How do these "conductors" get hired?

[houndentenor]

I've been around awhile and have stared at a wide range of batons over the years. Some were like dying and going to heaven, others hell. The current one isn't the worst I've ever had, but he's pretty awful. His conducting technique is spastic. He doesn't have any physical condition, but you'd never know from the way her jerks his baton had around. The worst part, though is that he has no clue about the singing voice. We were pretty well prepared (in too short a time, I might add, by a chorus master who does understand the singing voice. In fact a good deal of rehearsal time was spent getting everyone, mostly the men, to sing a free, vibrant tone which of course project so much better than yelling. It's Verdi which is an extension of bel canto. It's not to be screamed. That's not louder. Just ugly. Anyway, the conductor (in the absence of the chorus master who was working with another group in another room) asked for more tension in the voice. Tension. Really. If we sang like he was asking us to, it would sound like shit. he's an idiot. How do people like this get hired? Fortunately it's his last season with the company. Honestly at CCM I worked with two AD conducting students who were far better than this guy. I hope to work with them in an A house one day because with a decade of experience they will very much be ready to be there. And why are the worst conductors the biggest douches? He's just a jerk. Maybe deep down he knows he sucks. That would be good since he does. He knows what notes come next, but he doesn't seem to have anything beyond the most superficial understanding of the opera (Aida). Verdi deserves better. We worked very hard in too short an amount of time to be jerked around like this in staging rehearsals. At least the stage director is competent. Not brilliant by any stretch but at least he has the good sense to sketch out the rough outline and traffic patterns and adds the details as we go (rather than obsess over pointless details and then never staging the entire opera until the dress rehearsals...yes I have encountered that although I think at the professional level most of those don't get hired back.)

Okay just needed to vent. Seriously this is the level of conducting that we endure at the university level. I have no idea how this guy got what is a pretty good gig. (Definitely more money than I'll ever make!) he sucks.