Job Hunting
polycounter lvl 11
I graduated from the Art Institute of Vancouver just over a month ago and I've job searching ever since. I've applied to 20 odd companies for a total of 30 positions without an interview to show for it. I managed to get an interview at a company doing 3D modeling but not for games and they haven't gotten back to me either.
I always hear "just get your foot in the door" but it seems that's the big hurdle. I gotta admit, after weeks of applying for every advertised position that suits me, and not hearing back (even after following up 2-3 weeks later with a phone call), its getting quite difficult to keep my head up and continue moving at this pace.
Is my work just sub-par?
Am I applying for the right level jobs?
Are companies just busy with other things?
Why did so-and-so get a job when I didn't?
Is it too early to expect anything?
Those are the kinds of questions I haven't stopped asking myself and I was wondering if any of you guys could provide any insight based on your experiences. I don't mean to sound like a crazy angry nut case, lol. But I'm just wondering what other people have experienced. If what I'm going through is normal.
I always hear "just get your foot in the door" but it seems that's the big hurdle. I gotta admit, after weeks of applying for every advertised position that suits me, and not hearing back (even after following up 2-3 weeks later with a phone call), its getting quite difficult to keep my head up and continue moving at this pace.
Is my work just sub-par?
Am I applying for the right level jobs?
Are companies just busy with other things?
Why did so-and-so get a job when I didn't?
Is it too early to expect anything?
Those are the kinds of questions I haven't stopped asking myself and I was wondering if any of you guys could provide any insight based on your experiences. I don't mean to sound like a crazy angry nut case, lol. But I'm just wondering what other people have experienced. If what I'm going through is normal.
Replies
Appy to all jobs that you can at every company you can.
Its not surprising you havent found a job yet. You've only been looking for one month, and only applied to 20 places.
20 companies sounds like a lot to apply to but don't stop there if you haven't heard back... and judging by your website (It's a nice site, I like it.) it's probably because you are looking for character work. This (as I have recently learned myself) is probably the main thing keeping you back. It's much harder to get a character job right out of school unless you are really damn good.. there's so much competition for so little spots (90% of the students at my school including myself geared ourselves to look for a job as a 'character artist') that you would be really lucky to find a spot doing that right off the bat.
my advice would be what people have told me.. shoot for an environment spot first. There's many more positions available and a good handful of those are junior positions. You could always try looking for an internship first as well, which is always a good start.
when I graduated (last december) I was applying everywhere looking for character work as well.. I applied to just as many if not more companies and only heard a 'no thanks' back from 2. It shouldn't get you down, just keep working on your stuff and improving. I don't think there are more than 4 people in my graduating class that have any sort of job pertaining to the industry... you have to want it and apply yourself actively. I have a list of about 130 companies (excel ftw) that I update regularly with what positions they are looking for, who I know in the company, email, and their HR person, among other things (if I applied, when that was, etc.) so keeping on top of this helps a bunch too.
I haven't landed a full time yet myself but I've had an internship at GarageGames which was a great experience and I'm currently doing contract work at High Voltage, which is also pretty cool.
so basically I would say to maybe aim for the more starter positions, unlock yourself from the whole 'character artist' thing you have going on your website (that will throw people off from what I've heard), and just keep pushing yourself. your character art isn't bad but I don't think it's of the quality that most candidates they hire are at.
I hope this has helped in some way. Don't give up! the fact that you are here is a good start - it's a great resource.
Lastly, the most important thing for you beyond continuing work on your portfolio is networking. If you really want a job you really have to get out there and meet people. VIGS is coming up, have you volunteered? I haven't seen you at Draw Jams recently, what about the industry night last week? There's stuff going on all the time. Get out, meet people, etc...
Anyways, in the end you've only been out for a month, I know you're a hard worker, and you seem to have the skillset. Just keep plugging away and you'll get a job. Don't fret over it too much man.
That said, your portfolio made me want to close it before I saw any art. Before I say anything else, read this article
http://www.thejonjones.com/2005/10/07/your-portfolio-repels-jobs/
You must understand the position the employer is in. If you ever get the opportunity to post a job offer it'll all make sense. You get about 100 emails in your inbox, all with awful, awful student reels. If they click on your site and don't immediately see art, they think "what an asshole" and close that splash/news/whatever page. It's not because they are impatient pricks. The poor guys are just trying to do their job in the most timely manner, and the first rule everyone wants to break is not taking the user directly to content.
Here's a scenario, let's say I click on your portfolio, here's what we get; splash page > I can't go anywhere from here....wait, there's a tiny "enter" text for me to click, I didn't see that the first time and deleted your email application....ok I'm on the site now > Home page, a page TELLING me I'll find art not SHOWING me art > 3d modeling, ok, I've found what I was looking for, but what are these thumbnails of? cropped sections of I-don't-know-what, not very enticing. > After clicking around, Ah, this skater kid looks pretty cool, I'll just right click on that and save the image to show the art director to see what he think..but oh no, this slow loading image format doesn't allow that, and even if I did save it, it's not watermarked and we forgot who you were.
See the cycle you've already put 20 companies through? Again, these guys are trying to be dicks, but after you have to look through a few portfolios, a link that goes right to a page of images/thumbnails that are clear is a breathe of fresh air. I've been in this position, and the truth is, people with worse art than yourself WILL BE LOOKED AT MORE. And even if they look at both art, it'll still be in their mind that at least that guy "gets it" with portfolios.
Anyway, that's too much typing and opinionated statements for me. Make it stupid easy to see your work. Employers should find your work accidentally.
I graduated a month ago myself with a BFA in Computer Animation, I also picked up Max in the last week as I have been up until now only a Maya guy. '
Just as a side note you may want to add a link to your main page navigation for your resume.
I think the only thing worth keeping are the kid skater and the nun character. I'm referring to the 3d section only. Nothing else matches the quality of those two pieces or are not finished. You can fix them or take them out. I like the props as well but the presentation sucks. You can show 640 x 480 images or larger it's not the 1990s anymore. I think one you show some more finished pieces and get rid of all the filler you'll be getting responses. Keep at it. Not trying to be harsh.
The rest of your work is nice, I didn't like the grainy paper background you had your drawings on. You actually have a better angle of the library you didn't show.
http://joshuapang.ca/3D/library2.jpg
Alex
Aesir:
Very blunt, very true. I'll have to work on making current projects higher in quality.
BounchFX:
Well I gotta say, I chose characters because that's where my passion is. And usually for me, more passion results in better work (9 week time constraint not withstanding :P). The student dorm environment exercise is a new project that I hope will allow my prop skills to shine. It's a little early to tell right now what's going on exactly. But yes, I agree, I think environment art is the way to get your foot in the door, so thanks for reinforcing that!
Tulkamir:
I'm not gonna lie - I haven't attended a single drawjam. Back then, it was GPW and portfolio, or I had classes every single Thursday night [/excuses]. But I never thought of it as a way to promote myself before. I just thought of it as a bunch of my peers sitting down and getting some drawings done and I was more concerned with researching companies, fixing my website, just getting my name out there in general.
cholden:
Thank you for that well rounded critique of my website. You are absolutely right, I was too caught up in making it look different than making it user friendly. I'm already getting some ideas on how to make it more efficient to use. I'm just reading through what you wrote again, and there are so many good suggestions, i'm gonna have to bookmark this thread! I muchly appreciate the time you've taken to point out everything you see detrimental.
Deckard:
Good to know i'm not alone in this. Thanks for the suggestion.
sage:
Oh, you caught the filler ... i'm in the process of replacing those with more recent works. Looks like I have quite an overhaul to pull off! Getting rid of those filler pieces, watermarking the better pieces, fixing the thumbnails and just the overall presentation. Thanks for taking the time to point out everything.
Your art isn't bad, but its lacking definition of WHERE or WHAT you want to work on. Pick a studio you are interested, look at the style they work and try to cater your art to that style. Right now I think your stuff is too generic/old gen.
Best of luck to ya!!
If your art isn't as good as the art in the company's games why would they want you?
Always think about it from the other side.
If you want work you have to push yourself further and make the kind of art that people will want in their games.
As for your site, read what cholden posted.
Every click you ask someone to make you loose half of them. It takes 3 clicks to get to your art, so you have lost 87.5% of the people that might have looked at your art.
Most of the time if people thought they were going to get a job right out of school without really considering what they can "do" for the company...they're pretty much lying to themselves.
When I got out my experience was a little different...I didn't need to immediately land a job ASAP for personal reasons...I almost got drafted and had to take absence 3 - 4 months, took a month doing QA on the side....spent a month or so on a new portfolio piece and few more months on personal skill set development, learning new softwares while keeping in touch with my contacts. I also kept my ears open to events and go out to meet some more people...I met some awesome folks from Activision and Infinity Ward last August and got some helpful advice form them. It pretty much took me 9 months to get the position I sought after...
The point is what has been said is pretty much what you need to know.
Good Luck
Wow, it took that long for you? I'm hoping that if I spruce up my website, and continue working on pushing myself, I'll land a job sure enough. I only started this thread just to see if others have experienced the same thing I'm going through, and it sure sounds like they have!
Oobersli:
Thanks for the tip. There are two things I've heard that contradict each other. First, cater your art towards a specific company whose art you admire. Second, be more general with your work so employers will see that you are well rounded and can do what they need you to do. You're right in noticing my work is general. I chose this because i didn't want to shut out any companies. At the same time, I understand I'm taking a risk, as I could lose an offer to another applicant who is more specific.
Thegodzero:
I've never heard that rule of thumb but it makes much sense to me! I hope my version2.0 of my site will be less inclined to turn away prospective employers.
Pliang:
Ah, terrorizing the polycount forums too! The Artery wasn't enough? j/k
Yeah I read through the article cholden posted. Crap, if that article were a test, I'd fail pretty bad, lol. Which prompted me to design a more straightforward version. I apologize for sounding like a spoiled brat - according to the responses i've gotten sofar, 1 month is barely any time into the job search, haha.
I've thought about what I could do for companies before graduation. And I wanted to sell myself based on the fact that I have skills that extend beyond the 3D and traditional art realm, but I understand that this results in me not being very specialized, which, according to the article, is what employers look for the most.
Anyway, I've done a quick mock up of what I want the next version of my site to look like. Hopefully, it keeps the same design appeal from the first version, with the simplicity that everyone has suggested to me sofar. Let me know what you guys think!
I think the warrior is the weakest of all your charaters. But it shows up the first thing in your reel. Move your best piece in front. By the way is that a water mark on your reel? It's pretty annoying imo you should lose that.
If you look around zbrushcentral.com I think you'll get an idea of what people are expecting if you have zbrush experience : /
I don't know if it was your site but I just had a trojan cleaned from my system after clicking your link in your first post.
Then Waz says 50% of his CPU is used when viewing your site just verifies it for me anyway, so try and look into that.
Site +C&C:
Otherwise make it simple like the new style design you have going on there and just hang in there I was nearly about to give up and drop the whole idea a few months ago then the replys started coming in and now i'm freelancing on & off but still getting more experiance & pay plus just finished an art-test.
It takes time try and find some upstart game company's or not so popular local studios that have some published titles that you think you can trust and see what they might be able to do for you.
That's about all the info I can give as I am far from a pro and would never consider myself as one cause in this field "we as artists" are always learning...
There IS a virus on there, right after I've sent out a bunch more applications. I think I know exactly where i got it from too. Now the question is how to get rid of it. Thanks for letting me know!
I'm glad the new layout works better for you guys. Time to get it sliced up and coded!