Arewisely Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 This is my first post so hello to everyone! I've been working as a freelance theatre sound designer on and off for for a while but I've recently decided to take the plunge and entirely focus on this and theatre as my main means of income. As such I have a job interview for casual theatre technician coming up and they said there'd be a short practical assessment as part of the interview. As someone who has done a lot of varied technical stuff in the venues I've found myself designing in, but not under the badge of 'technician' I was wondering what you think they might ask me to do and what they might be looking out for - any specific pitfalls I could find myself teetering towards? I've spent a good part of this weekend finding out as much as I can about health and safety stuff and technical practice that I'm not so hot on and that lead me to this forum and its many interesting posts :) Thought I'd just fire this question off and see if you have any advice. Many thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themadhippy Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Could be anything from tieing a few knots,rigging an lx bar according to a plan,focus a lantern,fly a bar in and out,set up a sound rig,make coffee,anything realy.Best tip is pay close attention to what your told and the kit your given,those 3 pin XLRs might be a mix of DMX and mic cables etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arewisely Posted January 9, 2011 Author Share Posted January 9, 2011 Yeah, it is a bit of an open question. Thanks for the suggestions though - it's told me that I've never actually had to read a lighting plan so that's what I'll be teaching myself just now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas1987 Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 This is my first post so hello to everyone! I've been working as a freelance theatre sound designer on and off for for a while but I've recently decided to take the plunge and entirely focus on this and theatre as my main means of income. As such I have a job interview for casual theatre technician coming up and they said there'd be a short practical assessment as part of the interview. As someone who has done a lot of varied technical stuff in the venues I've found myself designing in, but not under the badge of 'technician' I was wondering what you think they might ask me to do and what they might be looking out for - any specific pitfalls I could find myself teetering towards? I've spent a good part of this weekend finding out as much as I can about health and safety stuff and technical practice that I'm not so hot on and that lead me to this forum and its many interesting posts :) Thought I'd just fire this question off and see if you have any advice. Many thanks. I would suggest that it may well be not particularly 'technical' as you would imagine. These tests are sometimes, in my experience, to test the areas which you can't find out in an interview. E.g. Working in a group of 4, shift these 4 lite-decks to the far side of the room, and build them with handrails and toe boards. You aren't looking for how quickly they can do it or even if they neccessarily know what they are! Its to see how you work with the other team members, who shows elements of leadership, how you think about the health and safety of lifting and shifting, and consideration of the factors involved in the job (is the floor stable etc, how to make sure the work is done fairly (no heroes!)), as well as ability to lift and shift. Likewise, if the interviewee is happy to ask questions about things they may not be sure of. Testing initiative (could you put the lite deck on those flight cases placed convieniently at the side of the room(!) to move it, or put the legs in a crate to avoid carrying handfuls of them), awareness of working situations (whats going on around them) and how they work with the team. Someone who drags the litedeck across the floor, hitting walls is not someone I'd like to be in the back of a truck with! Then again, it could be wire up a band! As themadhippy says, could be anything! Pay attention, don't be afraid to ask questions - lets people see your thought processes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommulliner Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 I remember hearing that some of the casuals at our local theatre had a small practical assignment and it was just rig one lx bar following a plan, and set up a mic. I guess its to separate the 'cable coilers' from the more able of us ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pisquee Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 It could be to see what other tech areas you have knowledge/ability in away from your obvious sound background. I went for a sound job at a venue, and after a quick check that I knew how to get a mic on on an LS9, I then had to go and rig a load of LX onto the correct fly bar in the venue according to the plan along with two of their full time but more apprentice/beginner techs for assistance.I've also had a job interview where before the actual interview was given an A4 questionnaire on various technician fields - not to rate me as a tech, but to find out where my fields of expertise and knowledge were. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathanhill Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 As an interviewee, I have had to do various tasks as part of the interview process. A popular one is rigging a bar as per a plan, but the key to these sorts of tests is a little twist. Such as showing seven lanterns on a plan and providing a load of cable/fan out options, such as IWB, Soca fan out, various bits of TRS etc, to see how neatly the candidate cables up the bar they have just rigged. Patching microphones and routing signals is a good sound based one. At a venue that I used to be TM, I had to interview many people for Technician jobs, and as we were paying about the minimum our applicants were generally the fresh-faced and enthusiastic. I developed a couple of tests, and a set of six questions to try and gauge experience. One test was simply wiring a 15A plug, as I feel that you can tell a fair amount about general skills, competence and neatness from this task. The questions were: 1. What do you understand by DMX? 2. What is the difference between a single purchase and a double purchase counterweight system? 3. What would you use a pre-fade and a post-fade auxiliary for? 4. What is the difference between Fresnel and PC lanterns? 5. What is the best tool for erecting and dismantling SteelDeck? 6. What is the difference between a dynamic and condenser microphone? Answers on a postcard! My friend and Senior Technician carries on this regime, albeit in a slightly different way. He now gets them to tie the three knots (bowline, clove hitch, sheet bend for those that don't know) whilst asking them the six questions. Amazing how many people fall apart when asked to do something practical and think at the same time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arewisely Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 Man, Jonathan - I wish I'd had your interview. All they asked us to do was rig a few trusses based on a very simple lighting plan as a group of five. I spent the whole weekend brushing up on stuff expecting questions like yours; I was desperate to do a few knots, I could have distinguished myself! :) Ho hum, hope they saw something in me anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spartacus Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 One that I've been thrown is to design a show (or part) with a preset rig, and then you go over and 'blow' (ie: unplug) three or four fixtures and then improvise to create the same look as you had before. For larger rigs, you can remove more fixtures to give the same sort of effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrummerJonny Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Somebody should knock up a Blue Room Technical Quiz. Would be nice to test if I've learnt anything useful in 3 years of study :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathanhill Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Somebody should knock up a Blue Room Technical Quiz. Would be nice to test if I've learnt anything useful in 3 years of study :)Can you tie a bowline, a clove hitch and a sheet bend? In the dark? If you can great, if not it's back to school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ceecrb1 Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 I was once told for an interview to get studying as it would be a "technical interview." In the end the interviews technical part was this.Him. "Do you know what a gobo is?"me: "yes."Him. "great." In another for a TV channel.. it was more of an interrogation than interview.. where an engineer takes your wrong answers and turns them back on yourself until you completely unwind and ###### it all up... It really can mean anything but for a general theater.. If you have some real world experience I wouldnt worry too much.. seems more like they would look for "general" knowledge rather than ultra-high detailed specifics in just one area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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