CV

Cover E-mail

Showreel

Sketchfab From the two models shown onto my showreel – 

3D models by LaurenMaxwell3 – Sketchfab

3D models by LaurenMaxwell3 – Sketchfab

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 It is practical to remove any outdated information which is no longer needed for our CV as it would not be relevant for our future and remove information which is incorrect or entirely false for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

I had my one to one feedback with Aodhan during class time. We had went over my CV, Cover – Email and my wip of my showreel. For the CV form, nothing too bad but here I to arrange a few of the skills, about me and some of my contact information for this. 

For my Cover E-mail I also had to arrange a few of the my paragraphs, add and delete some sentences and to make sure it crosses over with the CV form so everything matches up. Finally my showreel, the music I added was good enough but had to make sure it bounces at the same time of the beat. As well as cutting out some of the animations but clipping them at separate moments. It’s also important to add in the opening my name and contact details. 

The start of our tutorial week, where other students had their talk this week and others having theirs for the next weeks before their submission date. My tutorial was not this week but the next. For a woman called Kate Love had come into our class and explained to us what it was being a director, how she created her short films and lastly the idea of funding for the project.

Apparently, she had graduated here at Ulster as a VFX artist who later did commercials and short films. It was an inspiring lecture, and her shorts were amazing especially her music video ‘Straight from the heart’.

Our lecturer had not been in for the strike, but our class was covered by John Hannon who is a 3D character artist/modeller for various of characters like God of War Kratos using Zbrush software to break down a part of their 3D body. 3D modelling is interesting at the least, but I don’t think it is the role for me for the future. 

After the presentation John Hannon had gone over some of work for the other class and give us some tips to make the models better for the next couple of weeks up to our submission date. We continued onward with our team project and cycle animation assignments before the end of the session 

For week 8 of Professional Practice, we were given bad examples of cover emails and had answer what was wrong with them and how they can be improved like wordcount, opening line and what to include about yourselves. This piece of information can aid me with my cover email and what I should include and what I should leave out.

Our page should be 3/4 long with written information such as relevant experience and why I am suitable for this role. Near the end of the page, we should include our links to our cv and our showreel/portfolio to present to the company so they can see the individual’s artwork.

For this week a visitor came into our class called Matthew Hamil presenting us with his 3D models and animation. He showed us his game animations and quick tips on how to make it better with space and timing, he also showed us the spine structure for each of these models when it comes to rigging in Maya. 

It was an interesting lecture while it ended in with him showing us rigging with models, he even sent us to make the character punch in a steady stance on maya from his lecture this afternoon. It was a fun experience.

In Professional Practice Glenda Martin had returned to finish her briefing of stress and resilience continuing on from the past week and had given us tips to reduce it and cope with it in our future jobs and our lives. I must admit it was a very informative lecture on stress and how it can affect us emotionally or intellectually through development.

Alec then told us about job contacts which involves the salary, legal rights, pricing and picking a studio in a specific location in Ireland or London that is for our best interest and availability to be flexible for times.  

We were introduced to Glenda Martin when it comes resilience on criticism and feedback from others on our work. As well as coping with it in our lives so we may adapt and grow to these comments while following adversity but not take in rude people who think what they say is always right where it is actually wrong. Stress was also talked about which is always with me 24/7 but comes with the bad and good success in our lives with animation.

There was also talk about our placements and our future on what we would want to do next year. For me placement year with others. We also given the Handshake website which comes with many job roles and professions for any individual. 

Four people had appeared into our course last Friday and introduced themselves as Denis, Rachel, Matthrew and Rheanna who are animators, concept artists, 3D modellers and Directors. They had told us about their work and companies that have helped in their process to create characters and be able to animate their short films. They give us tips on what companies would want from us and want to see from our portfolios for the future as it is relevant to who we are and what can we do. 

We asked them questions about their work, experience, what had motivated them to keep going with this work. Like for e.g. “It is vital to have hobbies or do something with someone that doesn’t involve work, for if you keep working on your computer every day your hands will only know the keypad and nothing else you have enjoyed in life”. It is important not to burn out on work as must relax, exercise and stay hydrated. It was a very interesting meeting with these graduates as it does give us time to think about what we want to do and what we should aim for our CV’s.