Jamie is Customer Sales Supervisor and Marketing Officer at Northern Stage. His jobs involve taking in deliveries and checking stock every Monday, training and guiding new staff on the bar with other Supervisors, and general marketing duties for shows coming up at Northern Stage. He has worked at Northern Stage since August 2021.
Tell us a bit about your career path before landing at Northern Stage.
Working at Northern Stage was actually my first job!
After completing my degree in Business and Marketing Management in 2020, there was not a lot of opportunities for graduates due to the lockdowns and many businesses not knowing what position they were going to be in. Due to this, I decided to complete a PGCE in Business Education, under the idea that I would go into teaching as I had always been interested in.
When I started the course, I quickly realised it wasn’t for me, but decided to finish it anyway as I knew the qualification and experience could come in handy in future. This led to a period where I really had no idea what I was going to do and had been looking for just about anything I thought could be fun. At this point, businesses were starting to open again and a friend of mine who had kept his job at Northern Stage had told me they were needed staff. I applied and quickly started working FOH and bar.
As for my marketing role, I had been working at Northern Stage for over a year before I applied, but I had experience from running a marketing agency with a few of my friends, focussing on content creation and social media management. When I saw the opportunity was part time, I thought it would be great for me as I already had a part time contract for my bar role, and the hours would work out to be full time.
What drew you to Northern Stage?
It was a happy accident really. I’ve always been interested in the arts generally, but theatre was never something I was too involved in – I’m more into music. However since I had heard what a welcoming and friendly environment it was working there I thought I would fit in well.
What do you like about the North East?
I’ve always lived here so I’m sure I’m biased, but my friends and I always talk about how Newcastle is the best city in the world, and how no matter where you go, it always feels like home.
That and the bars.
Newcastle is the best city in the world
What do you enjoy in your typical day at Northern Stage?
I really like how varied my jobs are.
My roles are both very different from each other, but even on the bar every shift is radically different – some days you’re cleaning and taking deliveries and some days it’s none-stop chaos! (In a fun way)
What do you get up to outside of work?
My main thing outside of work is my band – Polyvinyl (@polyvinylband). I love writing, performing, rehearsing, recording, looking into the strategies of what we’re doing and how best to go about things, all the data and analytics behind our accounts – everything. We’re always massively supported by Northern Stage and the staff here, and we’ve had so many opportunities that we just wouldn’t have had anywhere else.