What’s the Point of the UTA Joblist?

First off, there’s a new UTA Joblist on the TAPA site, dated 6/21 (thanks to the readers who sent me the new one). I don’t know why some people get the list earlier than others. If you ever happen to get a more up-to-date one than you see here, please send me a copy, so I can share it with the TAPA community.

A few people have asked me over the years, “Does anyone ever really get a job off the joblist?” Well, yes. The jobs that were posted must’ve been filled at some point, right?

But the odds are slim that any one person (you) will get a job off a particular iteration of the list. For instance, today, there were 33 “assistant level” positions.

This month, over a thousand people looked at the UTA Joblist on my site. Lord knows how many people are getting it from their alma mater, Temp Diaries, or their uncle Steve.

What I’m saying is, there’s a lot of competition for those 33 spots.

What’s worse, most of those spots have already been filled. Only 9 listings are new to this list. Most job listing get literally hundreds of applications. From my experience, the people offering jobs don’t look past the first 50 or so applicants. If the job posting has been up since June 10th, I guarantee you’re not in that first cohort.

That being said, the Joblist is not completely useless. I’ve gotten two jobs out of it, including my very first out of college, and a good dozen interviews. That may not sound like a lot, but bear in mind, I’m not constantly looking for work. Some shows I’ve worked on lasted nearly an entire season.

Of course, by hosting the UTA Joblist on TAPA, I’m increasing the competition for every job, making it that much less likely I’ll get the next job. Hmm, maybe I haven’t thought this through…