Getting Ready to Act Full Time
By Maya Sayre, N2Arts Correspondent
A senior year guide to getting hired
 

ere are some helpful hints on how to organize your last year at school - college or high school.  Whatever training you currently have, the real world can be harsh.  Here are some preparations that may ease the transition.  Just by doing a few things every month, you will have accomplished so much by the end of the spring.  Good luck and happy planning!

September

1) Get a cell phone and email address. These are essential in the biz!

2) Set aside two hours per week for career planning and research. Write this protected block of time in your day planner every week. (Read a play, research summer stock, or memorize a new monologue.)

3) Talk about your career goals with people you trust, and seek their advice.

October

1) Update your resume. (List your cell phone number on your resume, NOT your home number, and NEVER your address. Be smart and be safe!)

2) Make a list of theatres in the surrounding area of where you hope to be. Check out which Summer Stock / Regional Theatres that recent graduates have worked at, and see what their experiences were.

November

1) Organize monologues and / or music

2) Create an “audition book” with selections of your best audition material

3) Start a “job search” folder or notebook of job related information: research notes, newspaper clippings, employer literature, skill lists, job leads, professional contracts, etc.

4) Get headshots (and reproductions) ready to go.

December

1) Do Internet research on employers from your “potential employers” list

2) Read The New York Agent Book & The Los Angeles Agent Book - both are by K. Callan. (These are FABULOUS tools, and will give you insight into the minds of agents.  Read them.)

3) Open a savings account & save some of that Christmas money for later use. (Headshots, audition-wear, etc.)

January

1) Develop a personal networking list of possible contacts.  List all contacts in different cities - you never know when you’ll end up in Oil City, PA!!

2) Keep updating your resume.

February

1) Develop several cover letter formats that can be adjusted to each individual mailing. (Casting agents, theatres, films, etc.)

2) Start sending out resumes and cover letters for summer work.

March

1) Subscribe to Backstage, Backstage.com or Ross Reports. (And read them!!)

Spring Break

1) Catch up on all the career-related tasks you didn’t finish.

2) Continue to send out resumes and cover letters for summer work.

April

1) Allow more time for your career-related activities. Expand your weekly hours to three or more.

2) Develop a system for organizing your job search records and scheduling. Two options are a notebook, or a card file system. It is essential that you keep accurate records of contacts, leads, and follow-up efforts. 

3) Post your headshot and resume on-line. (Backstage.com offers a posting with membership, but check out your options. Your own Web page is becoming a more and more useful in the biz.)

4) Prepare for auditions. Practice those monologues and/or rehearse the 16 bars until you’re blue in the face! 

5) Make lists of mini tasks that can be done when you have a free 10 or 15 minutes. This is a great way to use your time effectively!

May

1) Think positively! It isn’t the process that causes anxiety, but how you approach it and react to it. 

2) Have fun!

Maya Sayre is a professional actress and a member of the Actor's Equity Association. She holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Otterbein College. She currently resides is Ohio where she auditions, performs, and discusses iambic pentameter with her 10 month old son. She can reached by email at MayaSayre@hotmail.com.