Also known as Agent, Athlete Marketing Agent, Booker, Booking Agent, Entertainment Specialist, Literary Agent, Print Agent, Talent Agent, Talent Representative, Theatrical Agent
Talent Agent
Also known as Agent, Athlete Marketing Agent, Booker
- Interests Profile
- Enterprising
- Conventional
- Social
- Pay Range
- $35,840 - $190,500 (annual)
- Required Skills
- Reading Comprehension
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Knowledge Areas
- Customer and Personal Service
- Sales and Marketing
- Administration and Management
- Core tasks
- Collect fees, commissions, or other payments, according to contract terms.
- Send samples of clients' work and other promotional material to potential employers to obtain auditions, sponsorships, or endorsement deals.
- Keep informed of industry trends and deals.
Table of Contents
- What does a Talent Agent do?
- What is a typical salary for a Talent Agent?
- What personality traits are common among Talent Agents?
- Career Interests
- Values
- Psychological Demands
- What education and training do Talent Agents need?
- Typical educational degrees
- Required knowledge and expertise
- Important abilities
- Critical skills
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What does a Talent Agent do?
Talent Agents represent and promote artists, performers, and athletes in dealings with current or prospective employers.
In addition, Talent Agents may handle contract negotiation and other business matters for clients.
What kind of tasks does a Talent Agent perform regularly?
Talent Agents are often responsible for overseeing or executing some or all of the following tasks:
- Collect fees, commissions, or other payments, according to contract terms.
- Send samples of clients' work and other promotional material to potential employers to obtain auditions, sponsorships, or endorsement deals.
- Keep informed of industry trends and deals.
- Conduct auditions or interviews to evaluate potential clients.
- Negotiate with managers, promoters, union officials, and other persons regarding clients' contractual rights and obligations.
- Confer with clients to develop strategies for their careers, and to explain actions taken on their behalf.
- Develop contacts with individuals and organizations, and apply effective strategies and techniques to ensure their clients' success.
- Schedule promotional or performance engagements for clients.
- Arrange meetings concerning issues involving their clients.
The above responsibilities are specific to Talent Agents. More generally, Talent Agents are involved in several broader types of activities:
| Activities | Importance | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Getting Information | Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources. | |
| Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships | Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time. | |
| Thinking Creatively | Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions. | |
| Communicating with People Outside the Organization | Communicating with people outside the organization, representing the organization to customers, the public, government, and other external sources. This information can be exchanged in person, in writing, or by telephone or e-mail. | |
| Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge | Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job. |
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Getting Information
Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships
Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.
Thinking Creatively
Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions.
Communicating with People Outside the Organization
Communicating with people outside the organization, representing the organization to customers, the public, government, and other external sources. This information can be exchanged in person, in writing, or by telephone or e-mail.
Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge
Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job.
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What is a Talent Agent salary?
The median salary for a Talent Agent is$75,420,and the average salary is$98,070.Both the median and average roughly describe the middle of the Talent Agent salary range, but the average is more easily affected by extremely high or low salaries.
Many Talent Agents earn significantly more or less than the average, due to several factors.About 10% of Talent Agents earn less than $35,840 per year,25% earn less than $53,130,75% earnless than $122,010, and90% earnless than $190,500.
Between the years of 2020 and 2030, the number of Talent Agents is expected to change by 46.0%, and there should be roughly 3,400 open positions for Talent Agents every year.
- Median annual salary
- $75,420
- Typical salary range
- $35,840 - $190,500
- Projected growth (2020 - 2030)
- 46.0%
What personality traits are common among Talent Agents?
Interests
Career interests describe a person's preferences for different types of working environments and activities. When a person's interest match the demands of an occupation, people are usually more engaged and satisfied in that role.
Compared to most occupations, those who work as a Talent Agent are usually higher in theirEnterprising,Conventional, andSocialinterests.
Talent Agents typically have very strongEnterprisinginterests. Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.
Also, Talent Agents typically have moderateConventionalinterests. Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.
Lastly, Talent Agents typically have moderateSocialinterests. Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.
Values
People differ in their values, or what is most important to them for building job satisfaction and fulfillment.
Compared to most people, those working as a Talent Agent tend to value Achievement,Independence, andWorking Conditions.
Most importantly, Talent Agents very strongly valueAchievement.Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment.
Second, Talent Agents very strongly valueIndependence.Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to work on their own and make decisions.
Lastly, Talent Agents strongly valueWorking Conditions.Occupations that satisfy this work value offer job security and good working conditions.
Psychological Demands
Each occupation brings its own set of psychological demands, which describe the characteristics necessary to perform the job well.
In order to perform their job successfully, people who work as Talent Agents must consistently demonstrate qualities such as persistence,initiative, anddependability.
Below, you'll find a list of qualities typically required of Talent Agents, ranked by importance:
| Demands | Importance | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Persistence | Job requires persistence in the face of obstacles. | |
| Initiative | Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges. | |
| Dependability | Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations. | |
| Integrity | Job requires being honest and ethical. | |
| Attention to Detail | Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks. |
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Persistence
Job requires persistence in the face of obstacles.
Initiative
Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.
Dependability
Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
Integrity
Job requires being honest and ethical.
Attention to Detail
Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
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What education and training do Talent Agents need?
Many Talent Agents will have a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
Talent Agents usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.
Educational degrees among Talent Agents
- 2.7% did not completehigh school or secondary school
- 9.3% completedhigh school or secondary school
- 19.7% completedsome college coursework
- 5.8% earned aAssociate's degree
- 46.1% earned aBachelor's degree
- 11.8% earned aMaster's degree
- 4.7% earned adoctorate or professional degree
Knowledge and expertise required by Talent Agents
Talent Agents may benefit from understanding of specialized subject areas, such ascustomer and personal service, sales and marketing, oradministration and managementknowledge.
The list below shows several areas in which most Talent Agents might want to build proficiency, ranked by importance.
| Knowledge areas | Importance | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Customer and Personal Service | Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction. | |
| Sales and Marketing | Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems. | |
| Administration and Management | Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources. | |
| Fine Arts | Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture. | |
| Communications and Media | Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media. |
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Customer and Personal Service
Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Sales and Marketing
Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Administration and Management
Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Fine Arts
Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
Communications and Media
Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
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Important Abilities needed by Talent Agents
Talent Agents must develop a particular set ofabilities to perform their job well. Abilities are individual capacities that influence a person's information processing, sensory perception, motor coordination, and physical strength or endurance. Individuals may naturally have certain abilities without explicit training, but most abilities can be sharpened somewhat through practice.
For example, Talent Agents need abilities such as oral expression,oral comprehension, andwritten comprehension in order to perform their job at a high level. The list below shows several important abilities for Talent Agents, ranked by their relative importance.
| Abilities | Importance | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Oral Expression | The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand. | |
| Oral Comprehension | The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences. | |
| Written Comprehension | The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing. | |
| Problem Sensitivity | The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem. | |
| Speech Recognition | The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person. |
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Oral Expression
The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Oral Comprehension
The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Written Comprehension
The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Problem Sensitivity
The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
Speech Recognition
The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
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Critical Skills needed by Talent Agents
Skillsare developed capacities that enable people to function effectively in real-world settings. Unlike abilities, skills are typically easier to build through practice and experience. Skills influence effectiveness in areas such as learning, working with others, design, troubleshooting, and more.
Talent Agents frequently use skills like reading comprehension,active listening, andspeaking to perform their job effectively. The list below shows several critical skills for Talent Agents, ranked by their relative importance.
| Skills | Importance | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Reading Comprehension | Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents. | |
| Active Listening | Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times. | |
| Speaking | Talking to others to convey information effectively. | |
| Persuasion | Persuading others to change their minds or behavior. | |
| Negotiation | Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences. |
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Reading Comprehension
Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
Active Listening
Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Speaking
Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Persuasion
Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
Negotiation
Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
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What is the source of this information?
The information provided on this page is adapted from data and descriptions published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration under the CC BY 4.0 license. TraitLab has modified some information for ease of use and reading, and the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment, and Training Administration has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.
If you have any questions or suggestions about this information, please send a message.