Reflective research for myself and others when looking for my future job and how to prepare myself with a CV, Showreel and a cover – email to meet their requirements.

What’s makes a good/clear CV and makes it stand out?

To have a good CV is too have a clear, concise and to make every point necessary without waffling about other stuff in my life on one page which should only include what is relevant and not include things that are not related to my future job career. It is beneficial for any individual if they have listed their past responsibilities on different work experiences they had gone through as well as any volunteer work they have worked in for the past few years. The CV should include our most important part’s of our lives which is contact information that are the following: home address of where we currently live and our postcode, mobile and home telephone number so we can receive calls and  email address which should be a professional account, so we can receive messages from the company.

The CV should be clear with our typed writing with no grammar mistakes present as we should always proof-read our work and look out for any punctuation mistakes as well as to avoid any repetition of the same words, so we don’t repeat ourselves over and over again. It is practical to remove any outdated information which is no longer needed for our CV as it would not be relevant for our future and remove information which is incorrect or entirely false for anyone who is lying about their qualifications or experience. Everyone must write down in full honesty on what we are familiar with, what we can do and where we have worked before and accurate dates in which these accomplishments have taken place. The CV should not be long or be many pages to fill in relevant information for the selected company, it should only be 1 or 2 pages but mostly 1 for our CV is not a novel or essay just a piece of paper which identify the whole area about ourselves. 

Cover Email

Before moving onto the cover email I would have to list more stuff onto our CV, apart from just detailing my responsibilities as the organisation would be more interested in the skills and the software I have knowledge of doing. The form should have at least 3/4 quarters long of text to fit the one page and should not be completely filled as the organisation will get tired of it while reading it from top to bottom. I would have to  add in my achieving results from my school years such as their grades I had passed and accomplishments in each of my classes from the past few years. The CV itself should have clean and simple spacing for text, a consistent layout and font size for the employer to read off text with no problem of the size and the highlight of the job I am applying for.

When applying for any future job, I should talk a little about myself and tell them why I would want to work for that one particular studio as I would want to know why I chose them and where have I heard of them before or which of any of the advertisements have caught my eye e.g., commercial, interviews or from a friend. I would then explain why they think they are suitable for this job and the role I have chosen for myself can be beneficial to this studio, as well as meeting their requirements e.g., 3d animator, 2d animator or a professional at rigging. 

When checking the studio for the specific job I want, I must check over the job’s description for the type of recruitment for what they are looking for and if they don’t have any openings for my specific job role, I would simply move onto the next job career when searching for a similar job that will suit my chosen role. I should also mention the work I have seen from their organisation like games, short films or any commercials they have to promote a specific product. Then I must tell them why I liked them that made anyone and me want to apply this studio.

In the middle or at the very end of the Cover email everyone should most importantly input their links to the CV which will then directly take them to their showreel/portfolio to present their work from the past year and how it has evolved. It should tell the their specific company what they are working with in terms of animation whether it be 2D or 3D and their work in progress (WIPS) to their final stage of the project. The showreel should be nicely edited with background music which would give the video an upbeat to it, for the viewers to watch and not turn away from it with sound doesn’t fit in or completely unmuted. 

At the opening of the email I should avoid putting in ‘dear sir or dear madam’ as the post for the job could be sent anonymously so instead the individual should open with ‘dear hiring manager’ and to use a professional email account so any individual can see only my and their work from a specific website e.g., Artstation or Syncsketch. Which then showcases our work is on what we think is our massively best to present our work to this selected company and has what they are looking for within ourselves.

Interview 

If the company had seen the person’s, CV, showreel/artwork/animation and cover email and responded back to the individual saying they want to arrange an interview for any day with the individual for their final task to getting into the company and getting their assigned job role. First, I must arrange with the responder on what day I am free or change it if something had come up during the week. Once the date and time is sorted out, the I must figure out what I must wear to the interview that should be neat and tidy and nothing to flashy. For I must wear professional clothing like suits, dark jeans and flat shoes or small heels, mostly clothes up to date which do not look out of date and are comfortable to wear. For everyone must avoid low cut tops, anything revealing or too short which is not acceptable to wear and flip fops with hats with brands on them.

For any particular interview, any individual should make sure to know what they are bringing with them to their interview so they can prepare beforehand and not leave anything to the last minute. So everyone must be able to bring their current and a copy of their resume incase the interviewer would want to review it during the interview or there being two interviewers for the session. Body language is very vital for face-to-face discussions as when the two are communicating with each other the person getting interviewed should have a good posture and stance are straight but relaxed and not to cross your arms or legs as they will think the individual is closed off or being a defensive state. But we must be entirely focused on the person face to face or online zoom as they will be looking at your facial expressions as they will see if were making non-verbal gestures during the interview. 

I must always remember to research the company beforehand as they will ask myself significant questions relating to the company. I might have to research the origin of company, who is currently running it and any current or past employees who had left a while back along with any announcements they have recently posted. Then I will be asked why I want to work here, where have I seen or heard about their company from and what role am I looking for to work here? I must give reasonable answers for these questions, answer truthfully and give answers on what my knowledge carries for specific technology and it’s limit.

When I have arranged an interview with the employer they will either meet me at random or a he or she will be instructed from the letter, telephone call or by email message as they will meet me at that specific time. It can be beneficial to know about that person before the interview like their role in the company and what makes them stand out, as any person an I being interviewed can prep questions of their own to the interviewer about their position. That way the interviewer can talk about their experience with their position, give an insight to current events to the field or bring up a common interest outside the workplace but only one thing so you don’t go off speaking about something else for the entire interview and waste time.

When talking face to face with the interviewer and getting the achievements, work experience and answering their questions about the workplace, they will ask about myself about in person then reading off from the CV. It is also good to research the total salary in which the company makes because I or anyone will get asked about our salary expectations as it will be a trick question so anyone will be caught off guard if I haven’t researched their salaries.  It’s always good to go for the average pay with everyone else within the company itself. 

Another great way for everyone to prep themselves before their interview is too do a mock interview. It’s great way to ask for a family member, a friend or a partner to play the interviewer which then they would ask serious questions which at a high rate would likely come up during the interview, which the person including I will come up with the most appropriate answers and be easy for us to remember ahead of time when practising.  

References from websites

(“Https://Animatedjobs.com/Jobs/Animator/”)

Animator