Freshly Graduated

Tumi

Hello everyone hope you all are having a good year as far.
I wanted to get some advice or guidance regarding my career. I have just finished a 3 year 3d animation and visual effects course here in Pretoria. And will be graduating later in the year.
And now looking for work but don't really know where to start.
I am currently working on own personal projects to create a demo reel with.
If anyone can give me any advice or help in looking for work it would be very much appreciated.

Elyaradine

I think the best advice I can give is to think like an employer. If you were hiring someone, what would you look out for?

• You want to see evidence that they can do the work (e.g. portfolio, letters of recommendation, evidence of past experience, art tests)
  
• You want to know that they'll get along with people in your team (e.g. see how they handle themselves in an interview)
  
• You want to know why you should hire this person over anybody else (e.g. they can offer rare skills that others cannot)
  
• You might want to know that they won't reflect poorly on your company (e.g. how do they handle themselves in correspondence in emails, forums, etc.)

I have acquaintances that have just phoned studios up saying they've finished an art degree and asking for a job. They've always been offered pitiful salaries (if anything), because they put in the minimal amount of effort/preparation.

The Polycount wiki is quite helpful for other advice (CVs, cover letters, interviews, what to put in your portfolio, etc.), though some of it isn't that relevant to our local game industry. (It mostly caters to the big AAA studios, where you're dealing with recruiters and stuff.) http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Game_Industry

Tumi

Thanx a lot i will take a look at it