Costume Attendants

Select, fit, and take care of costumes for cast members, and aid entertainers. May assist with multiple costume changes during performances.

Most important skills

  1. Active Listening
  2. Speaking
  3. Monitoring
  4. Coordination
  5. Social Perceptiveness
  6. Reading Comprehension
  7. Critical Thinking
  8. Service Orientation

Key knowledge

  1. Fine Arts
  2. Design
  3. Production and Processing
  4. Customer and Personal Service
  5. English Language
  6. Psychology
  7. Administration and Management
  8. Mechanical

What the work involves

  • Distribute costumes or related equipment and keep records of item status.
  • Arrange costumes in order of use to facilitate quick-change procedures for performances.
  • Return borrowed or rented items when productions are complete and return other items to storage.
  • Clean and press costumes before and after performances and perform any minor repairs.
  • Design or construct costumes or send them to tailors for construction, major repairs, or alterations.
  • Purchase, rent, or requisition costumes or other wardrobe necessities.
  • Check the appearance of costumes on stage or under lights to determine whether desired effects are being achieved.
  • Inventory stock to determine types or conditions of available costuming.

Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Artistic, Conventional, Realistic.

Qualifications and licensing

Most common education
High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (32.2% of respondents)
Related experience
Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (33.9%)
On-the-job training
Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (52.4%)
Preparation level
O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
Licensing
Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
  • Licensing for Costume Attendants is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
  • Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
  • Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.

Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0

Work environment

How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).

Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.

Rankings compare typical U.S. occupation-level work conditions; individual jobs and employers vary. Data: O*NET 31.0 Work Context and BLS wages (May 2025).
ConditionLevelCompared with other occupationsMost common answer (O*NET survey)
Contact with othersModerateHigher on contact with others than 57% of occupations compared63% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others”
Dealing with the publicLowLower on dealing with the public than 75% of occupations compared32% of surveyed respondents chose “Important”
TeamworkVery highHigher on teamwork than 94% of occupations compared90% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important”
Freedom to make decisionsModerateHigher on freedom to make decisions than 57% of occupations compared54% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom”
Time pressureHighHigher on time pressure than 76% of occupations compared46% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day”
Conflict situationsLowLower on conflict situations than 66% of occupations compared47% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month”
Dealing with unpleasant or angry peopleLowLower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 71% of occupations compared47% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month”
Consequence of errorVery lowLower on consequence of error than 86% of occupations compared48% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly serious”

Work-pressure profile

  • Time pressure: high
  • Conflict situations: low
  • Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: low
  • Consequence of error: very low

Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.

Full answer distributions

Contact with others

  • No contact with others: 0%
  • Occasional contact with others: 0%
  • Contact with others about half the time: 16.5%
  • Contact with others most of the time: 20.22%
  • Constant contact with others: 63.28%

n = 35, Incumbent 07/2016

Dealing with the public

  • Not important at all: 24.01%
  • Fairly important: 17.82%
  • Important: 32.18%
  • Very important: 10.8%
  • Extremely important: 15.2%

n = 35, Incumbent 07/2016

Teamwork

  • Not important at all: 0%
  • Fairly important: 1.15%
  • Important: 4.48%
  • Very important: 4.86%
  • Extremely important: 89.52%

n = 35, Incumbent 07/2016

Freedom to make decisions

  • No freedom: 0%
  • Very little freedom: 4.37%
  • Limited freedom: 6.44%
  • Some freedom: 54.39%
  • A lot of freedom: 34.79%

n = 35, Incumbent 07/2016

Time pressure

  • Never: 2.6%
  • Once a year or more but not every month: 1.15%
  • Once a month or more but not every week: 15%
  • Once a week or more but not every day: 34.98%
  • Every day: 46.27%

n = 35, Incumbent 07/2016

Conflict situations

  • Never: 7.32%
  • Once a year or more but not every month: 47.24%
  • Once a month or more but not every week: 25.86%
  • Once a week or more but not every day: 18.31%
  • Every day: 1.27%

n = 35, Incumbent 07/2016

Dealing with unpleasant or angry people

  • Never: 13.38%
  • Once a year or more but not every month: 47.01%
  • Once a month or more but not every week: 25.07%
  • Once a week or more but not every day: 13.4%
  • Every day: 1.15%

n = 35, Incumbent 07/2016

Consequence of error

  • Not serious at all: 21.61%
  • Fairly serious: 47.61%
  • Serious: 21.52%
  • Very serious: 9.26%
  • Extremely serious: 0%

n = 34, Incumbent 07/2016

Is this career right for me? Find jobs with conditions you prefer

Where people with this background could move

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Find more alternativesCompare skills with another job

O*NET-SOC 39-3092.00 · SOC 39-3092 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8