CV Practice and Research
This week our class focused on creating a cv and searching for job positions in the creative industry. We were told that when searching for a job, it is important to gather information about any listings. This could involve checking a studio’s website to see if they are offering any positions, using key terms such as ‘3D modelling’ and ‘graduate’ when researching jobs or regularly checking websites such as LinkedIn and Animation Ireland. We also talked about what makes a good cv. There are many things to consider when creating a cv such as the content that will go into the cv, the language that is used and even the layout itself. We must take all of these elements into consideration if we want to have a cv that stands out from the crowd.
When writing a cv it is important to include the essential criteria. We were told that we should start writing about our experiences in a word document, and we can then select the most relevant points to include for our tailored cv. For example, if the position is for a studio that specialises in 2D work, you should tailor your cv to talk about 2D software that you are familiar with and bring up any 2D projects that you have worked on in the past.
There should also be a hierarchy in your cv, with the most important information included at the start of the cv. The first thing an employer should see is your name, followed by your contact details. This means that they’re not searching the cv to see how they can get into contact with you. Next should be your role and a link to your portfolio that shows off your best work. This should show the employer why you are the best pick for the role. After the links, you should be a short personal statement. This statement should talk about your interests and how they relate to the role you are applying for. Finally, you should talk about your skills. When talking about skills, you should have a combination of hard skills and soft skills. Hard skills include software that you are familiar with and skills directly related to the role you are applying for such as rigging. Meanwhile soft skills would include skills such as problem solving and presentation skills.
Finally, you need to consider the layout and design of your cv. It is essential that your cv is legible, otherwise an employer won’t even take the time to read it. You must consider the font and colours that you use, for example, it would be too hard to read yellow font on a white background. The layout must also make it easy for an employer to read. All text should be left aligned as this makes it easier to navigate sections of text.
I then decided to look at examples of animator cvs to get some inspiration for my own. I found this cv by Annie Chua, which I really like. I like the layout of her cv as everything is very organised and clearly divided into different sections. I also really like that she had an example of her work on the side of her cv.
I also really like this cv by Cesar Pelizer as he has included lots of his own art, which adds personality to his cv and helps it to stand out. Despite having included lots of his art, his cv still feels very organised as he has left aligned all of his text.
After doing research on animation cvs, I decided to work on my own cv. I decided to do a cv for an animator position, so I tailored my hard skills and software skills to relate to animation. I decided to split my cv into two sections. The left side includes my role, my contact details and a list of my skills. The right side contains a short personal statement and then a timeline of projects and my education. I also included animation software that I am confident in.
Overall I am quite happy with my cv. I think this is a good start as I tailored the cv to fit the role that I was applying for by including relevant skills such as animation and storyboarding. I also included soft skills that will be essential in the working environment such as great communication skills, as it is important to have good communication in a studio environment. In my experiences section I included some animation projects that I have worked on, to show my roles in the project and the skills that I developed whilst working on them. Since I currently don’t have a lot of animation experience, I also included my part time job in this section as it still demonstrates how I can work as part of a team and communicate with others.
I personally think that my cv looks very organised with the divider on the side and the headers for each of the different sections. I’m also very happy with my colour scheme and I think the blue works well with the white text. I think the use of the darker shade of blue works well to highlight certain parts in my cv. I plan to show this to a tutor soon so I can get feedback and see what I could do to improve the design.