The Production Desk Coffee Break: Job Hunting

In this bite-sized mini episode, Alexis and Natalie share four strategies for animation job hunters that don’t involve selling photos of your feet online. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

We're kind of wanting to experiment with doing more kind of bite-sized episodes to shake it up in between our more full-length episodes, just to be experimenting with kind of one-off topics. Also, we have a lot of editing to do, and so this will help us. Not supposed to be a secret. Yeah. I think it's that constant juggle of work for both of us is pretty full on. And we're working on this outside of work hours and on the weekends. And of course, the busier work gets. Fortunately, the podcast takes the first hit. I also am traveling for a few weeks. So that also will give us some time to catch up and then regroup from there.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

I also do like, as an avid podcast listener, I do like when there's mini episodes within a certain theme. So I think it's fun that we're trying this out.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

So when we first met last summer, I know we were talking about your kind of free writing and how you got into writing on LinkedIn about different subjects that pertains to work. And that one of your most kind of successful posts was about job hunting specifically. And I know when we met, you were actually job hunting. And so we thought for our first the production desk coffee break episode that we would focus on that subject. Over to you to take it away.

SPEAKER_00 1:22

Yeah, I've really been wanting to touch on the subject of looking for jobs in animation, being unemployed as a production person in animation because it's really rough out there. I think we all know that. But until you are like out of work for longer than you planned, you don't really feel it. And so one of the posts on LinkedIn that I did that seemed to really resonate with people was I had just shared like some new strategies I tried. So I thought, well, maybe we could share that here and continue to ask people what their strategies were, how they got through uh being in between jobs. And so I thought I would start with my own. So these are when I was out of work for a couple months last year, these were some new, new things I tried. And I do want to say, like really emphasize, this isn't a how to find a job, or you know, here's what you are doing wrong, or here's what you need to do. Because if you're someone who's looking for a job right now, likely you are not doing anything wrong. I'm assuming you're doing all the things. You've updated your resume a million times. You are getting lunches with friends, you're applying to a million jobs, and so I know how frustrating it is when people are sort of cavalier about, well, have you tried updating your resume? You know, or like giving like pithy advice, and you're like, yes, it is rough out there. So here are some things I tried when I was unemployed. I started only applying to jobs online that were posted within a day ago. You know how on uh at least LinkedIn, but I think a lot of sites are like, this job has been posted for one week or one day or however, three months. If it was past 24 hours, I wouldn't even apply because studios are flooded with applications. And by the time you apply, if it's like a couple days in, it's kind of too late, I think. And I was validated by that thinking because I did have a job interview with a company that was focusing on shorts, and I applied within 24 hours, didn't get the job, had a lovely interview, made some great connections. But in that interview, they said essentially, oh, you interviewed just in time. We have hundreds and hundreds of applications, and it was explaining the timeline. Like we're doing interviews today, and then next Monday we'd like to make a decision. And that job posting hadn't even been up for a week. So that was a strategy for me to just not even bother with something that has been up for longer than a day, which was kind of helpful mentally.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

It's interesting. I myself, when I've applied for jobs that I've seen on LinkedIn, it is bizarre to me that they do have this job's been up for X amount of time and X amount of people have applied. My experience has been applying to companies directly through their website and not necessarily knowing how long they've been up. I don't think I've had a lot of success from job posts on LinkedIn so far at least.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

Interesting. Yeah, that's a good point. If you're going directly, I don't think they list that. But it's so helpful to know. Yeah, agreed. And maybe I should have said I just have four little things I'm sharing today. So that was one. The second strategy I tried was posting on LinkedIn more. Should they be our sponsor? Because I feel like we talk about LinkedIn all the time.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

LinkedIn, we would love a sponsor. And you're the reason for this podcast being in existence if it weren't for you.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

Because I, as I've mentioned multiple times, started posting on LinkedIn more, which did lead to us connecting and creating this podcast. But job-wise, I did feel an uptick in recruiters reaching out, although half of those I think might have been bots. Like there was a lot of weird, like, contact me about a job. And then I was like, I don't think this is a real person, just to throw that out there. But also I was really touched by strangers started messaging me, being like, hey, I saw this job post and I thought of you. And that was new and and really thoughtful, and they just had been following my post and knew I was looking for work, and that was very touching. I will add, that did not lead to a job. Like, I just want to be really clear, but it could have, you know. And so that was a new strategy I had tried.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

You're so good at the posting, and I know I have seen some people who are like consistent posters on LinkedIn. I myself am not a consistent poster. I know Natalie and I had to talk about this this past week. Actually, I do get really shy posting, whether on social media or on LinkedIn. So that's something I know I should probably be better at because it is a really great way to network with a lot of people in a very efficient way. It's one way, you know.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

Like, I certainly don't think it's something that everybody has to do. But I think it's worth thinking, like, oh, what's something I haven't done that I could try more for like your mental health when you're looking for work? You know what I mean? That's why I keep saying, like, these are just some strategies I tried. Some were sort of helpful, some weren't. Because it's nice to, I don't know, feel like you have some semblance of control when you're looking for work. Because at some point it just feels like, what am I even doing? I'm trying all the things and nothing's happening. The third thing I did was I sent a very vulnerable email blast to friends and past coworkers who might not realize I was still looking for my next job because maybe I didn't, you know, text them directly or they're not on LinkedIn or whatever, or we haven't talked in a minute. I don't know, maybe young people are like, you sent an email, gross. Nobody sends emails anymore. Like, I don't know, text people, I guess. But for me, I like I sent an email and it was more vulnerable than what I would share online. It was still like lighthearted and like, ha ha, this tree's in a weird place, but very much, no, seriously, I need a job, and this has been a struggle. And if you have any leads, I would really appreciate it. And here's my resume. Do you have children that need babysitting or dogs that need walks? I was really like, I'm in a not great place, which was really scary to send. But the one thing that came out of it was an old boss of mine had connected me with a recruiter because they were about to post a job at their company. I ended up getting the job I have now. So that didn't continue, but it did lead to one, you know, semi-promising lead. And I will say this I emailed 20 people and like three people responded. Think of it in terms of like scam artist, right? When they send emails that are like, give us your bank account and we'll send you whatever. They can send it to thousands of people, but if one person does it, that was a weird comparison, sorry, but that was the first thing that came to mind.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

To me, what's always kind of been consistent through the years is it's bizarre to me that it just takes one call to change your day or getting that opportunity from that one response of the person you haven't spoken to in a really long time, which is pretty wild. That one moment you're drop hunting, and then the next moment you're like, oh my God, I have an interview tomorrow, or oh my god, I have an interview in 20 minutes. What?

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Yes. And it's making me realize these little four new strategies I did were more to help with my mental health during the stress of looking for a job. Like ultimately, that's what it was. Because my last one, my last strategy was doubling down on self-compassion, which I know can sound kind of like eye roll woo-woo, but it is huge, huge, huge, huge for me when it came to not finding a job. I mean, because it's hard enough the logistics of like, how do I find a job in an industry where there aren't enough jobs for people? Right? There's like more people looking than there are jobs. That is stressful. Everyone's financial situation is different, right? But there's obvious like financial burden of that. And then there's this other layer of like you start to feel bad about yourself, you know? Like, I had interviews where I was like, oh, I'm a shoe-in. Like, this is a role I've done a million times before. I know some of the people, and then I wouldn't get it. And I'm like, well, what the hell? Like, if I can't get a job in a role that I could do with my eyes closed, and people have recommended me, it just makes you feel really not grounded. And so doing these very specific self-compassion exercises, and I won't get into it, just Google free self-compassion meditations. And if you're rolling your eyes, you should definitely do it because it helps me not get down about myself as a person, you know, because we live in a society where like your identity can be so tied into your job, especially in entertainment. Animation is no exception. So having that just sort of consistent practice, and that's all I would do, is like a 10-minute free online self-compassion meditation. And it helped me to not add that extra layer of beating myself up. So yeah, again, I'm realizing these strategies I tried were really more to help me stay grounded and feel like I had a little momentum. But yeah, I just thought we'd start there, and I would love to know other strategies people have used to get a job that might be different, or even just, I don't know. I think it'd be interesting to hear more about people's frustrations because the industry is in a weird place, and I I don't have any like great advice for it other than acknowledging it's like freaking hard right now. You know what though? I guess I'll say this. I think maybe a message to people who are steadily employed right now is I think we all like to try and help our friends who are looking for work, but I would like to send a reminder that it's really bad out there. So if you could do like just a little extra step of helping pass someone's resume a lot, or like doing like one little extra thing that you might not normally think about, it will mean a lot to that friend for sure. And you know, it's something people will think about if you are looking for work, right? Like people really went out of their way to help me and yeah, it's a good place to be. End of rant.

SPEAKER_01 10:53

Well, I'll just say I know these are things that I thought would be assumptions of going in, but just because I've heard recently that this may not be the case, you know, just remember if you do have an interview, show up early, be prepared with questions, do your homework with who you're being interviewed by, dress professionally, do not wear ripped clothing. These are all things that I've been told recently by recruiters that I've was a little surprised by. So again, you just want to go in and just sell yourself and you don't want anything like that getting in your way.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

I like the ripped clothing specifically comment. But what if that's the fashion? That made me sound so old. What if the key what if that's the fashion? I guess I just also want to offer some encouragement and acknowledgement of how hard it is out there right now. I just felt like when I was looking for work, it was hard to get people to see that, you know, because I again I think well-meaning people are like, oh, but you're you're great and you're connected, so yeah, you'll obviously find something. And I'm like, I felt that too, but it took me a lot longer than usual. So if you're in that space right now, I'm sorry, we see you. Hang in there.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

Yeah, I just know we've all been through it and just take it one day at a time. That's helped me a lot in the past.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

And also, don't bother looking into selling feet photos because I did the research and it's not very lucrative.