Festival Lowdown
Festival season is fast approaching and as one of the leading event staffing agencies, we have an amazing line-up of festivals jobs at some of the UK’s most exciting festivals. If you’re looking for a summer job that brings something new every shift, lets you make new friends whilst making money and enjoying the vibes, then working at a festival might just be the thing for you…
Our Team Members (which is what we call our workforce of temporary staff!) love nothing more than working behind the bars at festivals. From memorable days serving the thousands of excited guests to even more memorable nights camping alongside your team, it’s an experience that you will never forget.
This year, our festival line-up is bigger and better than ever before and we’re looking for an exceptional festival team to unite and amplify guest experience. We caught up with Rachel Hanson, our People Operations Manager based in Arc’s Manchester hub to discover more about what it’s like to work at festivals. Throughout festival season, she switches the office to the festival fields to bring our festival operation to life.
Meet Rachel
What did you do before becoming a People Operations Manager at Arc?
I was a co-owner of a cider company and used to run twilight markets. Before that a Multi-site General Manager. Worked for 22 years in hospitality.
What are your main responsibilities?
Recruitment, putting aces in places, compliance checking, staff welfare, training, attending venues and checking in staff.
What keeps you motivated during the long days?
I love looking after our team!
What are the top three things for team members to take when working at a festival?
Warm clothes, earplugs and a power bank.
During the festival season, you spend most of your days on-site, can you describe a typical day in your life when at a festival?
Get up early, have some breakfast in the welfare tent, chat to the team members and check everyone’s ok. Work out the plan for the day – if there’s any changes, collect timesheets from the office and chat with the client. Send reminder texts to wake everyone up if they aren’t up, rally the troops, start taking everyone to the bars.
Throughout the day I report numbers to the client so they are aware how many team members are on each of our bars. I spend all day walking between the different bars checking on everyone, making sure breaks have been had and TM’s have eaten and are keeping hydrated. Any issues that occur I resolve and just generally make sure everyone is happy. I squeeze in some food and plenty of coffee throughout the day.
Let’s Have Fun!
What’s been your all-time favourite festival experience? (from visiting festivals yourself) Boomtown – for the theatre, the set design and the madness.
Dream festival line-up? Time travelling to 1969 and going to Woodstock.
Which one – festivals in the rain or in a heatwave? Heatwave definitely. Hate soggy wet tents.
You’re only allowed one for your next festival visit, what one are you choosing? My own bathroom!!!!! Definitely!!
- Your own bathroom with free standing bath and unlimited bubbles
- VIP ticket with backstage access to meet and greet your idols
- A magic potion so you don’t need to sleep for the whole festival