Has anyone gotten/given a job when the company wasn't looking for that role?

Yozora

So lets say a company does not list they need Artists in their vacancies, has anyone been in a position where they hired someone who applied anyway, or have been that person who got accepted by just applying regardless of the company's vacancy list?

Isn't it annoying for the employers receiving a bunch of applicants for a role that isn't advertised? Or is it welcomed?

edit; This is especially targetted at the people who had no experience in the industry, or when you first started out

Tulkamir

Hah, of course you should still apply when a position isn't being advertised. In my experience companies rarely advertise everything they are looking for as soon as they may need someone.

It never hurts to apply, you will only be annoying people if you repeatedly apply in short amounts of time. If they aren't looking for someone they'll either ignore your application, or will look at it and if it's any good will file it away for later.

And yes, I have been hired for positions that aren't advertised.

hawken

Has anyone gotten/given a job when the company wasn't looking for that role?

yes, it's more common than you might think

low odor

I wouldnt worry about it..apply

EarthQuake

apply apply apply, apply when you think you're not qualified, apply at night, apply in the day, applyyyyyy. The worst that can happen is you wont get a job.

Rick Stirling

If they are not looking, and you send in some fantastic work, there's a good chance you'll get a job (certainly at the larger studios).

Kawe

a more interesting question is... how often does a person that doesn't meet all requirements as stated on the job listing get a job? cause honestly I only hear about people who get jobs that aren't really qualified. but then I guess you wont hear stories about people who gets the job they are qualified for.. lol.

Pedro Amorim

my opinion on this and its just my opinion of someone that doesnt know how things work. is that the requirements is just to scare ppl off.

If you dont feel confident and read the requisites, that they want 3 years experience yada yada yada, its more likely that you wont apply because you think you are not on par.

While another person that thinks he is quailified even tho he hasnt worked in the industry, will look at that shit and think, ok, i never worked on a game but my art is good, i feel i have a change. and apply. and most likely they will get the job.

because, it demonstrates promisse. so, in conclusion, they want to scare you, and if they succed, it means you are not ready ytet. if they dont succed, means you are confident in yourself and probabbly will land something.

FAT_CAP

Yep - I have gotten all my jobs so far just by applying at places and seeing if they had anything available. Each times an artist had just left and they hadn't had time to contact recruitment/ place ads/ spread the word yet and so I was able to jump to the front of the queue!

Mark Dygert

It never hurts to apply, just don't be surprised when they don't call...

pliang

Yeah...usually most companies won't advertise all the positions they are looking for "Including the guy who installs computers" mainly to filter out people who prolly won't take the job seriously.

But from what I've seen/heard from, people who are skilled, whether they have shipped a game or not in the past will likely be interviewed some time later if promising....

For those who reapply from time to time, it's better to have a noticeable addition to your portfolio to shoe the employers you are highly motivated for the job or else some of them may blacklist you.


:::

Oh, I have my own take on the question, "Should companies hire people who have experience making detailed art for films for game artist positions if they have not shipped a game before?"

I had a friend who's had a very solid portfolio working in films for about two years, knows how game development works and got turned down from a lead character artist role simply because he never shipped a game before...he's hired at Blizzard now.

EarthQuake

You can get hired for a lot of positions that you dont meet the requirements, of course there are exceptions, you're likely not going to be able to land an art director gig right out of college with no experience, but if you've got great work and you're not a leper you can certainly get a job that states "3 years of experience, 2 shipped titles" etc

[Deleted User]

I have a question about applying even when you don't think you're qualified:
I've heard some people say that your first impression with a company is super important. I think it's usually said in the context of portfolio presentation and website layout, but is it applicable to applications in general as well? I mean, if I applied someplace and the work I showed them wasn't up to their standards, would that make me less likely to be hired by that company later, assuming that the work I showed them with the latter application was otherwise good enough?

Mark Dygert

I think its ok to reapply with a new portfolio. I think people are less likely to remember your name and more likely to remember your work. If you have any hold over pieces from the old portfolio then they should be the best of the best. Just tossing everything up could bring back memories of why they didn't want to hire you first go round.