WE'RE HIRING FOR THE HALLOWEEN 2023 SEASON!
We appreciate your interest in being a part of the Mohican Haunted Schoolhouse family! No matter how cool the site (and the schoolhouse IS cool) and how good the props and special effects (and ours are both distinctive and getting better EVERY year), actors and staff are the LIFEBLOOD of any haunted attraction. We cannot exist without our family of hard-working, dedicated, and enthusiastic actors and staff and we are ALWAYS excited to welcome a few more likeminded individuals into the fold.
If you can see yourself as part of the MHS team (see photo), please review our recruitment timeline below and most importantly, complete the included survey.
HALLOWEEN 2023 RECRUITMENT TIMELINE
MAY-JUNE: During this phase, we're just trying to gauge your general interest in working at Mohican Haunted Schoolhouse via the survey below. It is okay if you don't know your exact fall availability or if you are still up-in-the-air about whether or not you'll want to ultimately want to work at a haunt; there are no hard commitments expected at this time.
JULY: All individuals who filled out the May-June survey will be contacted to gauge whether they are still interested in working at MHS in the fall. A brief, asynchronous (can complete whenever you want) introductory online training covering general details about Mohican Haunted Schoolhouse & actor/staff expectations will be provided to those who wish to remain eligible for selection to work in the fall; no hard commitments will be expected at this time.
AUGUST: All individuals who completed the eligibility training requirements in July will be contacted and asked to make a hard commitment to serving as an actor/staff member at MHS in the fall. Additional asynchronous online training and information, including our days of operation/work schedule (you'll indicate which days you intend to work) and pay/compensation scale will be provided. You'll be asked to attend an in-person training in September (exact date: To Be Determined).
LOOKING FOR MORE INFORMATION?
WHAT YOU GET: While we'd like to say the biggest perk of all is being a part of our haunt family, we both understand and believe it is important to compensate EVERY actor and staff member for the time, energy, and emotion they contribute to our business. As such, all actors and staff are HIRED*; they receive a stipend for every complete shift they work, along with snacks and drinks throughout their shift, and a meal at the end of the night (no need to desperately search for the only fast-food place open 12:30-1:00am at the end of a shift). Other perks may include awards and/or bonuses (typically swag, sometimes monetary) for above-and-beyond efforts, perfect/strong attendance, etc. and invitation to a fun end-of-season celebration and other similar events throughout the year. For what it is worth, while no one goes into the haunting industry to get rich, we have been told by multiple long-time haunt industry veterans that our actors/staff are treated second-to-none.
WHAT WE EXPECT: We are are an established, upper-tier haunt that prices our tickets for customers accordingly; as such we owe our customers a quality experience with PROFESSIONALS. We expect these HIRED* professionals to be: 1. CONSISTENT. 2. COHESIVE. 3: COOPERATIVE.
HIRED* - Our acting/staff positions are paid opportunities because we owe our customers a quality product when they come through our doors. We expect our actors/staff to show up to shifts they sign up for on-time and ready-to-work. We operate on a QUALITY vs. QUANTITY principle; if you are selected to work at Mohican Haunted Schoolhouse, it is because we believe you'll be an amazing contributor & wouldn't expect anything less. We work to give every actor and staff member an important role and when those people fail to follow through, it has an immediate negative effect on our end-product.
CONSISTENT - It doesn't matter how good you are as an actor if you aren't here. We are only open 12-14 days any given season and customers expect to see a well-staffed haunt when they come on through. While we accommodate emergencies, absent these reasons, we have a 'No Show, No Call, No Return' policy. Simply put, if you are unable to show up for your shift, and you do not give ADVANCED notice (it does us no good to hear from you 15 minutes before we open our doors), you will NOT be allowed to return for the season. Please ensure you have fully-mapped out any other commitments (ex. birthdays, concerts, sporting events, etc.), have access to any necessary transportation, and have any caretaking obligations taken care of (kids, pets, otherwise), etc. BEFORE signing up for your shifts.
COHESIVE - As anyone who has ever participated within a theatre group can attest, with the benefits of great energy and creativity individuals can bring, there can often be the negatives of EGO and DRAMA. "There's no 'I' in TEAM." Sure it's a cliché, but the statement still holds true. We need actors who are respectful of others on staff (even if they would approach a role/scare in a very different way), are team-first, and contribute to an overall positive workplace energy. We all know how quickly the drama kings & queens who make a mountain out of every molehill & are relentlessly negative can poison a staff, clubhouse, etc. and we will move quickly to address issues (at first likely by constructive criticism, but later by dismissal) before they get out of hand.
COOPERATIVE - We need individuals who are going to respect both the rules and the vision of this haunt. We also need people willing to do what is best for the whole. There may be a situation where for whatever reason, your current role/zone just isn't working out and we may need to place you somewhere else. Similarly, actors/staff can sometimes no-show and we might need to temporarily move you to fill a gap elsewhere. We need people who are going to be agreeable and flexible in these circumstances. Trust us when we say we recognize & remember those willing to step up and go the extra mile.
FREQUENTLY ASKED ACTOR/STAFF QUESTIONS (FAAQs)
Q. You mention actors & staff in the description above. What roles exist at Mohican Haunted Schoolhouse and what do they entail?
A. While we are primarily seeking actors at any given time, we also have a number of non-acting roles occasionally available for folks who want to work with a haunt, but don't like to act or want to work their way up to it. For actors, expect to show up on your scheduled nights between 6 and 6:30pm for makeup and pre-shift updates. Doors open at 7pm and actors are relieved as soon as the last customers exit (typically no later than midnight and often earlier). Aside from as-needed restroom breaks, expect to work a rigorous 4+ hour stretch. While we will typically assign new actors to locations that need people the most, we tend to provide a good degree of flexibility in the type of character and approach you want to take; reliable and good actors will continue to find greater flexibility & can be promoted to more desired locations if/when opportunities emerge. Non-actor roles can include: Makeup Artist, Parking Lot Assistant, Metal Detector Assistant, and Ticket/Gift Shop Vendor.
Q. What kind of acting/haunt experience, if any, is required?
A. Prior experience is not required; we can work to develop your acting skills and confidence, but we can't fix deficits in reliability & enthusiasm so those are WAY more important qualities in anyone who works for our haunt. Furthermore, some of our most innovative, energizing, and effective actors every season are brand new, and some of those applicants "with experience at multiple haunts" have experience at so many haunts because nobody wants to bring them back due to factors like outsized egos, unwillingness to work with others, missing too many shifts/not being on time, not following rules, etc. Don't get us wrong, we LOVE folks who come with the right attitude AND previous haunt experience, but we have PLENTY of folks in our family who started brand new at our haunt and do GREAT!
Q. How old do actors need to be?
A. Actors/staff need to be 16 or older. Unfortunately, there is no flexibility with this rule. We encourage you to reach out when you will be 16 for the Halloween season.
Q. Can you tell us more about actor and staff compensation/employment status?
A. All actors/staff members will be classified as independent contractors. Exact pay/compensation scale details will not be released until August when we ask interested individuals to make a hard commitment to Mohican Haunted Schoolhouse's Halloween 2023 season. Generally though, we compensate at a sliding scale. The more total days employees work quality, complete shifts (on-time, ready-to-work, no rule violations, etc.), the higher the per-day payout will be. Perks like free/discounted swag and tickets for friends/family will kick in at certain 'days worked' thresholds. Actors/staff who work at least 75% of the days of the season will be invited to the end-of-season wrap party with music, tasty food, awards, and some prizes. Actors/staff will be provided one lump payment at the end-of-season wrap party (for those who qualify) or the day after (approximately 1 week after the last day of Halloween 2023 operation).
Q. What are your attendance expectations?
A. If you were to poll the leading Ohio & national haunts as to what their #1 difficulty is, they would near-universally put "dealing with poor actor/staff attendance & reliability" at the top of the list. It's such a plague on the industry that it literally is a meme. While many haunts utilize unpaid/volunteer labor and there's a certain "you get what you pay for" element to reliability, one of the reasons we pay our actors/staff is because we hate the idea of customers having a bad/less-fun experience because they had the bad luck of coming during a day when half the staff doesn't show up and gives little-to-no notice (seriously, this happens all the time at tons of haunts).
We don't expect you to sign up for a shift EVERY night, but we DO expect you to attend every shift you DO sign up for barring illness and/or family emergency. We also expect you to want to work at least a majority of available shifts. It takes time and energy, typically several hours, for training, answering questions, etc. on both your end and ours and it really doesn't make sense to put in this effort if you are only interested in working a shift or two all season. At bare minimum this means working 50% of available nights and ideally we'd prefer at least 75% of available nights (especially on the last 2 weekends of October).
BEFORE signing up for any shifts, IT IS EXPECTED THAT YOU THOROUGHLY REVIEW YOUR PRE-EXISTING OBLIGATIONS. It is astounding how many people will sign up for a weekend and then cancel because they forgot they were out of town on vacation, watching a relative's kids, had tickets to a sporting event/concert, etc. Please take committing to a shift seriously. Once you have signed up, if you DO need to cancel, you need to do so as soon as possible. Don't wait until minutes, hours, or even a day before your shift to cancel for something that you obviously knew about several days/weeks in advance. Illness and family emergencies are reasonable excuses, but again, if you are extremely sick a day out from your shift, don't wait until the last minute hoping a miracle-recovery will occur only to ultimately cancel; let us know. Regardless of whether the absence is reasonable or not, there is almost no situation where it is excusable to not give us advance notice. Aside from extreme situations, as mentioned above, No Show + No Call = No Return. We don't aim to be mean with this rule, but we CANNOT afford to have unreasonable no shows ruin the experience for our customers.
