Recruitment Strategies for Permanent Music Festival Staff.

Working in the music festival sector has a reputation for low pay, long unsocial hours and challenging working conditions yet remains one of the most rewarding and popular career choices. What strategies can organisers use to recruit and retain a core permanent team that finds the best fit candidates for the roles needed.

For a large festival organising entity the variety of functional roles and experience required can be vast. Music festival vacancies can be particularly scarce and combined with their popularity can result in huge volumes of applicants for a single position. Organisers can employ various strategies that target passionate, skilled and experienced candidates avoiding unnecessary investment in additional recruitment resourcing. 

Roles, Responsibilities and Functional Differences. 
It makes sense to clearly define the roles within the festival organisation which can be logically divided into functional roles and those that are event specific. Functional roles like Finance, IT and Human Resources may not require festival specific experience but are more likely to need functional experience and qualifications. Event specific roles like Artist Managers, Operations, Production, Sponsor & Vendor Managers, Volunteer Managers and Marketing will more likely have an emphasis on both functional and festival specific experience. 

Formal Recruitment Channels. 
There are a plethora of online job boards which can be considered for recruitment of festival staff however vacancies posted in these channels can attract an unnecessarily large volumes of unsuitable applicants. However, for functional roles working in Finance, IT and Human Resources vacancies posted in job boards or more professional platforms like LinkedIn may be appropriate. Formal recruitment channels may also work well for intern and trainee recruitment of both functional and festival specific roles where qualifications are more important than experience because it’s where the majority of fresh graduates look for jobs. 

Informal Recruitment Channels. 
For event and festival specific roles requiring experience the majority of vacancies are filled through informal channels. Organisers may consider looking within their own group of volunteers with the advantage that potential candidates have event specific experience and individuals are already known to the organising team. Festival specific networking events and conferences are great for seeking out experienced potential candidates and in some cases, organisers can target specific individuals from other organisations that they want on their team. Organisers can also consider low key posts on social media channels although this can generate large volumes of applicants. Working with educational institutions running festival specific courses can help connect with potential candidates and industry specific associations can sometimes help organisers find the right candidates. 

Benefits and Compensation. 
Given that the music festival industry has a reputation for low pay and long working hours organisers will need to make their festival entity attractive to potential candidates especially if they are to attract experienced individuals from competitors. One of the easiest benefits that organisers can give to festival staff is flexibility in working hours as organisers are more interested in completion of tasks than hours worked. Providing access-all-areas passes for other festivals can be attractive to those passionate about the industry. Given the potential for unsocial and long working hours organisers should ensure that new staff get access to comprehensive health and wellness programmes and that their performance is recognised within the organisation along with financial bonusses where possible. 

The reality of recruitment in the music festival sector is that most vacancies are filled through networking making it difficult for new candidates to break into the industry. The sector is a close-knit community and when a festival organiser is looking to fill a role most potential candidates will be aware. This can work in favour of the organiser but with the disadvantage that the diversity of those working in the sector is diminished. 

For festival organisers planning their next events using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their event logistics. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The Festival Pro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features with specific modules for managing artists, contractors, venues/stages, vendors, volunteers, sponsors, guestlists, ticketing, site planning, cashless payments and contactless ordering.

Image by Henri Mathieu-Saint-Laurent via Pexels.

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