arranged months ago, they'll expect you to be willing to cancel it to attend a speech day event, hastly re-arranged because of reasons beyond your control - and they'll expect you to be content with an an extra couple of hours pay rather than the decent fee for the private job. Saying no does not go down well!

[Grum]

I get paid more than £7.50 per hour as a technician for my local FE College. I have no responsibility for testing, supervision, or teaching (although I don't count quickly showing people how to use a bit of kit as teaching). If I do any of these I get paid extra.

 

If I were you I'd suggest that the rate you've been offered does not reflect the responsibilities of the post.

 

Like Paul said if they do expect you to drop other commitments at a moments notice (and they will) then it won't be long before you're not getting called for other work because you're un-reliable.

[Jivemaster]

Yes! Unless your hours are set permanently you will kill all hopes of getting other work because the school will assume a full-time salaried type committment from you. You will end up doing the odd hour on a saturday rather than a valuable freelance job for the weekend.