Digital Development Management
polycounter lvl 9
I've been busy trying to finish up school and just started looking at getting a job. Today I sent out some emails to a few contacts I've been building and someone came back with the tip that I should contact the website http://www.ddmagency.com . I have been viewing polycount for a while now and am under the assumption that the only way to get a job as an artist is to put together a stunning portfolio and then send it off to every studio in the hope that I turn some eyes. Are there really talent agents and has anyone ever heard of this company?
Replies
I hope not. The major issue I've seen with 3rd party recruiters(meaning people not working at a studio/publisher), is they're seemingly entirely based around resumes and not portfolios. They're not artists, and really have no way of knowing whether you're a good fit aside from whether you match the company's requirements list.
For what it's worth, I haven't heard of this company before, but have heard of several others. Every encounter I've had with outside recruiters/headhunters has been them recommending positions to me that I am not qualified for, or don't match what my portfolio actuallly shows.
Keep working on your portfolio and network with people through this and other sites(by posting badass work and contributing). If there's particular companies you want to work for, do stuff that is in line with the work they create(both in style and quality) and try to contact someone that works there through polycount to see if they can give you a heads-up on what that company looks for.
Its weird reading the credits for games anymore because it feels like half the people working in the Industry are now marketing/publishers. I have a call with one of these guys coming up in a couple of weeks so I'll see what they say but like I said before, from everything I've found the entry into the industry is 89% portfolio, 10% who you know and 1% luck. I wonder what a talent agent would even do?
Good recruiters can find open positions that aren't listed yet, because they have industry contacts. A good recruiter can help shepherd you through the hiring process, which helps sometimes because HR in games are notorious for being bad at managing applicants. They can help you improve your resume, get you connections to apply to, improve your cover letters, and prep you for interviews.
Only use a recruiter after you've exhausted your personal connections... the vast majority of game jobs are filled by someone who recommends a friend.
If you must use a recruiter, only use one that a friend has recommended, because the industry is flooded with bad recruiters (and horror stories).
edit... to that end, you might consider using your real name instead of an alias. Name recognition has certainly helped me, after contributing here and elsewhere for a while. That wouldn't have happened quite as well if I had stuck with the old nickname I used to use. Others here have changed to their real names as well.