Last year I was at THU, where we were recruiting for King for some open Art positions. For those of you who do not know, THU is an experience for creators from the entertainment industry, and the format is recruitment sessions for first two days, followed by full-day conference for the remaining four days.
In the recruitment area, I had the opportunity to join my colleagues and Recruitment Manager, and interact with some really talented people. Based on my experience, I have some advice for candidates who go to such recruitment sessions in hope of getting hired or at least have a nice and positive interaction. All my views expressed below are personal, and should not be assumed as a guarantor for jobs, or a preference by King or any other studio. These are just some minor tips that can support your great portfolio, or more importantly, save you from killing the experience.
- Bring a downloaded/printed portfolio: While most of the recruiters have tablets/laptops with them, the internet connectivity at such large gatherings cannot be trusted. Therefore bringing a downloaded portfolio on tablets, or a printed book is recommended (avoid small screen phones).
- Give your devices some manners: You are presenting yourself professionally, so should your device. Set it to ‘Do Not Disturb’ or Airplane Mode. I met one candidate, whose device had messages popping up from a naked girl profile picture at the bottom of the screen. Another one was informing how far was he from the latest dating match. Messages and app notifications could be annoying too. So if it’s a device you are about to hand over to a recruiter, make sure it is quiet.
- Be on time: Usually, the recruitment appointments have time slots, and other candidates are slated for other time, so be there right on time; the recruiters will appreciate it.
- Number of portfolio pieces: There are always different opinions about the number of pieces you should put in your portfolio. It’s a longer topic, so I would share my thoughts on this in some other post, but for such walk-in rounds, I suggest you bring one strong portfolio document containing the best of your work and have some extended different documents with a bigger collection of that category of work. For example, if your main document had a small collection of storyboards in it, and the recruiter displays interest in it, you could pull up your secondary document containing just storyboards, which includes more work that you felt was too much to belong to the main document.
- Tell them what you are expecting: Many candidates come for such sessions with a different purpose. It could be anything from seeking an on-site job opportunity to freelance or just feedback about their work. If it’s anything different from the primary objective of getting hired, let them know, so they can review your work accordingly.
- Didn’t get an appointment, not the end of the road: Some newcomers are often rejected in their online application if their quality of work didn’t meet the expectations of recruiters. If this was your case, don’t feel disheartened. Sometimes you could just politely ask at the gates, and if you are lucky, some companies sitting inside who can spare sometime might be happy to listen to you. More useful when you applied only with the hope of feedback.
- Schedule your appointments giving some time-space: When you choose your appointment time slots, make sure they are spaced, as an extended review will overspill on your next appointment.
- Know the company you are meeting: Most of the times, a candidate goes to a lot of recruiters, with a hope of things to work out with one or the other. It’s all okay, and never a problem. But it’s helpful if you know a little about the company you are going to. Some people showed us some work while mentioning that they think this is the kind of work we do at our company, or also some mentions of our games. This reflects that you are willing to work for them. If you have some questions about the company, this is the time and place to ask.
I wish you good luck with your recruitment interviews. If there’s anything that you’d like to know, feel free to leave a comment below.
(photo courtesy: Valeria Chobits twitter.com/_Valeria_King )