So what does it take to get a job at Amoeba, you ask?

Amoeba employs over two hundred people. At any one time there are as many as one hundred people on the clock. So it would seem that getting a job there would be easy. But that depends. So what’s required to get a job there?

Rhythm is pretty much all you need. Rhythm. Perhaps a little soul. Oh, also a slightly skewed outlook on life. It also helps to have strong opinions, especially if those opinions are flexible, but not if they happen to favor war in Iraq. Amoeba doesn’t discriminate, but who are we kidding? You want to work at an indie record store. You probably didn’t vote for Bush.

If you want to work to work the main floor you have to be able to tell Dr. Dre from Dr. Hook. If you want to work on the mezzanine you have to know the difference between Martin Scorcese and Martin Short. If you’re the social type, cashiering might be good, as long as you can tell your presidents apart. You a vampire? Try working in the warehouse. As far as I know we’ve got no vampires in there now, but neither do we have windows, so you should be alright.

Patience also helps. Patience or some really good connections. Sara, who was hired within a few days of turning in her resume, trained with two other people, both of whom had been on a waiting list for months. But she knew three of us on the inside. The others didn’t. I knew a couple people as well when I applied (the same ones, actually) so my induction was pretty quick. But having managed video stores for more than a decade I also came with a bucketload of experience.

That said, not everyone who applies gets hired. I suspect the ratio of hired to hopefuls is rather skewed towards the latter. But if you really want to get a job there type up a resume. Hand it over. Then wait. After all, people play the lottery all the time.