Living on the costa

The Starlite Catalana Occidente festival has been held from May 4 to 6 at the Palacio de Congresos de Marbella on thousand job selection process that it is going to offer for its eleventh edition, an option that is seen as “a Disneyland to work” and for which motivations such as those of get closer to show businesspractice languages ​​or generate income during the high season.

María Olivas is a 25-year-old from San Pedro who is studying Nursing, but considers Starlite as “a good job opportunity, both in terms of experience and resume.” “Everyone thinks of Starlite as a Disneyland to work”, declared the young woman, who assured that “it is something that I would like and that I have been thinking about for several years”.

“Can listen to your favorite artists while you work and earn money, they are paying you to do what you want, and it is as if a footballer is being paid to be in the team he wants. So, I am super happy in case they catch me”, she has emphasized, for which she opts for a position of “waitress or usher”.

The general director of Starlite Catalana Occidente, Javier Bernaldo, explained that during the selection process “we evaluated 6,000 profiles that they opt for 1,000 jobs, which are the bulk of all the contracts to be able to develop the festival”. Thus, it has detailed that the jobs offered directly, which are “90%”, are related to “all categories from drivers to waiters, through cooks, table service specialists, hospitality managers, reservations, customer service client, animation, accommodation or in the technical part of the production, electricians, etc”.

The staffing needs of a festival of the magnitude of Starlite Catalana Occidente require a “preselection” in which “we try to cover between 30 and 45% more of what is necessary because the work is intense, and in many cases they are workers who are students or it is their first job and sometimes in the first weeks there is a fall”, he clarified.

For the interviews that have been held these days at the Marbella Conference Center, he has detailed that “there are eight interviewers and there is also the team responsible for the festival of the most specific activities like the head of drivers, waiters or the executive chef to do the most technical interviews”. The days have concluded this Friday with “about 1,200 or 1,300 pre-selected profiles to call the first 800”.

“The people always come with great enthusiasm because in the end the festival generates expectations for the proximity of the artist and our own DNA, and especially younger people looking for a job come with that illusion of knowing the world of show business”, Bernaldo pointed out. Added to this is the end of the restrictions and the return to normality after two years of the pandemic, something that is reflected in the mood of the candidates: “This year there is another shine, people can see their faces , the masks are not there and the light at the end of the tunnel begins to glimpse. This is global and is transmitted in the desire to work and to have a normal summer”, he underlined.

Regarding the profiles, he highlighted that “people of all kinds and of all ages come, even two days ago a girl came from Paris to work on Starlite”. In her opinion, this is due to “the illusion generated by being inside a festival which has this content glamor so excellent and so peculiar”, as well as describing the event as a “conceptual benchmark in Spain and the largest in Europe in duration”.

Leire Navarro is a young Valencian and Pedagogy student who has decided to spend this summer on the Costa del Sol. To do so, she has applied for a job at the Starlite festival because she has “desire to live a new experience. “ANDI am finishing my studies and I think it would be a good way to increase my income, in addition to living an experience away from home in a place that I love”. To do this, she has opted for the position of “waitress”, something in which she assures that she has always worked. “I have worked in the hospitality industry all my life and being in a small town for many years, you have the concern of going to a top place, cooler, with another professionalism, another experience, other people and another place”, looking for “a bit of Marbella sparkle”.

Jordi Martín is a 22-year-old from Nerja who has presented his candidacy at the Starlite festival because he has worked “on his own in some local events” in his town together with his father for both “camera as mounting sound or imaging equipment”. He is currently studying “Realization of audiovisual events and shows”, so the cultural event is presented as “a very important step to continue the career and to gain experience in the field.”

Andrea Iglesias is a 19-year-old from Benalmádena who is studying “Realization of audiovisual events and shows”, so in the future she aspires to work in the sector. “Starlite would help me a lot because in the future I would like to work there. So, I have chosen the position of usherette to be there and have the opportunity next year to do internships“, has explained.

Elena Cavas is a English teacher of 24 years from Estepona. She has submitted her candidacy as an “usher” to the festival because she is an “English philologist” and “Starlite is open to an international public”, what allows you “put languages ​​into practice, which is what I have always liked and what I have studied in a real context that is not theoretical or on paper”. “I work during the course because I am a teacher, therefore, working at Starlite are the two sides of my career, languages ​​and teaching”, he pointed out.

Javier Parodio is 25 years old and studies a higher vocational training in web application development. The young man has presented his candidacy as “usher” to “work” and generate income during the high season. José Leopoldo Reina is 45 years old and has worked all his life as a commercial, even behind closed doors. He has been unemployed for more than three years and opts this summer for a driver position at the festival. “Every year that there has been in the selection process we have tried to be able to enter, to see if this year we get even if it is for a little work for months”, he remarked. “My children are very happy and they tell me how cool that you could take the job and that you could take Alejandro Sanz!”, He added.