A stagehand may not ever experience the blinding light of a spotlight or hear the applause of an adoring audience, but without them, a show would collapse. While the stars of the show take their bows, the stagehands do the less glamorous work that helps the show go on.
Stagehands do many things, from building sets to moving sets during a show to cleaning up after a show. They also assist specialists with installing lights, managing sound equipment, helping actors during costume changes, and more. While some positions require an associate's or bachelor's degree, experience in the fast-paced world of productions is more important.
A stagehand needs to be prepared to do a little bit of everything and to work long hours during rehearsals and a show's run. It is a hard, thankless job that requires a lot of physical endurance and hard work. But for many stagehands, the joy of seeing a show move an audience is worth all the work.
Stage Hand Overview
Stage Hand Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a stage hand. For example, did you know that they make an average of $12.78 an hour? That's $26,576 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 156,200 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Stage Hand Do
There are certain skills that many stage hands have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed communication skills, computer skills and manual dexterity.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a stage hand, we found that a lot of resumes listed 18.0% of stage hands included venues, while 14.6% of resumes included special events, and 10.3% of resumes included audio systems. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the stage hand job title. But what industry to start with? Most stage hands actually find jobs in the hospitality and education industries.
How To Become a Stage Hand
If you're interested in becoming a stage hand, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 31.7% of stage hands have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 1.7% of stage hands have master's degrees. Even though some stage hands have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a stage hand. When we researched the most common majors for a stage hand, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or high school diploma degrees. Other degrees that we often see on stage hand resumes include associate degree degrees or diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a stage hand. In fact, many stage hand jobs require experience in a role such as cashier. Meanwhile, many stage hands also have previous career experience in roles such as sales associate or internship.
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Stage Hand Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of technician you might progress to a role such as team leader eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title co-owner.
Stage Hand Jobs You Might Like
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Average Salary for a Stage Hand
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
City of Lakeland Stage Hand Stage Hand | City of Lakeland City of Lakeland | 10/11/2019 10/11/2019 | $27,61110/11/2019 $27,611 |
Lakeland Electric Stage Hand Stage Hand | Lakeland Electric Lakeland Electric | 10/10/2019 10/10/2019 | $27,61110/10/2019 $27,611 |
Indiana University Stage Hand Stage Hand | Indiana University Indiana University | 09/16/2019 09/16/2019 | $31,30509/16/2019 $31,305 |
City of Thousand Oaks, Ca Stage Hand Stage Hand | City of Thousand Oaks, Ca City of Thousand Oaks, Ca | 06/19/2019 06/19/2019 | $29,21806/19/2019 $29,218 |
Indiana University Stage Hand Stage Hand | Indiana University Indiana University | 06/11/2019 06/11/2019 | $31,30506/11/2019 $31,305 |
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Stage Hand Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Stage Hand. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
10 Best Resume Templates In 2021
Learn How To Write a Stage Hand Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Stage Hand resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
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Top Skills For a Stage Hand
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 18.0% of stage hands listed venues on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and computer skills are important as well.
- Venues, 18.0%
- Special Events, 14.6%
- Audio Systems, 10.3%
- Stage Equipment, 8.5%
- Audio Equipment, 8.2%
- Other Skills, 40.4% See All Stage Hand Skills