A Jobhunter's Dilemma?

DGB

I've heard varying opinions on this over the years, but I'd like to get a fresh perspective from you folks:

Is it worth it apply to jobs that you don't meet all of the qualifications for just to get your name in the candidate pool and feel out the HR side of things, or is it better to wait until a similar job comes up and double down on strengthening your portfolio and skill set to make a stronger first impression the next time?
Much obliged.

chrisradsby

Well if you're not strong enough you won't get hired. That's usually how it is most of the time even if you're in the candidate pool. Also I would spend more time working on your portfolio, learning new ways of working, improving and get to know people inside studios and then if you can apply directly through their art-team. Being filtered through HR isn't always awesome, in essence they can dismiss straight up if you don't meet the requirements, never actually looking at your portfolio.

So:
-Networking!
-Build up skills to get known!
-Try and get your resumé straight to the Art-Team!

I hope this helps somewhat!

Jonas Ronnegard

Sorry about going off topic but why is there low poly characters in your high poly category in your portfolio?

Haytch

I've kept to myself for about 5 years working on my portfolio, I only started applying about two years ago, BUT, I would agree with Chris, Networking is a big key, I've got friends at Ubisoft, Crytek, Coalition, EA, Rockstar, And it helps for several reasons, for instance, one of my friends at ubisoft, I begged him to tell me how they did their buildings in Watchdogs, Although he wouldn't he did show me how he did his, which really improved my workflow on modular buildings etc, but by networking you build up skills you didn't even think you would, or think you knew but you were doing it wrong, if you think you're at a standard to get in low, apply, the worste case is you get refused. heck, I applied for 14 studios in the past 2 weeks due to a job crisis & the ones I heard back from I was told i wasn't succesful, I knew it would happen but they see you apply & apply & apply over and over, shows your tenacious, thy remember your name, do some features, tutorials, I do a lot of tutorials on youtube which is how I got my name about to a few studios and met new friends, do something amazing thats out of your reach, work hard for weeks at it, keep asking peoples opinions, TAKE NOT, I suck at criticism, If someone says i have artifacts on my normals I'll ignore em and say no they're supposed to be there.... getting of toppic a bit here lol, but just take cirticism, work on everything, my first few years applying, I actually print screened my work and resized in photoshop, Use rendering tools, get familiar with an engine is a bonus, work on lighting as well, I know everyone says keep to one, but to be able to show off your work you need good lighting, heck, my first job offers were lighting artists and I hate lighting lol. so just keep doing it bud!

Portfolio critique:

Fog jungle: is a good piece, But it feel some things are too saturated, whilst others aren't your leaf plants for instance, they catch my eye instantly but in a bad way?, they don't look quite right, maybe it doesnt fit the scene, Always do research, if you're doing a fog jungle, what type of area? what is the climate, wikipedia is great for finding out which jungles have certain climates, and which climates allow for certain foliage to grow, Also Sibleys guide books are amazingly helpful.


Your substance designer Jungle mud is pretty god, but i feel its too glossy & the branches should be a bit darker with a little more detail would help it 'Pop'

Looking at your wallpaper Substance, It looks as if the cuts in the wallpaper are inverted, is it OpenXL or DirectX? because maybe if you Flip the green in the normal map it will look a little better.

All this said, your artstation could use some work, you're a great artist, far better than me, But you need to organise it more, maybe sub categorise your portfolio, have the division in one category and split up your shots so instead of taking up just 1 piece there's several, it will give them more to look at, sometimes they just scroll through your artwork and if you have all your pictures in one project they'll scroll past it, Put your materials in a category as well 



See how it's split up, sometimes this helps, you can have your environments in one cat, assets in 1, etc etc, then you'd have a category for division, far cry etc, btw great work on them !.

Looking at your portfolio, you just need to change things around but your more likely to get selected than me because you have experience in a studio, that's a plus.

so good luck, hope this helps!

chrisradsby

Haytch said:

Portfolio critique:
text

Not sure why you're giving me the crits haha but thanks anyways =P

Haytch

chrisradsby said:

Haytch said:

Portfolio critique:
text

Not sure why you're giving me the crits haha but thanks anyways =P

Not sure either, anytime i've ever asked for help i get someone pointing out things that will catch eyes, tis helped me in the long run not to get into a habbit of doing certain things, sorry! lol

DGB

@chrisradsby much obliged for the advice; guess I'll double down on improvement for now. Strangely enough, I seem to be having a harder time bypassing ATS software for non-Industry jobs than I was getting responses from HR at game studios.

@Jonas Ronnegard Sorry about that - I've been playing with different setups for my website lately. I grouped all of the sub-2000 tri models in Low Poly and everything 2000+ models in High Poly. I should be more descriptive with the tabs.

@Haytch Thanks for the encouragement, the tutorial idea is a good one - it's been a while since I've done a tutorial or a video. After I've found a day job to hold me over at least in the short term, I'll see about putting together a video or two then. I've also got a larger project on the back-burner that I want to get back to as well.

@dustinbrown I appreciate the heads-up. That's definitely a big concern of mine going forward. Back in September I went through a few phone interviews for one company - I felt like I could have gotten at least a face-to-face session if I hadn't messed up on the second interview, but after that I didn't get any responses from the other companies I applied to at the time. Based on my current body of work, the first one may have been a lucky fluke. In any case, time for me to get back to real-life grinding!

PyrZern

Might as well just use 'Sculpt' vs 'Game-engine ready' instead.
A 50k tris model that is game engine ready, is still low poly model.

beefaroni

DGB said:

Is it worth it apply to jobs that you don't meet all of the qualifications for just to get your name in the candidate pool and feel out the HR side of things, or is it better to wait until a similar job comes up and double down on strengthening your portfolio and skill set to make a stronger first impression the next time?

I never expected to get my current job with less than 1 year of professional experience. I just tossed out an application for fun, was surprised when the art test came, and now I'm working here full time.

If your art is good but you don't meet the shipped games/experience/etc qualifications, just go for it anyways.

DGB

My thanks to everyone who's thrown in their two cents so far - It's been a while since I've dealt with larger studios with dedicated HR and all, so I'm grateful for the insight.

@PyrZern Good point. I was keeping them separate primarily to avoid longer load times, but I guess it would make more sense to have them all on one page.

@beefaroni That's awesome, man! You've got some really nice work on your ArtStation. That AUAF guy reminds me of a character I worked on a few years back (not as good as yours, though.) I'd like to dive head first into Industry job-hunting, but I think I need to brush up on my 3D and my sales pitch first.