Section 1 What the industry is looking for:
Hello and welcome to the Transition To Work From Study Information page.
These pages have been designed specifically to give guidance and advice to current students and graduates on making the step into the commercial animation/creative industry. The information following has been tested in the field and is common practice for professional artists.
We’ll start this guide by outlining important personality strengths and weaknesses which were most commonly mentioned by the industry (we spoke to all major players and they all mentioned these points);
1) Remain teachable: – You don’t know everything and you never will, there is absolutely no room for arrogance in the creative sector. You may have been a big fish while you were studying but as soon as you leave you are a small fish in a giant ocean. Take this as a positive and try to learn as much as you possibly can while in the industry, take in feedback, don’t argue and try and improve based on this feedback – its learning that you get paid for!
2) Positive attitude & enthusiasm: – The first month of your career will be the hardest, remain positive and positive things will happen! Nobody wants to work with a grumpy pants! It may take you while to find your groove in a studio and get used to the style of animation and management so keep you head down, ears open and mouth closed – until you understand the law of the land. Smile and nod and remember your manners, these people are giving up their time for you.
3) So fresh and so clean, a tidy workspace: -A tidy workspace is perceived as a productive workspace, be it a digital workspace or paper-based workspace if you can’t find stuff it means your workspace is messy and needs to be tidied! Take time in the mornings to organise your workspace and make sure you haven’t forgotten about what it is you should be doing. Make a to-do-list and prioritise things that are the most important (tip: usually things that are due first are the most pressing and need to be done first). Check emails later in the day unless you are expecting something as they can take up your productive time and make sure that you achieve your day’s goals…..if you haven’t set any it’s hard to achieve them.
4) Punctuality: – Never leave a client or director waiting! Time is money! Make sure you arrive on time or earlier than expected. Professionalism requires that you respect other peoples time schedules and how there day is planned. Give yourself enough prep time and make sure that you are organised before meetings (can’t find stuff? see point 3 above). Set alarms, buy watches, use a calendar – be on time and your colleagues will love you. If you are reliable you may just secure that contract or job your looking for. Never use an excuse if late, apologise and get on with the task at hand, don’t waste any further time explaining why you are late.
5) Over Promising: – Never over promise it will get you into trouble if anything under promise and over deliver. Choose your words carefully when dealing with directors or clients (especially through email). If you’re not sure if you can meet a deadline or quote then don’t commit to it. If you’re able to do more, work faster and deliver more than expected on a deadline then do so, but don’t say you can if you can’t – your word is your bond.
if you can master the five points above you’re already off to a great start. Now let’s take a look at what you can be doing to get yourself to the point where you can prove those points to an employer in Section 2 the First Steps Towards a Career.
