I'm a fire/medic and I also have a background in law enforcement and was once a stage manager/lighting director. I'm curious - Are there no positions for first aid station attendants, security, or liasons for fire/ems/police. I have an extensive teaching background should your staff need first aid/cpr training. Let me know if I can be of any use! Thanks,

Jason

-- Jason (eln3100@hotmail.com), June 19, 2004

Answers

Response to Unlisted Jobs:

Hi Jason,

The simplest way to put it is we (in the employment office), only hire for the positions we have listed on the application and described on the jobs desription page. All other ("unlisted") jobs that are also an integral part of making the festivals work are either handled by:

A) Specialized internal crews (back stage production, for example), run by seasoned veterans who have developed their teams over the years; or

B) Individuals or companies that contract to provide services (security and medical are two examples of that).

In those cases (all "unlisted jobs"), the people in charge of those specialized crews or service provider organizations hire and manage their own staff.

Another thing we don't do is give out contact information for the individuals and companies providing those services. We don't refer people to them unless they ask us to, which they rarely do. For example, we get a lot of calls from people wanting to work security, or to be put in touch with the people who provide that service. We don't do that. The security company prefers to take care of all that itself.

Having said that, here's what we recommend and what we can do:

First of all, if you're interested in working at the festival, fill out an application, make your three job choices from those listed and add a comment or note explaining what you're MOST interested in doing, a brief sentence or two about your experience/qualifications, and that you will be doing the following...

If you have the background and interest in working in one of those "contracted services" positions mail us something ON PAPER that explains your area of interest, your background, experience, etc. If you'll do that we'll let the people in charge of those services know we've got your information on file, and if they're looking for people (which they sometimes are), they should let us know and we'll pass your information on to them.

Our mailing addres is:

F.A.C.E., Inc. Employment Office
P.O. 1227
Detroit Lakes, MN 56502-1227

Include a short note that references this explanation so anyone who opens your envelope will understand what it is (something along the lines of, "The forum on your web site told me to send this information and that your office would keep it on file and forward it to the people in charge if they're looking for people").

And while we're at it here, we also get quite a few inquiries about bar tending positions which also comes under the heading of "contracted services." We hire for beer pouring, serving and keg hauling, but bar tending is a different thing (because liquor is drinks involved).

-- Bill (festivals_employment@bossapolis.com), June 20, 2004.