Following up to an interview is an important part of looking for work in any industry, I can show you how to make it especially effective when applying to work in a production environment.
I suggest making the interview follow up a strategic part of your job search. In my experience following up proved to be so important – I got interviewed and hired for my first character animation job right after following up…here’s what worked for me…
Application Follow Up
As I’ve mentioned before, after you send out a demo reel to a studio it can sit at the studio for weeks or even months before anyone looks at it. Demo reels could sometimes even get misplaced in the bustle of a production environment.
To get your material noticed, send a follow up about a week after your demo reel arrives at the studio. If you mailed it, you should be able to track the parcel and know when it arrived.
Make this follow up more fun – not just a letter. Try an image of some character you’ve created. It’s a good idea to use characters from your demo reel. It may help to jog their memory if they’ve already viewed it.
Take time to plan this out. Pose your characters in a comical, appealing and/or charming way – maybe a visual gag (joke). This is another opportunity for you to show that you can portray thought, emotion, and narrative through facial expressions and posing.
You can even put a short text message on it. For example “I sent my demo reel and was wondering if you have viewed it yet”.
This would probably get them to look, but if you wanted to get really ambitious you could even customize it to the studio that you’re applying at by including their logo in the picture some how.
Save it as an image file and email it to the studio (hopefully you have a contact). If not just send it to their jobs@ email, or call the studio and ask who you should send an application follow up or interview follow up message to. (possibly a production manager, an animation supervisor or director).
Interview Follow Up
If you go for an interview be sure and get the name and email of your interviewer and send a post interview letter (can be in the form of an email) a few days after the interview.
This interview follow up letter should sound professional . Show appreciation for the studios interest in you. Could even re-iterrate why your perfect for the position and your interest in the position, and include your references.
One last thing. Don’t forget to let your references know that they may get a call from one of your interviewers – especially if it’s been a while since you’ve spoken to your reference. I’ve gotten unexpected calls from other studios regarding someone they’ve interviewed (who is using me as a reference).
Let’s just say, it doesn’t look good for you if your reference needs a memory jog. So, definitely contact your references, and ask them if you can use them as a reference before your interview. That way they will get an early heads up and will be ready to say great things about you!
