dlx / photo courtesy of the hundreds

Back in 2012, we had a two-part series where a handful of people in skating offered some advice on how to help you get some skate gigs going. That advice is still valuable in 2020, but we think it’s time to throw in an update for the new decade.

We still get a lot of emails asking us for jobs here at Jenkem or just advice on how to get one elsewhere in the skate industry. While we’d love to hire more people here or help you make your skate dreams come true, jobs in skating are harder to come by than you’d think. In fact, most of the lucky people that have jobs in the skate industry (including some of us at Jenkem) also have to have jobs outside of it to make ends meet.

Most companies you may think of as “big” are probably no more than a handful of people working in an asbestos-filled warehouse with a bad wi-fi connection. But, just because skating is a tough industry to break into, that doesn’t mean you should abandon all hope.

There are some easy things you can try to get you an opportunity, so we broke down some options that we know work, either from seeing them in action or from our own experiences. Hopefully, this little discussion will help you get a little motivation to start the new year off right by firing off those resumés.

You asked (repeatedly), so we answered!

Featured Speakers

Ian Michna – Founder of Jenkem
Alexis Castro – Managing Editor and Videographer
Nic Dobija-Nootens – Editor
Christian Kerr – Editor-at-Large
Larry Lanza– Staff Writer

Timestamps for the A.D.D.-afflicted

1:15 – “A closed mouth doesn’t get fed”
2:50 – Dealing with not getting paid at first
4:50 – What has changed since the original article
5:58 – Cold calls vs. being on the ground
7:26 – Taking the DIY route
10:10 – Stalking people who have jobs you want
11:37 – “Professionalism goes a long way”
12:43 – Getting corporate skate jobs
14:48 – The benefits of working at a skate shop
15:56 – How to pitch to Jenkem

Share this with the guy sleeping on your couch via Facebook.
Report this as classist propaganda on Instagram and Twitter.