I think it is safe to say that just about everyone gets nervous about their first day of work. So what if you had to experience that first day of work more than once a week? If you’re a freelance PA there is a good chance you work for more than one production company in the same week. This week I will be working for 3 different production companies. Steady work comes slow, and the longest I’ve worked for the same production company so far was 6 days (I will blog about this later when I do PA Experience Part 3). So you’re call time is 5am, and you’re losing sleep over the stress of dealing with the dreaded “first day of work,” so how do you make this whole experience easier on yourself? Just as a side note, this advice is geared towards people working as set PAs, not office PAs.
What do you wear? No need to empty out your whole closet and stress out about finding the perfect outfit that will impress your boss/co-workers, as a PA you have the luxury of crew black. All you need is a black shirt of some sort. I enjoy bragging to my friends that have desk jobs that I get to wear a black t-shirt and jeans to work. I typically wear a plain black v-neck t-shirt, people wear shirts with text/logos/pictures etc on them, but for the first day, I just go with a plain shirt to be safe. As for jeans, anything dark or even light is acceptable. I like to wear jeans that have deep pockets because as a PA you usually have to hold onto stuff like petty cash, receipts, maybe some tapes, batteries, keys to a cargo van or cube truck. So deep or big pockets are a plus. A belt is also necessary so I can put my multi-tool and a walkie on it. It’s not the end of the world if you don’t wear black, but the majority of the crew will be wearing black, and you will stand out less if you just wear black. Just keep in mind that you are likely to be moving around a lot and will also be moving and lifting stuff a lot as well, so you want to be dressed comfortably. As for shoes, just wear some comfortable sneakers that are in decent condition.
How early should you arrive/getting to work on time? I like to sleep in as late as possible, the more I work the less time I give myself to get ready to leave for work, potentially very risky, but, you will eventually reach a point where you don’t need an excessive amount of time to get ready for that “first day of work.” Thanks to my iphone I can figure out how long it will take me to get to work with traffic. Then to be safe I always add an extra 30-45 minutes, although I am starting to cut down on this cushion of extra time the more I work. The big thing for me with those first days is parking. Sometimes you will be given instructions on where to park, but not all the time. It is safe to assume that if you haven’t been told to park in some lot or parking garage that you might want to give yourself an extra 15 minutes to find parking. Even though you may work a different job every few days, it is not impossible to develop some kind of routine. For me, I get up 30 minutes before I have to leave, I add on an extra 30 minutes to my travel time, eat breakfast in the car, and usually arrive to work plenty early, I then sit in my car until about 15 minutes to my call time, and then off I go. If it appears that finding wherever you have to check in for this “first day of work” is going to be difficult, make sure you give yourself enough time to wander and find where you have to be. Overall, I try to be about 10 minutes early, to accomplish this give yourself more time than you think you need to get where your going, and always factor in the time it may take to find parking, you don’t want to be constantly running off to feed your meter or move your car, so give yourself enough time to find long term parking, even if that means parking a few blocks away. It is also a good idea to have a full tank of gas or close to one, if you are going to be sent out on runs you don’t want to delay your tasks by having to stop for gas.
What to bring to work? For me, I try to keep it simple, no purse or bag for me, so that’s where those big pockets come in handy. Keeping things to a minimum, here is what I always bring to work with me: wallet, phone, multi-tool, box cutter, permanent marker, pen, and piece of paper for taking notes and or making shopping lists or writing down lunch orders. If you know you’ll be outside, bring sunscreen, a hat is a good idea too, and sunglasses. Typically you don’t have to worry about packing a lunch or snacks, if you’re working on set lunch is generally provided, and there is always crafty, and if you’re lucky, you’ll get second meal (but don’t count on it). Also, if you know that you are going to be working late and it is likely to get cooler in the evening its always safe to have a sweatshirt or a long sleeved something you can throw on.
I think that covers the main 3 things I worry about when prepping for a new day of work. Pretty simple, and in the end, no need to really stress about any of it too much.