Running away to join the circus...

So, a couple of weeks ago, Cirque Du Soleil sent out a piece of email to all their "Cirque Club" members in Boston saying "Cirque's coming to town. We need locals to work for us. Come apply!"

Seeing as how I'm unemployed these days, have always liked circuses in general and Cirque in particular, and everyone else ALSO thought this sounded like something I should do, I figured why not.

Cirque's temps are handled by Adecco and they way they handle the hiring process strikes me as a "We have 3x as many applicants as we need, so we don't need to screen TOO hard" sort of process.

1st) One could either show up at their offices or go to Suffolk Downs (the race track where Cirque plants itself locally) to apply. I did the latter. It was almost entirely a "Fill out all this employment paperwork" thing - I9, Official Adecco application (previous employers and salary? A bit outside your normal range. Experience? Almost nothing appropriate to this.), etc. etc., along with a small bit of "these are the jobs we have available and a bit about Cirque. Choose your top 2."

2nd) A mandatory 'Orientation' was held, in 3 sessions, on this past Wednesday. It was almost entirely a weeding out of those who couldn't be bothered to show up. They handed out a xeroxed stack of papers with misc Cirque info, explained the papers, answered a few questions, and set up a "2nd" interview with everyone.

As I expected, one of the things they told us was a somewhat milder version of "Rule 1: Leave the talent alone." Also, "leave at the end of your shift," "wear black pants, socks, and shoes," and "call if you're going to be late or else". Oh, and "If you have a week of vacation already scheduled, don't even bother".

3rd) The interview process was 6 applicants and 1 or 2 recruiters at a round table in 20 minute blocks. I'd chosen VIP Tent as my 1st choice, so that was the table I went to. The other 5 were 3 16-20 year old girls and 2 45-55yo women. No one was asked more than 4 questions - mine were: Why do you want to work with Cirque; Describe yourself in 3 words; Describe an experience where you've worked with a team; Would you be willing to wear a costume at work.
We were all then sent on our way with a slip of paper saying to call tomorrow (today, that is) in a given hour.

I called today. I didn't get VIP Tent, but I did get Usher (my 2nd choice). Training is 4 hours next Friday afternoon/evening.

The pay is less than I have EVER made in my professional career. Ah well, it's more than zero and this is a fairly unique experience, and it's not like I have much better to do.

Amusingly, Cirque's being eited by the DNC too... they open July 25, close the 26-29th, reopen on the 30th and they've extended the run til Sep. 5. Yes, that's the weekend of Worldcon. Not sure what I'll say about my availability then yet. I know that I'm not going to be able to work during the Fetish Fair Fleamarket™.

Perqs include the possibility of winning a merchandise gift certificate, 4 normal or 2 VIP tickets, getting to watch the show from the sound booth, or getting to go up to the top of the Grand Chapiteau with the tech crew. We'll see if I can manage Employee-Of-The-Week class service. :)

I'm not going to join customers_suck yet, but I expect I may be tempted.

So... at least I get to see the show which I wouldn't otherwise. :)

See some of you there, I expect. Maybe I'll even show you to your seat.

Running away to join the circus...

So, a couple of weeks ago, Cirque Du Soleil sent out a piece of email to all their "Cirque Club" members in Boston saying "Cirque's coming to town. We need locals to work for us. Come apply!"

Seeing as how I'm unemployed these days, have always liked circuses in general and Cirque in particular, and everyone else ALSO thought this sounded like something I should do, I figured why not.

Cirque's temps are handled by Adecco and they way they handle the hiring process strikes me as a "We have 3x as many applicants as we need, so we don't need to screen TOO hard" sort of process.

1st) One could either show up at their offices or go to Suffolk Downs (the race track where Cirque plants itself locally) to apply. I did the latter. It was almost entirely a "Fill out all this employment paperwork" thing - I9, Official Adecco application (previous employers and salary? A bit outside your normal range. Experience? Almost nothing appropriate to this.), etc. etc., along with a small bit of "these are the jobs we have available and a bit about Cirque. Choose your top 2."

2nd) A mandatory 'Orientation' was held, in 3 sessions, on this past Wednesday. It was almost entirely a weeding out of those who couldn't be bothered to show up. They handed out a xeroxed stack of papers with misc Cirque info, explained the papers, answered a few questions, and set up a "2nd" interview with everyone.

As I expected, one of the things they told us was a somewhat milder version of "Rule 1: Leave the talent alone." Also, "leave at the end of your shift," "wear black pants, socks, and shoes," and "call if you're going to be late or else". Oh, and "If you have a week of vacation already scheduled, don't even bother".

3rd) The interview process was 6 applicants and 1 or 2 recruiters at a round table in 20 minute blocks. I'd chosen VIP Tent as my 1st choice, so that was the table I went to. The other 5 were 3 16-20 year old girls and 2 45-55yo women. No one was asked more than 4 questions - mine were: Why do you want to work with Cirque; Describe yourself in 3 words; Describe an experience where you've worked with a team; Would you be willing to wear a costume at work.
We were all then sent on our way with a slip of paper saying to call tomorrow (today, that is) in a given hour.

I called today. I didn't get VIP Tent, but I did get Usher (my 2nd choice). Training is 4 hours next Friday afternoon/evening.

The pay is less than I have EVER made in my professional career. Ah well, it's more than zero and this is a fairly unique experience, and it's not like I have much better to do.

Amusingly, Cirque's being eited by the DNC too... they open July 25, close the 26-29th, reopen on the 30th and they've extended the run til Sep. 5. Yes, that's the weekend of Worldcon. Not sure what I'll say about my availability then yet. I know that I'm not going to be able to work during the Fetish Fair Fleamarket™.

Perqs include the possibility of winning a merchandise gift certificate, 4 normal or 2 VIP tickets, getting to watch the show from the sound booth, or getting to go up to the top of the Grand Chapiteau with the tech crew. We'll see if I can manage Employee-Of-The-Week class service. :)

I'm not going to join customers_suck yet, but I expect I may be tempted.

So... at least I get to see the show which I wouldn't otherwise. :)

See some of you there, I expect. Maybe I'll even show you to your seat.

Signs

While we went out trying to find the signs hammercock mentioned in her comments to me, those seem to be gone. However, I found one new (to me) Sonik outside The Thirsty Scholar on Beacon, and one of the "Cloud" signs in Central.

The Sonik's up in http://www.lse.org/gallery/Signs-Of-Life - I will say, it's not overly exciting... but if you didn't look at the 2 from my previous entry, you should. :)

The cloud, along with the 6 previous stencil-on-metal signs, have all been put in http://www.lse.org/gallery/Other-Signs (which is also a sub-album of S-O-L).

Any information about the artists of Other-Signs is welcome. Comment here or in the gallery.

Signs

While we went out trying to find the signs hammercock mentioned in her comments to me, those seem to be gone. However, I found one new (to me) Sonik outside The Thirsty Scholar on Beacon, and one of the "Cloud" signs in Central.

The Sonik's up in http://www.lse.org/gallery/Signs-Of-Life - I will say, it's not overly exciting... but if you didn't look at the 2 from my previous entry, you should. :)

The cloud, along with the 6 previous stencil-on-metal signs, have all been put in http://www.lse.org/gallery/Other-Signs (which is also a sub-album of S-O-L).

Any information about the artists of Other-Signs is welcome. Comment here or in the gallery.