thescratchpost.com

Ed Harris is the owner of EdHarris.com. A privately owned corporation based in the USA. Committed to delivering the best resources for those of you that are involved in the area of computer graphics and animation, specifically if you are creating a demo reel, job hunting or learning SoftimageXSI.

**********

You’ve spent months working on your demo reel. You’ve sent it out to dozens of companies. All your work is finally starting to pay off. You’ve got an interview! Your reel may look great, your resume might be perfect, but if you screw up your interview, all that work will be for nothing. With more artists than jobs, interviews can be hard to come by. It is very important that you make the best possible first impression. In order to help you achieve that, here is a list of what not to do when interviewing for a CG Job.

1. Pointing out mistakes in your demo reel

You are at the interview and they are watching your demo reel. You see all the mistakes. (After all, you’ve seen this demo reel hundreds of times.) You want to point out the problems and explain why they are in there. Don’t do it! If they didn’t see it, why call their attention to it? If they point them out, and you knew they were in there, explain why and that you’d have fixed them if you could. If you didn’t know they were in there, be honest and thank them for showing you the mistakes. Let them know that you’ll fix it before your next batch of reels goes out. This makes them feel good because they were able to help you out. It also boosts their ego a bit because they were able to spot something that, up until now, no one else had noticed.

2. Arriving too early or too late

If you live in the same city as your interview, there is no excuse for being late. Before the interview, take a practice drive to the company, even if you know where it is. This will make it a lot easier for you to get there when the time comes and give you an accurate estimate of travel time. If you are flying into the interview, someone from the company might be there to guide you around. This will make it hard for you to miss the interview. But if they fly you in at night and your interview is the next day, make sure you get a wakeup call and set an alarm. If you get up late and aren’t ready when they come to pick you up it won’t look good. If you are responsible for grabbing a cab or taking a train to the interview, ask the concierge how long it will take you to get from your hotel to the company at X time of the day. Then add 15 to 30 min. It’s better to show up slightly early and wait around than to be late. The last thing you want is for your first impression to be “This artist can’t tell time.” If you can’t be punctual, they will question your ability to show up for work on time. If you arrive more than 10 or 15 min early, don’t go inside and wait. Do something else till the time arrives. Showing up 30 min early only proves that you have too much time on your hands.

3. Talking poorly about your previous employer

If you’ve had a previous job and quit, were laid off or got fired, don’t badmouth that company or the people who work there. Be very diplomatic about it. If you got fired, tell them that things just didn’t work out at your last job. If you got laid off, let them know that your contract was up or that the company was downsizing. Do not tell them that your co-workers were not nice, your boss was not smart, etc… Interviews are not the time for you to vent about the last place you worked. Not only is it unprofessional, but you never know who the interviewer might be friends with.

4. Sharing proprietary information

Never share proprietary information with your potential employer. If they ask you to tell them how your last company did their skin system, set up their render farm, created certain “trade mark” effects or anything that the general public can’t find out by attending a SIGGRAPH talk, reading a copy of Cinefex or watching a “making of” show, then don’t say anything. Just let them know, nicely, that you are not at liberty to share that type of information. If they get angry with you, then you probably don’t want to work for them anyway. If they say, “Ok, no problem.” Then you might have just avoided a trap. Sometimes companies will ask you questions just to see what type of person you are. If you are willing to give out proprietary information from your last company, you’ll do it with future companies too. Once this becomes common knowledge, it will be very hard for you to get a job anywhere. These types of questions can come in many forms. It’s not always about technology. I’ve heard of interviewers asking to see shots from unreleased films, television shows and interactive software. If you think you are pleasing them by giving them what they want, think again. It’s a trick. They are “feeling you out” to see if you’ll betray the trust of your current/previous company. It may sound dirty, but these people can’t afford to have employees that will leak important information to competitors or the media before its time If you’ll leave one company hanging, they suspect you’ll do it again.

5. Turning down the job before the interview is over

During your interview you might see something that really turns you off. You know immediately that this is not the place for you. Don’t stop the interviewer and tell them. Continue with the interview as if nothing has changed. Continue to pretend the company is the greatest and that you still want to work for them. Why would you want to do this? Because the person interviewing you today could be the same person interviewing you 3 months from now. They also might be very good friends with you next interviewer.

6. Misc. interview mistakes

Talking too much can really annoy the interviewer. Try to be through but direct in all your answers. Be nice to the secretary/receptionist. Just because they don’t make most of the hiring decisions, you never know what they might say about you or how much pull they have. Deliver a good, solid handshake. Too painfully solid and you’ll seem obnoxious and overaggressive. Too limp and you’ll seem disinterested or weak. Limit the number of times you say umm, like, you know and uh.

Even if your interview goes really well, you still might not be offered the job. All is not lost though. You might want to ask the interviewer if they can give you some feedback or if there is a job elsewhere that you’d be better suited for. The important thing is that you use the overall experience to improve your next interview.

Be Sociable, Share!

•