Robert Taylor, Crafting a CV
Introduction:
Creating a CV is a bit more than just compiling a list of experiences and skills, it’s a strategic process that requires attention to detail. As I went about making my CV, I encountered challenges, made decisions, and learned valuable information about creating my professional identity and the expectations of potential employers. This blog will cover my research, experiences, and tips learned for creating a compelling CV that effectively showcases my strengths and value.
Understanding the purpose:
Before getting into the nitty gritty of CV creation, it’s important to understand its purpose. A CV serves to paint a picture of your professional life, highlighting your qualifications, experience, skills, attitude, and accomplishments. Its goal is to persuade employers that you’re the best candidate for the job. Writing the purpose of a CV and keeping it in mind helped me stay focused on what’s important for a good CV.
- Keep it brief, no more than two pages.
- Avoid unproductive personal details such as age, religion, and sex.
- Write in the third person – start sentences with verbs.
- List your career history and qualifications in reverse chronological order.
- Include computer skills, language skills, and any relevant training.
- Keep your hobbies and interests section short.
- Check for typos and ask a friend to read it through too.
- Cater the CV to the job role.
Tailoring for Each Opportunity:
While it’s tempting to create a generic CV that can be sent out to everyone, I learned early the importance of tailoring my CV for each opening. Every job is unique, and so are the requirements and criteria of potential employers. By attentively reviewing job descriptions and researching the companies I would be applying to, I need to be able to customize my CV to align with their specific needs and values. This will not only increase my chances of standing out but also demonstrate my genuine interest in the role and company. This CV I made, was focused on the Design Animator position at Paper Owl Studios.
Process:
To start I took the time to assess my Strengths, experience, achievements, career goals, and skills. This helped me plan out a rough structure to lay out my information but before I could go any further, I needed to know what format of CV I wanted.
I looked at different examples for animator CVs, some with pictures, colors, and graphics, and others a bit simpler. I personally would like to have a bit of color in my CV but prefer the simpler look with no pictures or graphics, I find it more straightforward and to the point. I also noticed a lot of these examples I found online use the same % bars to show their skill level. I’m not sure if they all come from similar CV template websites or why they’re so common, but I think most people would agree that they don’t belong on a CV.
My first attempt. I made a simplistic look much like my second example above but with an extra bit of colour. The dark header with white text consisting of my contact information is in contrast to the rest of the text throughout the CV to help isolate the info I also ordered my sections what I felt was most important first such as experience and skills with education and hobbies after.
Feedback:
Some of the feedback I got from tutors and peers was to remove some of the welding experience and cater more to the job, I got a bit carried away remembering my past work forgetting a lot of it won’t carry over. I also got to add in-class experiences such as the group projects I’ve worked on like the games design module, mentioning responsibilities and roles I had. Lastly were small changes like adding more skills and relevant hobbies like time management and reading.
I added class group assignments like the escape animation and games design project to show the skills I learned and the experience I gained from working in group situations as most if not all animation applications require group work skills as their essential criteria. I removed a lot of the metalworking skills I had from my Flemings job that was irrelevant to animation but kept certain experiences that I felt weren’t job-specific and would apply to any application like working on a team. Mentioning working on 8-tonne trailers and maneuvering them with cranes may not transfer any skills but shows a level of responsibility and calm-headedness for demanding situations.
Crafting a CV is an opportunity to express your professional identity, showcase your achievements, and position yourself for success. By understanding the purpose of the CV, tailoring it to each opportunity, and learning from feedback, I was able to create a compelling CV that effectively communicates my strengths and experience to potential employers. As I continue to evolve in my career, I’ll carry these lessons forward to present myself in the job market.
Showreel:
A showreel is a short video, usually 1 minute or 2, that consists of an individual’s creations, skills, and achievements. More than that it is the singular most important resource at your disposal, arguably more important than the entire CV for its ability to quickly showcase an employer your talents. I am not saying you only need a showreel, it’s important to have both, but it does highlight its importance and integral application of focus.
To make an effective showreel, you must use your best work and the implication of quality over quantity is vital here. It can be tempting to throw in past work that you had a passion for or a unique connection due to an important learning experience. Still, these might cause you to overlook their quality against your best-looking work and will bring down the appeal of your entire showreel. It’s better to keep things like experimental or unpolished work on a personal blog or website and an employer may wish to see them after review of your showreel and CV at which point you would have time to sell their appeal.
Some points to consider:
- The content of a showreel should be of your highest quality, demonstrating your expertise and showcasing projects that highlight your creativity, and innovation.
- A good showreel should demonstrate your versatility by including a diverse range of projects, styles, and techniques showing your ability to adapt.
- Cater the work in the showreel to the job role you’re applying for.
- The showreel should be appropriate in length and to the point, typically ranging from 1 to 2 minutes. It should not overwhelm the viewer with unnecessary details or filler content.
- Professional choice of music that compliments the work and visuals.
For my showreel, I included a mix of 3D and 2D animation because I applied to Paper Owls Studios, specifically the design animator role which wants Photoshop skills as its desirable criteria but unfortunately, even with my experience I do not, as of yet, have enough examples to make a good showreel consisting of 2D material only.
Cover email:
A good cover email effectively introduces yourself, expresses genuine interest in the position, and highlights relevant qualifications and experiences. You want it to be respectful and show your enthusiasm to make you stand out from the crowd.
It’s a good idea to throw in a little flattery of the company’s work as it can go a long way. It shows confidence and a keen interest that shows you already know enough about the company and its work to have an opinion on it.