In this reprinted #altdevblogaday piece, IO Interactive lead animator Simon Unger runs down what you need to know about getting a job as an animator in the games industry. The competition for jobs in the gaming industry is getting increasingly fierce (many companies receiving hundreds of applicants for a single position), yet many applicants consistently make the same mistakes which hurt their chances of landing the gig. I'm going to cover some of the more common mistakes I come across, as well as provide some insight into what I (and most others) look for when reviewing an applicant. There's no shortage of cover letter, resume, and interview "help" articles and services out there, but anything that really covers it from start to finish with information that is specific to games (and more specifically, game animation) is scarce. Much of the advice offered for cover letters and CVs is geared towards a corporate position, and the demo reel direction is often targeted at a job in film or TV, which could put animators at a disadvantage. I'll run through this in chronological order from a hiring perspective: cover letter, resume, demo reel, interview. So, let's get started!

Cover letter

…must be willing to work overtime for little to no money.

I'll be honest, up until recently I didn't write cover letters. They were never requested and rarely read. They seem to be coming back into fashion lately, though, and as part of a well presented application, deserve some attention. I'm going to say this a few times throughout this article, as it's one of my biggest pet peeves and a mistake I see in at least 80 percent of the applications that come across my desk. NAMING CONVENTIONS! We make software for a living and as such, are detail oriented and slaves to organization. Especially naming conventions! Don't name your cover letter "cover letter.docx" or "COMANY NAME – cover.pdf". In the folder full of potential applicants sorted alphabetically, those will get lost in the shuffle. I have to open and re-read it to find out who it belongs to (and probably rename it as well, so I don't have to do this again in the future). Don't make people do extra work to hire you. Here are the three rules you should follow:

A couple of examples of what that should look like:

There are a couple of exceptions. First, if a company has specifically requested on their site that you name it a certain way, do that instead. Second, if your cover letter is submitted in the form of an email or web-based form. In those cases, make sure to get your full name in the subject field (and possibly the position you're after too) to make it easier to find on their end. So, what should be in the cover letter? I'm sorry to say there is no right answer here as it's a subjective topic. Generally speaking, it should be short, flattering (to the company or project), confident (without being cocky), and highlight what you bring to the company/project. Make sure your contact info is on there and easy to read/find. If possible, maintain some kind of design continuity with your resume and other submissions (contact info in the same place, same font and layout, etc.). If the job posting described some specific skills and requirements (they usually do), pick a couple of key ones and illustrate how you meet those criteria. What I'm looking for here is a sense of your personality and your motivation for wanting to work at the company in this role. I have never heard of someone getting turned down for a job based on what they said in their cover letter, so I wouldn't sweat this one too much. Just make sure it represents you authentically, has been spell checked and proof read by at least a couple of people, is named correctly, and isn't more than a page in length.

Resume

Applying for a Digital Makeup Artist position? Andy Serkis, performance capture for Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

First off, name that resume properly! Follow the three naming rules above and just change the words "cover letter" to "resume" and you're all set. A recent study suggests that recruiters spend an average of six seconds reviewing a resume before putting it on the "keep" pile or the "trash" pile. I tend to spend a bit more time than this, but I can also assume that the applicant has made it past the HR filter and is worth considering in more detail. I imagine that six seconds isn't too far off for some of the more actively hiring companies. Regardless, this means you need to use your time wisely. I love facts and data, and the study suggests that 80 percent of that six seconds is spent looking at these six things:

So make those things easy to find and read! Besides the six above, the main thing I want to know is: What do you think were the biggest accomplishments in your previous job(s)? And what did you do to add value to the team/project/company? In the spirit of keeping your resume easy to digest, do whatever you can to keep it to one page. Six seconds is not enough time to read two or more pages, and 90 percent of employers will probably never read those extra pages anyways (they might even leave them on the printer!). Keep it short, keep me interested, and leave me wanting to find out more. A great tip I received from fellow #AltDevBlogADay author Alex Darby is to have a few people skim through your cover letter and resume quickly, and summarize it back to you. This will give you a good idea of the type of impression you are making and what your strong and weak presentation points are. Beyond that, try to avoid using photos or getting too fancy with the design. You will use up your valuable eyeball time on that stuff (up to 19 percent, apparently!). That said, make it appealing to look at and comfortable to read. I have put down many resumes because they were complete messes and too difficult to get any information from. Here is a great collection of minimal designs that read well and look nice. DeviantArt has tons so check there too!

Demo reel

NOT Andy Serkis' performance capture.

Once again, name that bad boy properly! Don't slouch on what is the most important asset when looking for work and often the only thing being passed around the studio for consideration. ALSO, make sure you have your name and contact info (email is good enough) at both ends of your reel. Make it easy to find and see. It goes without saying that content is king here. Always choose quality over quantity. I try to make it a point to watch all the reels that cross my desk in their entirety, but sometimes they are just too much. I don't need to see every little thing you have ever animated; only the things you are most proud of. I'd rather you leave me wanting to see more, than the feeling of seeing too much. This is a tricky balance so my best advice would be to seek out feedback on it as often and as many times as possible (something you should be doing with every piece of animation anyways). Years ago, I had edited together what I thought was a totally sweet montage of awesome animation and quirky and humorous clips from my favorite '80s movies. I thought that no company could resist its charm and I would be beating away offers with a stick. After showing it to some people whose feedback I respected (they all hated it), I re-edited it to something more agreeable and the world was a safer place. If you have a limited arsenal of people to get feedback from, reach out to leads and senior animators in the industry. You should be able to turn up a few dozen in no time on LinkedIn and I'm sure many would be happy (flattered, even) to throw a little critique your way. Bonus points for making a new contact in a very network-centric industry! Now, that stuff has all been said before many times. What I want to cover is some stuff I don't hear being told to animators enough. The kind of stuff I am looking for when watching a demo reel. First, and I'm just going to come right out and say it, it's okay to have mocap on your demo reel. BUT, I want to see what you did TO that mocap if you want to impress me. Take a basic walk loop and adjust it a few different ways to make it have a limp, look more masculine, more feminine, have some emotion…the possibilities are endless. Maybe grab a big action shot and make it more exaggerated with stronger posing. Show me the before and after. There is no avoiding the fact that we use mocap as one of our main tools to create game content, show me you are comfortable using it and bending it to your will. I need people who are comfortable with and good at using mocap. This is a great example of a demo reel using mocap, explaining what is and isn't capture. Now, that said, do NOT try to use mocap and claim it as keyframed animation. I, and many others, have been using mocap for a long time and can tell the difference 99 percent of the time. I have had people actually claim in an interview that certain scenes were keyframed when the movement was clearly full of mocap artifacts and impossibly detailed movement compared to the rest of their work. You just end up looking silly and I would be far more impressed if you told me about how you used this tool to achieve your shot and the challenges you faced doing so. Adding music is another subjective topic. Personally, I have had some really great conversations in interviews about someone's choice in music. It tells me a lot about your personality and, ultimately, that's what the interview is really for anyways. One of my current animators had fantastic animation and effects on his reel, but I just HAD to have him in for an interview so I could ask him what the hell he was thinking putting explicitly hard-core gangster rap on it. It was a funny interview, and he has turned out to be one of my favorite people I have ever worked with. Some people suggest having nothing on there, thinking that it detracts from the animation. I say go for it. Just make sure the soundtrack dips sufficiently when the dialogue is happening. Don't worry; I won't turn you away because you put Lady Gaga on there. A note on rigs: I, like everyone else, have become really tired of seeing the same few characters in every demo reel (I'm looking at you two, Bishop and Norman). I also understand how limited the selection is out there and how much time it takes to make and rig your own character. Hell, I'm in the same boat as you guys. I have asked every character artist I have ever worked with if they had a character I could animate with and have always come up empty handed. You should be spending your time getting better at your craft. It takes several lifetimes to master animation; I don't expect you to be a master character artist and rigger on top. So, I'm not going to write you off because you're using a standard school rig (and anyone out there who does needs to get their priorities straight), but it is always refreshing to see something new in a reel, even if the character is a little rough. Like my old animation director was fond of saying, "A good animator should be able to do good animation on anything. Besides solid character movement, what I am also looking for is a good understanding of staging, composition, timing (from an editing standpoint), and at least a b