Saturday, October 11, 2008

How are things at your old studio?

Those of you that have quit, have you checked in to see how things have progressed in your absense? We got a comment the other day in which the author wrote: "I left the company a year and a half ago and, since then, my old job (Studio Manager) has been consistently posted on the SPS website. They can't find anyone to hire and when they do, they stay less than 3 weeks. I can only imagine what is going on there at the studio."

The word on the street is that all the studios are really short staffed. People have less disposable income these days, so I know sales figures are down by about 10-20% from last year based on what people have told me. The company is holding the staff responsible and turning on the pressure, and as a result, people are quitting. Many studios are looking to hire 4+ part timers for the approaching busy season, and are resorting to calling people that used to work for them years ago in order to try and get some help.

And of course, we aren't interested.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You wouldn't believe the looks on peoples faces when I run into them in the grocery store, etc. They immediately ask me where I'm working now, and then go into a story about their last visit to my former studio. Trust me, things did not go well. So you can imagine the looks of relief when I let these customers know that I'm freelancing now and would be thrilled to take their photos.I'm counting on SPS to keep screwing up...

SPS said...

I know. I miss my regular people whose photos I would always take. I can't say I run into them at the store, but I wish I would.

It seems like it would be really hard being a parent, knowing that you now have to go to a place for, say, your child's 1 year photos and you'll have to have a random high school kid take them.