You’re trying to start your career in music but the bills are coming in faster than the performances and students. The global pandemic has made getting started even harder. The reality is that sometimes we need to take side jobs while trying to establish ourselves as musicians or fill in the gaps between performances. Many musicians and students have the skills to succeed and excel in a variety of jobs but don’t realize it or know how to communicate that to hiring managers. I’ve worked several non-music jobs and wanted to share what I’ve learned from them. Here are the top 7 reasons musicians make good employees. Next time you are in a job interview, keep these in mind to pitch yourself to a potential employer.

1. We know how to take criticism – Employees often feel that criticism is negative or worse they feel attacked when they hear it. This leads them to avoid responsibility and chances to improve. Musicians are used to hearing criticism all the time, whether from teachers or colleagues. A big part of becoming a better musician is learning to hear criticism as a positive, or a chance to improve. We have to quickly take that criticism and turn it into an actionable plan to improve.
2. We know how to give criticism – The title of manager or owner can feel imposing or scary, but they need feedback from employees to continue to improve their businesses. Many employees aren’t practiced at giving constructive criticism. As musicians and teachers, we are very practiced at it. To help students improve their playing we are constantly analyzing what isn’t working, why it isn’t working, and what might make it work. That type of feedback can be very helpful for managers. One of my managers once commented that she liked my feedback because I always had thoughts about how to make things easier for the team, not just myself. That type of constructive criticism is something I learned as a music teacher.
3. We know how to perform under pressure – Jobs are often stressful, and many employees don’t know how to handle the pressure. Performances, especially with difficult exposed solos, can create an incredible amount of stress and pressure. We’ve learned how to turn the pressure into a beautiful performance. No matter what we are feeling on the inside, we’ve learned how to appear graceful to the audience. If you can play that difficult solo, you can easily handle the dinner rush while keeping your cool.
4. We know how to be team players – Working together is difficult, especially when other people want to do things differently. Playing as part of a section we are quite accustomed to following the leader. Blending and following the principal player are the paramount duties of a section member. The audience might not notice exactly how short the staccato was, but they will definitely notice if the players all disagree about it. I once attended a job fair, and had a recruiter very interested in this aspect of music, talking about how in orchestra we have to just follow the section leader no matter what, and ask questions or give feedback later. He was so interested that he spent three to four times as much time with me as all the business students lined up in front of me.
5. Attendance – Managers can’t stand employees who show up late, call off frequently for no reason, or just plain don’t show up at all. Every member of the team is important and even 30 min trying to call someone in to cover an absence can be a big problem. As musicians we know how important it is that everyone is present and on time. We can’t just sub out all the rehearsals and then show up at the concert. My managers have commented on my attendance and the fact that I’ll call and let them know even if I’m only going to be 5 min late. It seems silly but it’s a huge worry off their shoulders, and it’s a skill I learned from orchestra. Letting the personnel manager know, means the conductor can start somewhere that doesn’t use the absent musician and prevents wasting any precious rehearsal time.
6. Emotion – When things go wrong, or someone is being rude, it’s very easy to lose your composure. As performers we’ve all probably been in a situation where we have to convey an emotion through music that isn’t what we are really feeling at the time. It’s our job to convey the emotions of the music to the audience, no matter how we are really feeling. This is an invaluable skill when customers are not happy. Employees who can remain calm and continue to radiate positive energy are able to maintain control of the conversation and keep customers from becoming too upset.
7. Attention to detail – Not everyone is good at noticing all the little details. As musicians we are trained to notice every articulation and dynamic all while staying in tune. At the same time we can’t lose sight of the bigger picture of the music lest we sound like robots. That attention to detail, while keeping the big picture in mind is invaluable, to an employer. Employers need someone who can keep the building clean and organized but not miss a beat keeping the customer service as good as possible.