Question about my jobsearch
polycounter lvl 7
I find myself in an interesting predicament.
I started my current job while I was still in school. We're a tiny team working on a somewhat unique project. It's good work and fun, but i'm not exactly content here for a number of reasons:
1. I am the only employee on the project who's out of school - and I only graduated three months ago.
2.I am the ONLY artist on the project. I have done everything from UI to some technical animation - this is actually a good thing as it keeps me on my toes, but it's incredibly frustrating at times without anybody my professional senior to go to for help from time to time.
3. Also related to that is the fact that i'm not getting the "on the job" learning that everybody says they get at their first job - where you learn 10 times more than you ever did at school. I'm still learning, but it's the google-driven brain-painey learning that you do by yourself.
3. The studio isn't exactly connected into the greater industry - even our publisher has never done software before...
4. I have remained part time along with the rest of the team. I'm doing alright - i can pay my bills and that's about it - but things are finishing up here and there are no guarantees yet.
I've had a lot of fun, but i've been on the hunt for full time work for a while now. My Boss is awesome to work with and he's aware of my activities in this area, so i'm not exactly sneaking around - i also have every intention of staying until our work is done even if i find work. So i've been working on my portfolio every day and dropping resume's in all the proverbial wells.
My question, though, is this:
Is it generally frowned upon to be looking for work while you're currently employed at a studio. Even though my situation is unique I know that just by glancing at my resume an HR person doesn't know that.
I did an art test for Cryptic a couple months back and they liked it enough to fly me in for an interview. When i didn't get the job I got the distinct feeling that it was due to either the awkwardness of my current working situation or my own awkwardness in presenting it.
I also don't know if maybe my situation isn't all that uncommon and i'm making a big deal about nothing.
i'm not going to mention what i'm working on or with whom - if you're interested it's on my resume and the rest can be googled from there.
I started my current job while I was still in school. We're a tiny team working on a somewhat unique project. It's good work and fun, but i'm not exactly content here for a number of reasons:
1. I am the only employee on the project who's out of school - and I only graduated three months ago.
2.I am the ONLY artist on the project. I have done everything from UI to some technical animation - this is actually a good thing as it keeps me on my toes, but it's incredibly frustrating at times without anybody my professional senior to go to for help from time to time.
3. Also related to that is the fact that i'm not getting the "on the job" learning that everybody says they get at their first job - where you learn 10 times more than you ever did at school. I'm still learning, but it's the google-driven brain-painey learning that you do by yourself.
3. The studio isn't exactly connected into the greater industry - even our publisher has never done software before...
4. I have remained part time along with the rest of the team. I'm doing alright - i can pay my bills and that's about it - but things are finishing up here and there are no guarantees yet.
I've had a lot of fun, but i've been on the hunt for full time work for a while now. My Boss is awesome to work with and he's aware of my activities in this area, so i'm not exactly sneaking around - i also have every intention of staying until our work is done even if i find work. So i've been working on my portfolio every day and dropping resume's in all the proverbial wells.
My question, though, is this:
Is it generally frowned upon to be looking for work while you're currently employed at a studio. Even though my situation is unique I know that just by glancing at my resume an HR person doesn't know that.
I did an art test for Cryptic a couple months back and they liked it enough to fly me in for an interview. When i didn't get the job I got the distinct feeling that it was due to either the awkwardness of my current working situation or my own awkwardness in presenting it.
I also don't know if maybe my situation isn't all that uncommon and i'm making a big deal about nothing.
i'm not going to mention what i'm working on or with whom - if you're interested it's on my resume and the rest can be googled from there.
Replies
It's doubtful they were turned off by your situation, but the way you presented it weighs on their impression of you. Just present it in a way that doesn't seem weird, since it really doesn't sound like that weird of a situation from your description.
I was in a somewhat similar situation for my first job in that I wasn't in a position to learn from more senior people, didn't work on things relevant to my portfolio, etc. The best piece of advice I can give to you is to find something else asap and don't bother waiting 'til the work is done. You need to look out for yourself, and you don't want to be out of work and having to scramble when this job dries up(which it sounds like it probably will).
I can't speak officially on this, but I can speak from my personal experience. If you got an interview at Cryptic, they probably did a phone interview before flying you out. That interview is to test your technical knowledge and make sure you're not presenting yourself in your portfolio and elsewhere as something you're not. If they flew you out for an in-person interview, they were most likely concerned with finding out if your personality would mesh well with those you're be working with. Since they decided not to go forward with the hiring process, they probably just thought you wouldn't work well in the general environment and team composition.
It's nothing personal, and you should probably get yourself used to the fact that sometimes people just don't fit in with any given team. It can happen at basically any job in this industry or in another industry.
My suggestion would be to keep looking for a job, and cast a wide net. Apply to places you wouldn't normally think of doing so.
Good luck!
seriously - we did a mock interview while i was still in school with a couple of industry guys and i stood up in the middle of it and readjusted to sit on my foot..which i do a lot at work much to my knee's dismay.
one of those moments where you just blink afterwards but inside you're screaming - "what the hell was that!? why would you do that right now!? go sit in the corner and think about what you've done"
On one of my first phone interviews (ironically the same studio I currently contract for), I remember them asking me, "how are you at rigging...would you say that you're comfortable with that"? Considering I suck at rigging, the ideal answer would be something along the lines of "it's not my strong point, but something I want to improve on"....but what I said instead was "haha...noway, if you're trying to use a rig I created...good luck"! As soon as it left my mouth, I literally face palmed my whole entire face! I instantly imagined the whole entire room at the other end of the phone (there were 4 people interviewing me) all looking at each other saying "waadaafuuuQ"? I've found since then to relax, but not so much that I make myself sound totally inapt.
But Swizzle offered some great advice. Apply to places you normally wouldnt, you'll get a lot more bites and you might be surprised!
This is great advice.
I conducted a fair number of interviews at my first industry job and once we brought the artist in for an interview, it really was just to see what sort of person they were. It was for a very small art team and we were pretty stingy about who we interviewed.
If you are nervous, find some peace and confidence in the fact that they already like your work and want to get more information about you and your work. If you have quirks like having to sit on your knee (I do too!), just move on like it never happened. Usually if you move on, everyone in the room will move on too like it's not a big deal.
That being said, I have been on interview where it was me and 15 other artists and I had to talk through every piece in my (outdated) portfolio. There was no small talk or chitchat, just business. It was fairly nervewracking for the first couple of minutes until you realize you know all the work inside and out and it's really not that different than talking to fellow artists on PC about your work.
One last thing and it's something that has always been a touchstone for me during interviews. Remember that the interview is as much for you as it is for them. Ask questions about the work environment, what folks do for lunch, etc. Questions with a purpose will take the heat off of you which can help with nervousness and awkward situations.
Hope this helps!