VC Radio
Voice Coaches Radio #575 – How Hard Is It To Land the Gig?
Voice coaches, radio, everything voiceover. Welcome to a brand new episode of voice coaches radio. My name is Marissa finding you here on this beautiful St. Patrick's day. I actually know it's beautiful, but green is a beautiful color. Uh, I am Irish. I realized it took a while for me to realize this for whatever reason.
But, when it comes to my grandparents, like my nana, still living, 90 years old, she is just like, you know, unbreakable. Um, but she is 100 percent Irish, which then means I am at least 25 percent Irish. This whole time I thought I was more Italian than anything, and I don't think that's the case anymore. Um, but, that just means I should be celebrating like crazy.
I don't like beer though, that's not my jam, so green beer is off the table. No Jameson. Yeah, I mean, I do like some whiskey, so maybe we could throw that in some coffee, I guess. Green bagels just look like they need to be thrown out, you know? It's just like, ugh. Um, so, I'll just, you know what? I'm just gonna make sure I'm wearing green all day, and I think that will, that will do the job, right?
Uh, if you are going and celebrating it all for St. Patrick's Day, because everybody is Irish today, uh, just be careful, okay? Be cautious. And also, it's like amateur weekend, so just be cautious of everybody around you as well. Um, you know, I have a lot of questions that have been coming in. When it comes to, obviously, voiceover, because that's what we're here for, right?
What I always like to remind people of is... This is a job, right? Like, we're all going into it because there's a hint of, like, glam to it, right? It's a little bit glamorous, but it's also kind of not because we can wear sweat pants. Um, you know, it's a little Hollywood, but it's also not because, like, I can be in my home basement studio doing whatever.
It's just a different, fun kind of job than anybody is really ever used to because a lot of people just go and they, they're just like paper pushers, right? They're just crunchy. of numbers and whatever, and that seems awful, uh, and I get that. And you know, that's, that's why a lot, a lot of people want to go ahead and get themselves into the voiceover field, and, and go ahead and explore the creativity that goes along with it, and that artistic side, and maybe the theatrical side that you've always had but was always just like shoved in the back.
So. You know, people look at voiceover differently, but the question that I was thrown out here this week is, how difficult is it to land a job really? So how difficult is it to land a job? Here's what I want you to kind of think about real quick. You're going, and you're starting off fresh in voiceover.
You're nervous, you're a little intimidated, right, because you haven't really tried to navigate this world before. And you've got this demo that you put together, and you think it's alright, so like you're sending it out to people, but you're not getting a lot of traction. You're getting frustrated by the process.
You go and you do an audition, and you never hear anything, and it's like, gosh, this seems so difficult. And it kind of seems like maybe I'm just, you know, this little tiny pebble. in a sea of rocks and, you know, debris. And it's like, how, how am I going to land that job? You know, this seems like it's impossible.
It's not impossible. I want you to step outside of the way of, that you've been thinking about this, this entire time for just a moment, right? I want you to think about when you were about to get your first job ever. You go, you put a resume together. Right, and there might not be a ton on that resume, it might say babysitting, it might say that you mowed lawns, it might have some references that are family friends because you don't have anybody yet, you know, and it's like you're out there and you're trying to find what you think you could be potentially good at, you know, maybe it's your first job, it was me, you know, I just kind of walked into Burger King one day, and I filled out their little application and boom, I got hired on the spot, it's like, whoa.
That seemed like it was too easy. You go and you're trying to get maybe the first adult job, you know, you've got on that resume just Burger King, you know, and you've got like, okay, I went to community college for a couple years and I've got a degree in business. I mean, so broad, right? You go in, you do that interview.
You get the job, you know, it's, it's like, and you start in the field and you start growing and you start expanding your knowledge and your skill sets, and maybe your, your niche in whatever, you know, the, the job might be, all of that seems normal, it seems realistic, it seems attainable, it, it just seems like that's what we all do, right, that's kind of what this is, you know, I think a lot of people tend to look at voiceover differently because they look at it Like it's Hollywood, you know, you look at it like you're going for a Broadway play or you're gonna be trying to go out for a TV show or whatever, and there's just like so many people trying to get that job.
How could I possibly be noticed? How many people, let me ask you this, thinking back to the job that you have had as a career. thus far. How many people do you think also interviewed for that position that you've had for the last 10 years? Like when you went in for that interview, how many people do you think also interviewed with that same group of people and, and then got denied that job because you got it?
These are things that we don't typically think about, you know, and what I would call your interview, I would call that an audition. You have been auditioning for years. Years. You just didn't realize it because you've been calling it something else, you know, and that's when we start calling it something else like that or looking at it differently.
We are, like, giving it and presenting it and holding it with more weight than it actually needs to have. There could have been 500 people that interviewed for that same position that you've held for the last 10 years, but you got it based on your skill set, based on what you presented to them within that interview, aka audition.
It came down to you were the best person for the job. That's what it comes down to in voiceover. And you know what? In this case, experience maybe isn't necessarily. The be all end all either, you know, you could be fresh and brand new and you just started and you have a little education under your belt.
So you kind of understand what's going on, but you've been practicing so much and you've been growing so much that your skill set might be better than somebody who's been doing this for two, three, four years, but they haven't been able to practice as much as you have, you know, so you're growing at a much faster rate than somebody else.
And all of a sudden you go and you do this audition that they do too, but you get it. And. I say this because it happened to me, uh, you know, I, my first radio job, I was at this radio school for about a month and I, I got hired at the radio station that I actually wanted to get hired at locally. And it, I was just pushing buttons at first, but I never stopped working and hustling and trying to, you know, get better and better every single day.
I was taking people's feedback. I was running with it and I stayed in school while I was, you know, starting out and all of a sudden the, the opportunity became available for overnights, which God, nobody really wants to work that overnight shift, but that's how you get your foot in the door and on the air.
At least back then, in 2004. So, like, I was filling in. You know, they would have me fill in for a week. They'd have this other guy that was also part time at the radio station fill in for a week. And we'd go back and forth, back and forth. Now, he had been doing this. Two, three years now at this point, and he thought, boom, this is mine.
There, if it's just between me and this new girl, she's been doing this for like a day. It is gonna be mine, and he had the ego and the, the arrogance to go along with it. I kept growing more and more and more and my boss ended up seeing something in me that was that little spark, you know, it's like, all right, well, if she's grown this much in just a couple months, like what's going to happen a couple of years from now?
And I ended up getting that job. I don't know if that guy is still in radio at all. I don't even think he was in radio a couple years after that. I've been going strong ever since. It's like, if you're putting the work in, the effort in, it pays off in the end. I'm not going to say you do one audition, you get the gig.
How many jobs did you go and interview with before you got the job that you have now? You know, it's like, sometimes it takes... 10, 20 auditions to get that first job. So. Is it super easy? No, but like, isn't this a lot more fun to do than going and sitting in a room trying to get an accountant job? Probably.
I mean, I have to believe it. I failed math a whole bunch, so I don't want to be trying for an accountant job. I'm not going to get that. Um, but you know, when it comes down to how hard is it really to get the job? It is really all in what you're putting into it, and it is all in your perspective on the matter itself.
So don't, don't let it hold more weight and be on this pedestal of importance or, or fright. Um, you know, just auditioning for jobs themselves because you've been doing this your entire life. Now you get to do it a much more fun way and let yourself have fun so your skills can really soar in that audition.
All right. So. Give yourself time, give yourself patience. And, and keep growing, but the jobs will come, and, you know, when you're getting into the ideas and the places of understanding where your voice really fits, and where, you know, you are starting to get work, it's like, you're gonna get that traction, and it's gonna keep growing and growing and growing.
Um, so, Again, patience, time and fun. Um, but, uh, make sure that you are sending any of your questions into [email protected] and we will get a brand new episode of Voice Coaches Radio coming up for you next week. Again, stay safe for the St. Patrick's Day and I'll talk to you soon.
Visit voice coaches.com for more voiceover news and information.
But, when it comes to my grandparents, like my nana, still living, 90 years old, she is just like, you know, unbreakable. Um, but she is 100 percent Irish, which then means I am at least 25 percent Irish. This whole time I thought I was more Italian than anything, and I don't think that's the case anymore. Um, but, that just means I should be celebrating like crazy.
I don't like beer though, that's not my jam, so green beer is off the table. No Jameson. Yeah, I mean, I do like some whiskey, so maybe we could throw that in some coffee, I guess. Green bagels just look like they need to be thrown out, you know? It's just like, ugh. Um, so, I'll just, you know what? I'm just gonna make sure I'm wearing green all day, and I think that will, that will do the job, right?
Uh, if you are going and celebrating it all for St. Patrick's Day, because everybody is Irish today, uh, just be careful, okay? Be cautious. And also, it's like amateur weekend, so just be cautious of everybody around you as well. Um, you know, I have a lot of questions that have been coming in. When it comes to, obviously, voiceover, because that's what we're here for, right?
What I always like to remind people of is... This is a job, right? Like, we're all going into it because there's a hint of, like, glam to it, right? It's a little bit glamorous, but it's also kind of not because we can wear sweat pants. Um, you know, it's a little Hollywood, but it's also not because, like, I can be in my home basement studio doing whatever.
It's just a different, fun kind of job than anybody is really ever used to because a lot of people just go and they, they're just like paper pushers, right? They're just crunchy. of numbers and whatever, and that seems awful, uh, and I get that. And you know, that's, that's why a lot, a lot of people want to go ahead and get themselves into the voiceover field, and, and go ahead and explore the creativity that goes along with it, and that artistic side, and maybe the theatrical side that you've always had but was always just like shoved in the back.
So. You know, people look at voiceover differently, but the question that I was thrown out here this week is, how difficult is it to land a job really? So how difficult is it to land a job? Here's what I want you to kind of think about real quick. You're going, and you're starting off fresh in voiceover.
You're nervous, you're a little intimidated, right, because you haven't really tried to navigate this world before. And you've got this demo that you put together, and you think it's alright, so like you're sending it out to people, but you're not getting a lot of traction. You're getting frustrated by the process.
You go and you do an audition, and you never hear anything, and it's like, gosh, this seems so difficult. And it kind of seems like maybe I'm just, you know, this little tiny pebble. in a sea of rocks and, you know, debris. And it's like, how, how am I going to land that job? You know, this seems like it's impossible.
It's not impossible. I want you to step outside of the way of, that you've been thinking about this, this entire time for just a moment, right? I want you to think about when you were about to get your first job ever. You go, you put a resume together. Right, and there might not be a ton on that resume, it might say babysitting, it might say that you mowed lawns, it might have some references that are family friends because you don't have anybody yet, you know, and it's like you're out there and you're trying to find what you think you could be potentially good at, you know, maybe it's your first job, it was me, you know, I just kind of walked into Burger King one day, and I filled out their little application and boom, I got hired on the spot, it's like, whoa.
That seemed like it was too easy. You go and you're trying to get maybe the first adult job, you know, you've got on that resume just Burger King, you know, and you've got like, okay, I went to community college for a couple years and I've got a degree in business. I mean, so broad, right? You go in, you do that interview.
You get the job, you know, it's, it's like, and you start in the field and you start growing and you start expanding your knowledge and your skill sets, and maybe your, your niche in whatever, you know, the, the job might be, all of that seems normal, it seems realistic, it seems attainable, it, it just seems like that's what we all do, right, that's kind of what this is, you know, I think a lot of people tend to look at voiceover differently because they look at it Like it's Hollywood, you know, you look at it like you're going for a Broadway play or you're gonna be trying to go out for a TV show or whatever, and there's just like so many people trying to get that job.
How could I possibly be noticed? How many people, let me ask you this, thinking back to the job that you have had as a career. thus far. How many people do you think also interviewed for that position that you've had for the last 10 years? Like when you went in for that interview, how many people do you think also interviewed with that same group of people and, and then got denied that job because you got it?
These are things that we don't typically think about, you know, and what I would call your interview, I would call that an audition. You have been auditioning for years. Years. You just didn't realize it because you've been calling it something else, you know, and that's when we start calling it something else like that or looking at it differently.
We are, like, giving it and presenting it and holding it with more weight than it actually needs to have. There could have been 500 people that interviewed for that same position that you've held for the last 10 years, but you got it based on your skill set, based on what you presented to them within that interview, aka audition.
It came down to you were the best person for the job. That's what it comes down to in voiceover. And you know what? In this case, experience maybe isn't necessarily. The be all end all either, you know, you could be fresh and brand new and you just started and you have a little education under your belt.
So you kind of understand what's going on, but you've been practicing so much and you've been growing so much that your skill set might be better than somebody who's been doing this for two, three, four years, but they haven't been able to practice as much as you have, you know, so you're growing at a much faster rate than somebody else.
And all of a sudden you go and you do this audition that they do too, but you get it. And. I say this because it happened to me, uh, you know, I, my first radio job, I was at this radio school for about a month and I, I got hired at the radio station that I actually wanted to get hired at locally. And it, I was just pushing buttons at first, but I never stopped working and hustling and trying to, you know, get better and better every single day.
I was taking people's feedback. I was running with it and I stayed in school while I was, you know, starting out and all of a sudden the, the opportunity became available for overnights, which God, nobody really wants to work that overnight shift, but that's how you get your foot in the door and on the air.
At least back then, in 2004. So, like, I was filling in. You know, they would have me fill in for a week. They'd have this other guy that was also part time at the radio station fill in for a week. And we'd go back and forth, back and forth. Now, he had been doing this. Two, three years now at this point, and he thought, boom, this is mine.
There, if it's just between me and this new girl, she's been doing this for like a day. It is gonna be mine, and he had the ego and the, the arrogance to go along with it. I kept growing more and more and more and my boss ended up seeing something in me that was that little spark, you know, it's like, all right, well, if she's grown this much in just a couple months, like what's going to happen a couple of years from now?
And I ended up getting that job. I don't know if that guy is still in radio at all. I don't even think he was in radio a couple years after that. I've been going strong ever since. It's like, if you're putting the work in, the effort in, it pays off in the end. I'm not going to say you do one audition, you get the gig.
How many jobs did you go and interview with before you got the job that you have now? You know, it's like, sometimes it takes... 10, 20 auditions to get that first job. So. Is it super easy? No, but like, isn't this a lot more fun to do than going and sitting in a room trying to get an accountant job? Probably.
I mean, I have to believe it. I failed math a whole bunch, so I don't want to be trying for an accountant job. I'm not going to get that. Um, but you know, when it comes down to how hard is it really to get the job? It is really all in what you're putting into it, and it is all in your perspective on the matter itself.
So don't, don't let it hold more weight and be on this pedestal of importance or, or fright. Um, you know, just auditioning for jobs themselves because you've been doing this your entire life. Now you get to do it a much more fun way and let yourself have fun so your skills can really soar in that audition.
All right. So. Give yourself time, give yourself patience. And, and keep growing, but the jobs will come, and, you know, when you're getting into the ideas and the places of understanding where your voice really fits, and where, you know, you are starting to get work, it's like, you're gonna get that traction, and it's gonna keep growing and growing and growing.
Um, so, Again, patience, time and fun. Um, but, uh, make sure that you are sending any of your questions into [email protected] and we will get a brand new episode of Voice Coaches Radio coming up for you next week. Again, stay safe for the St. Patrick's Day and I'll talk to you soon.
Visit voice coaches.com for more voiceover news and information.
This week on Voice Coaches Radio, Marissa does her best in answering the question: “How Hard Is It to Lang the Gig?” Well, it just might be a perspective change that allows you to see you may be more used to “auditioning” than you think.
