How I Build the Carnival Onboard Entertainment Teams

This is a guest post by David Brady, Musician Casting Supervisor at Carnival Cruise Lines. Known for providing an exciting, fun and memorable vacation to passengers around the world Carnival Cruise Lines is the number one cruise operator with a total passenger capacity of more than 200,000 across our fleet of 24 ships. As the Musician Casting Supervisor, I’m staffing over 1,000 job opportunities a year with talented musicians looking to live their passion. Our positions include everything from individual musicians for our showband to Caribbean themed duos, Top 40 lounge bands, and everything in between! I’m always on the lookout for great talent to join our team and share their talents with our guests. Securing this group of musicians isn’t always easy. They have to be prepared for life on a ship, demonstrate tremendous musical versatility and be able to build a rapport with our guests. We’ve transformed the way we build this team through HireVue and let our musician candidates express themselves through digital video. Digital interviewing allows entertainers to showcase their abilities, personality, passion and talents in a way that our casting team can easily assess. Entertainers have the benefit of being able to audition anywhere at anytime through phones, tablets or PCs. The results have been phenomenal for both our candidates and the team here at Carnival. For our candidates, they appreciate the opportunity to showcase their artistry and get creative! We’ve had candidates use props, throw on sailor hats and showcase their personalities in other creative ways. For us, our retention rates for musicians have improved over 60%. Learn more about our success with HireVue here. Most importantly, we’re empowering artists to showcase what they’re made of in a way that is convenient and fun. My job is a dream. My day is spent finding best fit opportunities for talented individuals to live their passions and find success. Want to join our team? Connect with us on LinkedIn. Fun fact: the most commonly requested song of all time on Carnival Cruise Lines is “Cupid Shuffle”!