Technical Test

[Benj]

Hi,

 

I have a job interview (Theatre tech) in a couple of weeks, part of which is a technical test. I have never had one, so I was just wondering if anyone could shed a little light on what I should expect.

[sam.henderson]

Its a stab in the dark because it is probably an inhouse paper that the Chief LX or similar has written but I should imagine the things they will be interested in (from the employers point of view) are: Health and Safety (probably main concern just to check that you are sensible), basic knowledge of roles of different job titles/ departments, general theatre etiquete/ policy etc. etc.

 

Like I say stab in the dark but those are the sort of things I would half expect. I doubt (although they could) they will go into really deep technical questions about Distro, Electrics etc. etc.

 

HTH

 

Sam

[paulears]

Well, if I was doing it and I'd advertised for someone already skilled, I'd want to see them rig lighting, change a lamp, fly a bar, put on ppe properly, do a pat test, patch a channel to a dimmer, connect equipment, eq a desk channel, mic a drum kit, set a DMX address or any one of zillions of other everyday tasks. Being a miserable bas*ard I'd make a guess on their ability after about 10 secs of talking to them, then give them a test from the list above that I think may trip them up. I'd be very, very low key about it, but I'd soon tell if they were bullshitting about their ability. I've often used more than one applicant at a time - very common in education interviews. Get all the applicants to do the tasks together - Interviewing for a theatre technician once, I got them to hang some kit on a truss that was ready to be flown out. The movers were in their cases, cables in a heap and DMX addresses scribbled on a bit of paper with the hanging plan. It was a joy to watch, 2 obviously knew what to do, 4 had no idea at all, despite their CV's being the best. The one I employed was the one who spotted one of the others had put a safety on badly.

[gareth]

As the other respondents have said, the test could be anything, really - it depends on what the interviewer or selection panel decide to throw at you. I've heard of candidates being asked to do everything from the in-depth test that Paul described to simply soldering an XLR onto some mic cable. I'd imagine the test will be appropriate to the level of the job that you're being interviewed for.

[mikienorth]

The short technical test I took to get my current job involved the moving of a fly bar, a walk on the fly floor to do so (height), identifying the workings of the Prompt corner dip box (dimmer channels, power, independent power, motor patch, iron controls, tie line and cue patching etc) and the tying of some knots, namely the bowline and clove hitch.

Along with a lot of informal chat prior to meeting the interview panel.

During the informal chat I was honest, which makes a difference, asI was in the interview. If you try and make yourself out to be better than you are it is obvious to anyone.