Getting a job is a job.

I'm involved with several different online film making communities, and something that I've been seeing from newer members lately, has been bugging me. I don't want to address it there and make people feel foolish, so hopefully they will find their way here and see this.

Making posts online like "I need a job" and "who's hiring" isn't helping any one. The other one I see is, "I'm a _____, and I'm looking for work." Damn! Come one guys, you are supposed to be professionals. 

I'll address these one at a time. 

Just saying that you need a job is not helpful to any one. If I were in a position where I needed to hire someone, the first people that I go to are the people that I know and trust. People that I have worked with and know first hand that I can rely on. Secondly, I will talk to people who bear the seal of approval of those people that I trust. If I'm desperate, and the recommendation carries enough weight, I might bring that person on with out a second thought, or maybe do a brief and informal interview.
Lastly, hiring people I don't know. Taking resumes, interviews, and calling people that I have met at events. 

If you just say that you need a job, you actually say to me "I don't have enough experience or a large enough network to get a job on my own. I don't even have a reel or resume to share." 

Being a novice is not a fault, but it is something that you need to fight against. 

I heard it said this weekend, "You can't do it until you've done it." Meaning that no one wants to hire you until you have the experience of that job. Its counter intuitive, but still kind of makes sense. Would YOU hire a plumber who had never piped a house? So how does he get the experience of piping a full house? 

One answer given yesterday was lie. Make sure that you don't let them down, or get caught in the lie. So make sure you bring your A game. 

The Second line that pisses me off, "I'm an editor/make up artist/what ever."

You need to post some kind of reel or portfolio, especially when it's a creative position like an editor. You can not hire an artistic position based on talk. I've done that, and it was a mistake. Though...even having a reel and portfolio can't tell you what a person is truly capable of. You can be fooled.  

One last thought, people talk about how much time they spend looking for jobs. Getting frustrated is natural, just remember one thing: you only need to talk to one person. The person who has the job for you. You may need to talk to 1000 people before you get to that person. I was extremely lucky, and found him very quickly. 

Just because you talked to that 1000 people doesn't earn you any extra kudos, but hopefully you don't think of those 1000 people in such black and white terms. That's 1000 potential employers down the road once you have a little more experience. 

If you practice hitting a baseball for 1000 hours, but practice wrong, you haven't improved. So bragging about it makes you sound stupid!

Quantity of time spent on an endeavor is not proportional to it's return. 

That's all I have for now. Stay sharp, and stay tuned.