A European voice teacher once told me that the New York City-based singers she knew were starving. I believed her. New York is widely considered the best destination to launch singing careers—but it’s not necessarily a good destination for your wallet. New York is the most expensive city in the United States and the tenth most expensive city worldwide, according to a recent cost-of-living survey conducted by Mercer Human Resource Consulting.
Even if you subsist on macaroni and cheese, it’s hard to make ends meet in New York. It’s harder if you’re just starting out. Building a foundation for your career takes time. Meanwhile, you have to pay rent and, ideally, take voice lessons and coaching sessions. How can you manage to do this if you’re not getting auditions, let alone getting work? One option is to temp.
The Pros
It may not be a glamorous way to pass the time while you wait for the Met to call, but temping offers several benefits to singers.
Money. You probably won’t become an overnight millionaire through temping, but you should be able to make enough to cover your basic expenses, such as food, clothing, and shelter. Better-paying assignments will help you cover voice lessons, which usually cost between $100 and $200 with the better-known teachers, and “start-up” costs such as headshots.
Flexibility. Temp assignments vary in length. Some last only a day or two. If you have an audition scheduled, you can simply tell your agency that you’re not available on that day. On the other hand, if your priority is financial security, you can request longer-term assignments.
“I like the ability to determine your own schedule, take all the vacation time you can afford to take, when you want to take it (not when it’s been accrued, or when it doesn’t conflict with anyone else’s requests for time off or with the deadline for the big important project),” explained one temp I interviewed. “Employers can certainly tell you not to come back, but they can’t tell you not to go!”
Actress Danielle DiVecchio, who has appeared on HBO’s The Sopranos, would agree. She recently completed a 10-week temp assignment at a company that accommodated her schedule. Whenever she had an audition, she notified the office manager that she’d be out. She advises other performers that companies are often willing to give you time off from your assignment “as long as they see that you work hard and do a good job.”
Meeting People. New York can be a lonely place for recent transplants who lack an existing network of friends and relatives. Temping gives you an opportunity to make some friends and contacts.
“I have met some amazing people in all of the various temp jobs I have done,” said aspiring writer and temp Daniel Madden. “I think that some of them will remain friends for a long time.”
Another plus is that you might be able to indirectly market yourself to people you meet on a temp assignment. For example, imagine the following situation. You meet an employee who recently became engaged. If the employee discovers you’re a singer, you could conceivably land yourself a gig performing at the wedding.
The Cons
It’s important to consider the drawbacks of temping as well as its advantages.
Fatigue. If you’re working 9-to-6, you might find yourself too exhausted to practice at the end of the day. If you have an assignment that requires you to answer phones, for example, your voice might get tired. To combat vocal fatigue on the job, you have to breathe correctly, speak at an appropriate pitch level, and watch your posture.
“Anything that compromises the posture is going to compromise the airway and the resonating chamber,” notes voice teacher Elizabeth Daniels. “There’s nothing the matter with filing as long as you’re breathing.” Even if you’re careful, however, the daily grind can sap your stamina.
Boredom. If you’ve spent years studying the arts and performing, you’re unlikely to find administrative assignments intellectually stimulating. Nick Garcia, a local actor, musician and temp, describes his first assignment as “filing, filing, filing.” Other tasks typically required of office temps include answering phones, photocopying, faxing, typing, scheduling, and sending or distributing mail. Such tasks are not necessarily unpleasant, but they are also not the sorts of activities to which conservatory students typically aspire.
It’s also unlikely you’ll be offered assignments that relate in some manner to your career goals. Suzanne Davis, president of the New York agency Temporary Staffing by Suzanne (TSS), points out that the music industry was hit hard by the economic downturn. As a result, temp assignments within the industry are few and far-between, and those that do come through don’t tend to pay well.
No Benefits. Garcia points out another disadvantage of temping: a “lack of insurance or sick pay.” Individual health plans can be exorbitantly expensive. If you secure a permanent position or join a prominent opera company, for example, you can often gain access to more inexpensive, group health plans. Similarly, if you happen to catch the flu while on a temp assignment and have to stay home, you could lose hundreds of dollars. If you’re a permanent employee, in contrast, you can simply take sick days.
Unpredictability. The flip side of flexibility is unpredictability. Short-term assignments often arise through an employee’s unexpected absence. If an employee calls in sick, for instance, the company’s HR representative calls an agency and requests a temp. Consequently, you may be offered an assignment the morning that the assignment is supposed to start. If you accept the assignment, you’ll have to hop out of bed, jump in the shower, and get yourself to the assignment as soon as possible.
Another consideration is that some assignments may end sooner than anticipated. These day-to-day developments make it hard to predict your weekly or monthly income and adjust your spending accordingly. As Daniel Madden explains, “I can be let go at a moment’s notice with no compensation. So I pay for the flexibility and the variety with worry and uncertainty.”
Is Temping Right for You?
When weighing the advantages and disadvantages of temping, think about your personal circumstances.
Do you have savings you can draw upon while you’re auditioning? If so, temping may not be an attractive option for you. If you’re struggling to make ends meet, temping may provide you with a practical means of supporting yourself.
What sort of feedback are you getting from teachers, coaches and competition judges? Do they think you’re “ready?” If the feedback is positive, perhaps you should hold off temping and focus your energies on auditions and competitions. If the feedback is that your voice needs to mature or that you need more experience, you may want to seriously consider temping as a short-term solution while you hone your technique and delivery.
Do you have any administrative skills such as typing, fluency with software applications, or experience with switchboards? The more administrative skills you have, the easier it is for agencies to place you. (Don’t despair if you have few administrative skills. Some agencies will train you, some can place you in jobs requiring only “light
admin,” while others specialize in non-office based temp work, such as manual labor.)
Getting Started
If you decide temping is right for you, you can begin researching and interviewing with agencies. Be warned: this process is not as straightforward or quick as you might expect.
How to Find a Good Agency
Ask around. You’d be surprised at how many of your friends and acquaintances have temped. If they had a good experience, contact the agency where they worked. I learned about my agency, Temporary Staffing by Suzanne, from an acquaintance who temped for several months.
If you can’t get recommendations through friends and acquaintances, you might want to try the HR departments of companies where you’d like to work in some capacity, suggests Davis of TSS.
“Explain that you’re new in town and that you’re looking for an agency,” she says. “You might reach a nice person, you might not. If you do, see if that person will tell you the names of the agencies the company uses.”
The career services department of your college or conservatory is another potential resource. Other alumni may also be able to recommend reputable agencies.
Striking out? Turn to the good old Yellow Pages for lists of agencies. Or if you’re technically inclined, you can find agency contact details and descriptions online. The website of the American Staffing Association (http://www.staffingtoday.net/jobseek/index.html) allows users to search for member temp agencies according to area and industry.
Narrow down your list of target agencies. When you contact an agency, Davis advises that you evaluate its level of professionalism. Ask a few general questions, such as which industries the agency specializes in and how the registration/interviewing process works. Do people listen to you? Are they polite and service-oriented?
“If you don’t feel comfortable with the service, or feel that the agency isn’t interested in you as a person, look elsewhere,” Davis cautions. “If an agency doesn’t respect who you are, it’s unlikely to look after your best interests.”
Register. Once you’ve narrowed down your target list, register with the agencies that leave you with the best impressions. Davis suggests registering with at least two to “increase your sources of employment.” On-site interviews give an opportunity to evaluate a firm more closely. Look around you. Is the office clean and organized? Do the employees look harassed? Are you treated with respect? Again, if you aren’t comfortable with the agency’s image or the way you are treated, then you should look elsewhere.
Interview Preparation
Bring a form of ID (passport or driver’s license) to your interviews as well as a résumé that highlights your office skills rather than your musical background. Dress nicely. Some of the agency’s clients may be high-profile companies with formal dress codes. If you want to be considered for assignments at these companies, which tend to offer the better-paying assignments, you will have to project a professional, presentable image.
Expect to Stay a While
Interviewing at a temp agency can be time-consuming. At some agencies, the registration and interview can take several hours. Have a meal or snack before you go!
When you arrive for your appointment, many agencies will give you a long application form to fill out. Fill out the application form in its entirety, even if your résumé contains the same information. Agencies usually require the following information:
Your contact details (address, telephone, and e-mail address).
Your Social Security number.
Your computer, language, and office skills.
Details of previous jobs, including a description of your responsibilities, the office address and telephone number, and the names and contact details for your former supervisors.
The names and addresses schools you attended (starting from high school), dates of attendance and the degrees you received.
Addresses and phone numbers of several personal, professional, or academic references (usually three).
After you’ve completed the application, the agency will probably ask you to take some tests. If you want to be considered for basic administrative jobs, expect to take a typing test and computer software tests (PowerPoint, Word and Excel).
Then What?
Most temp agencies can’t promise you work on the spot. If they like you, they will keep you in mind for new assignments that arise. Many agencies will “test you out” with a short-term assignment. It’s especially important, therefore, to make a good impression on your first assignment. Act as you would in an audition. Dress nicely, show up on time, be polite and cheerful, and you should do just fine.
Think on the positive side. Your years of music studies may serve you in good stead when it comes to temping. As Davis notes, “Good temporary services will welcome classical singers because the field requires hard work, discipline and dedication.”
Feeling Temp-ted?
Temping is not for everyone, but for singers who can tolerate unpredictability and who aren’t in urgent need of health benefits, it’s a practical, short-term solution. It may not be the most exciting employment option, but those who try temping may end up singing
its praises.
References
1. “Tokyo replaces Hong Kong as world’s most expensive city,” Mercer Human Resources Consulting press release, 16 June 2003.
