Does being a musician affect your chances of employment?

powderfinger · #1 08-10-2011, 09:57 PM

I know this might sound like a crazy question, but I started thinking. I have indeed been actively job searching... talking to people, sending out letters/resumes. No luck yet. However, I have a question now.

I have been approached to play bass for an original bar band. Covers too, but mostly originals. They are pretty decent, professional guys, and I am seriously considering it. Just because I miss playing.

That said. We will probably set up a web page, a Reverb page, etc. I used to play with one of these guys years ago, and we even had several newspaper write ups. In other words, google my real name and location, and alot of my band stuff would come up. Well, not anymore, bc all my old band pages are down, and the articles are so old, they are dead links now.

However, if I apply for a job. And the HR person, mgr or whoever decides to google me (and they will... nosy asses), they will find I am in a bar band! No big deal. I will be playing with professional guys. Nothing offensive or bad taste. However, I have known of band friends who didnt get jobs bc they WERE IN BANDS. One guy was told by the hiring mgr that he wants someone focused on a career not a band.

Now I know these HR guys are clueless, and anyone that makes that sort of generalization is basically a nazi, but I may sadly need one of these nazis to hire me. Does being in a band.. a publicly known band, decrease your chances of being taken AS serious in a job interview?

This is a legit question. I am afraid the HR person may think, "oh this guy is mid 30s... playing in a band.. no wonder he doesnt have a good job".... blah blah.

LiquidMidnight · #2 08-10-2011, 11:10 PM

Well, being a musician is not being in a protected class so you don't get Title VII shelter. In other words, an employer can discriminate based upon you being a musician.

With that said, employers can discriminate against you on all kinds of criteria so as long as it doesn't violate a labor law such as Title VII, ADA, NLRA, etc, even if it has no construct or criterion validity related to the job at hand. You could go crazy trying to arrange your life so as to remain as neutral as possible, but honestly, that's about impossible. Further, corporate culture has a lot to do with selection; and for as many firms who are looking for someone conservative, there are firms looking for someone creative. My advice is to make your social networks private, don't do anything to screw up your credit or get a criminal record, and focus on the value that you will bring to the job. Maybe a hiring manager won't hire you because you're in a band. But maybe you won't get hired because you salted your food before tasting it on a dinner interview or you wore a white shirt instead of a blue shirt to an interview or any other number of things that have no criterion validity related to the selection process but people with their biases still think they have some predictive relationship with how you will perform the job.

P.s. Interesting anecdote...my father is a bass player as well. He interviewed at a company that made amplifiers for television cables. Remember those black, rectangular boxes that used to hang on cables? He built those. The job entailed soldering on small chipboards. It came out during the interview that my father was a bass player. After my dad was hired, he learned from the hiring manager that she wasn't originally going to hire him due to his large hands, but upon learning that he played bass, she changed her mind. The reason: Because she figured if he played bass, he was adroit enough with his hands to handle soldering small parts. He worked at the factory for over 10 years. Again, while this is anecdotal, it does drive home the point that predicting what employers may be specifically looking for is often futile.

Munjibunga · #3 08-10-2011, 11:46 PM

When I ran my company, being a musician was a plus. Several of our employees were in bands (including me). I think musicians tend to have a little greater creativity. From what I gather around here, though, many employers don't have that mindset.

**colcifer** · #4 08-10-2011, 11:57 PM

Anyone else impressed that this thead has a Nazi comparison in the first post?

Jazz Ad · #5 08-11-2011, 12:24 AM

People take this whole Facebook/Google employer enquiry way too seriously. It's borderline paranoia.
Sure, it may happen once in a while and make the news.
As a general rule, employers care about how well you can do the job, how much money you can help them making. They don't give a crap about the rest.
People who pretend they didn't get a job because they were musicians are full of it.

**MAJOR METAL** · #6 08-11-2011, 02:36 AM

Music is recreation for me, I have chosen not to make it a profession.

Icey101 · #7 08-11-2011, 02:56 AM

change you last name by a few letters or make up another name and only tell a few at work you play....otherwise every late morning you have your boss will think your out playing and boozing on...lol

Fassa Albrecht · #8 08-11-2011, 04:02 AM

I've had an opposite experience in that I've gained two job interviews and one of the things discussed is my musicianship, which is actually mentioned on my CV. In the case of an electrical assembly job, one of the things discussed was my knowledge of bass guitar electronics, which the interviewer seemed to think gave me an advantage over a lot of people she'd spoken to as I could show demonstrated skill in soldering, handing of components and the like.

Another one was a retail job where I'd been interviewed and they asked me something to do with knowledge of a company's products, for which I was able to make reference again to my bass playing, and how I'd self-studied to make myself knowledgable on different gear, and how I was able to quickly pick up information from different sources, such as the internet, magazines, other people who were knowledgable etc. This made the interviewer pretty pleased and he actually said to me at the end that this kind of skill in someone so young (bear in mind I was in an interview room where the average age of the interviewee was probably 40) was incredibly good.

Chebass88 · #9 08-11-2011, 04:57 AM

I have it written on my resume, and usually talk about it during interviews. At this point, it is pretty obvious that I have not selected music as a careeer, and it is a big hobby in my life. Much like photography, tying flies, or hunting can be to others.

jp58 · #10 08-11-2011, 05:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colcifer

Anyone else impressed that this thead has a Nazi comparison in the first post?

Nah, it's a rule of the internet...

I'd be mroe surprised if we'd have made i a page without one.

Ziltoid · #11 08-11-2011, 05:31 AM

I usually use it to my advantage in interviews, exemple of discipline, working with others, manual skills, etc. It tends to bring itself up, they usually ask a question concerning hobbies in which I talk about music, photography, troubleshooting/building computers or cycling, that all depends on the feel I get from the interviewer.

i_got_a_mohawk · #12 08-11-2011, 07:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chebass88

I have it written on my resume, and usually talk about it during interviews. At this point, it is pretty obvious that I have not selected music as a careeer, and it is a big hobby in my life. Much like photography, tying flies, or hunting can be to others.

+1

I have it in a small blurb on my CV (which also includes how I play rugby, do photography and weightlift, best part of all is you can turn them into HR friendly statements, being good for communication, team building etc etc).

I have never had any negative feedback on having this included. Heck, it can make great talking points in the interview, especially if the person interviewing you does something similar.

You just have to make sure they realise that what you do as a hobby is exactly that, a hobby, that you aren't going to ditch out of work to play a gig or something!

L-A · #13 08-11-2011, 07:14 AM

My resume says I play music, ride bicycles, and have hermit crabs as pets. It works wonders.

pedroims · #14 08-11-2011, 07:22 AM

all workmates know that I am in a band, my manager like the fact that I have a life outside of these four walls.

Edit: They also know that I started to brew my own beer, four workmates already bought a six pack each from me, beer will be ready in month

powderfinger · #15 08-11-2011, 07:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Munjibunga

When I ran my company, being a musician was a plus. Several of our employees were in bands (including me). I think musicians tend to have a little greater creativity. From what I gather around here, though, many employers don't have that mindset.

Thanks for the the replies, everyone. Reason I quoted this one was because I can see where being a musician would be a plus, and would indicate that one was indeed creative. However, also it was said many employers arent of that mindset. Its a shame. Only bring this point up to point out that many employers want cookie cutter, robot employees.

I think I will take one of the posters advice, and switch my name around, or maybe create an alias. My friends/fellow musicians will probably just think the alias is funny, and an inside joke, but it will prevent employers from being nosy.

I think personally being in a band shows you have a hobby and other interests, and also that you are indeed a creative soul.

I would hate to not pursue something I love out of fear or paranoia, though...

**jmattbassplaya** · #16 08-11-2011, 08:10 AM

Like I few others, I mention a few hobbies of mine near the end of my resume. Sports and music have always been talked over with interviewers and has always left a good impression with them.

adammazza · #17 08-11-2011, 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jazz Ad

People take this whole Facebook/Google employer enquiry way too seriously. It's borderline paranoia.
Sure, it may happen once in a while and make the news.
As a general rule, employers care about how well you can do the job, how much money you can help them making. They don't give a crap about the rest.
People who pretend they didn't get a job because they were musicians are full of it.

Every employer I know will Google a candidate and look for Facebook/Twitter/Google profiles.

This goes across industries as well.

powderfinger · #18 08-11-2011, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adammazza

Every employer I know will Google a candidate and look for Facebook/Twitter/Google profiles.

This goes across industries as well.

I dont have a Facebook

I dont have a Twitter.

If you Google my legal name, all you will find is an article where I was listed as a family member in an obituary, and a classmates.com listing or something with just my name on it.

I just dont wanna soil that!!!!

adammazza · #19 08-11-2011, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by powderfinger

I dont have a Facebook

I dont have a Twitter.

If you Google my legal name, all you will find is an article where I was listed as a family member in an obituary, and a classmates.com listing or something with just my name on it.

I just dont wanna soil that!!!!

Well, then as long as the band you join doesn't get famous and you get busted doing blow off a stripper's a**, I think you're pretty much safe

adammazza · #20 08-11-2011, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adammazza

Well, then as long as the band you join doesn't get famous and you get busted doing blow off a stripper's a**, I think you're pretty much safe

Of course the next job I interview for is going to Google me, and come across this post.

NOTE TO POTENTIAL EMPLOYER: Sorry!