Magician Jobs

Have you ever seen a magician at work? Are you the one in the audience that has their jaw dropped in awe? Do you find yourself wondering what in the world the magician just did? Welcome to the world of magic. It’s a place of tricks and illusions. When a magician can make the audience skip a blink in wonderment, everyone loves it.

It’s a talent and skill to be a magician. There are good magicians who can pull a rabbit from a hat, deal a royal flush, or pull a coin out of your ear. And then there are great magicians, who can walk through the Great Wall of China, escape from a strait jacket while hanging upside down, or freeze themselves in a block of ice for days in the middle of Times Square.

You may have heard of some of the world’s best magicians – David Copperfield, Harry Houdini, David Blaine, Criss Angel, or Penn and Teller.

You don’t have to be a big name magician to be a success. Magic often starts out as a hobby, but before you know it, a fun skill will be an entertaining act. No doubt, perfecting this craft is all about practice. Magicians are performers who have both a magic act and a great people act. If you want to take a career as a magician seriously, develop an act and have it ready to go.

Most magicians pick a magical niche. Maybe they make things vanish, transform one thing into another, destroy and recreate something, move from one place to another, escape from the “inescapable,” defy the force of gravity, penetrate things, or predict what people are thinking. These are all skills that can be perfected into a fascinating and mystifying job. You may be really good at one thing and average at another, but the more magical skills you have, the more appealing you will be to your audience. Magic is all about getting the audience to look one way while you do something the other way. It’s all an illusion, but being able to read your audience is a huge part of the job.

Magic has been around for centuries and every generation has a great magician. The most recent great magician is the fictional Harry Potter. Harry Potter has opened magic up in a way few ever expected it too. Which means it’s a great time to be a magician. Maybe it’s time for you to jump into this fun and challenging career. If you want to learn magic, start by learning simple hobby tricks. You’ll eventually have a quiver of both stock and original tricks. Then to further develop your skills try to intern with a big magician, read books, and observe others’ tricks.

Start the job search by sending out resumes and getting your name out on the scene.

Magicians can work on cruise ships, in restaurants, at weddings, bars, company events, birthdays, graduations, bar mitzvahs, entertainment companies, fairs, or being self-employed. You can plan on making between $45,000 to $75,000 per year or anywhere from $50 to $1000 per performance depending on if you work a child’s birthday or an event headliner. This work can be at specific big venues, contract work, or regular gigs. If you want to be successful, practice and perfect your tricks and illusions and connect with your audience. A good magician always has their audience saying, “how did he do that?”

Remember the biggest tip for any aspiring magician is that once you know a trick, don’t give away the secret. Ever.

Quick Facts About Magician Work

Job Title: Magician
Office: Restaurants, Ships, In front of a crowd
Description: Perform tricks and illusions that make an audience gasp from wonderment
Certifications/Education: No formal education.
Necessary Skills: Magic!
Potential Employers: Restaurants, cruise ships, weddings, bars, company events, birthdays, graduations, bar mitzvahs, entertainment companies, fairs, or self employed
Pay: $500 – $1,000 per performance – $45,000 – $75,000 per year

Helpful Magician Employment Links:

Search Magician Jobs on JobMonkey
Magician School
McBride’s Magic and Mystery School
Society of American Magicians
Magic Magazine
International Brotherhood of Magicians