Work experience

Your best bet is to check out the jobs section of the main site and see if anyone is looking for animators, and then contact the relevant companies.

Jamie

i been looking for placement to, and found this website usefull
http://www.it-directory.ie

its not up to date, and doesn’t have all the companies.

i’m a interactive Multimedia Design student, so that covers 3d animation as well, so if i find anything i’ll pass it on to u!

<rant>
i have emailed aload of places, some don’t even reply to them :(
other r can’t take on paid placement (which i can understand)

i’m starting to think about taking out a loan next year and doing a non paid placement… just really want to be involved in the games industry!! </rant>

anyway good luck

Get used to people not replying to you.
I was having serious issues with it a while back, but have just come to accept it now.

Howya Jono,
I was in the same boat as you, I’m ex-Ballyfermot too and found looking for work placement was a right pain in the hoop. it stings aswell being a student and shelling out for cdrs and jiffy bags and glossy paper and registered post etc. when most places don’t even get back to you. Are you looking for work experience for the summer just, or is it more a start you’re looking for? Does it have to be in Dublin?

Get used to people not replying to you.
I was having serious issues with it a while back, but have just come to accept it now. [/quote:d8e4d30f21]

well i have been looking for a couple of months now, so used to it now. but some of the place said to my placement officer on the phone to send my CV etc. now i’m thinking , did i sent it to the right address? :eek:

but i know their very busy…………. but the stress :confused:

Nah, the stress is when you’ve done the interview and you’re waiting on yes/no reply.

*currently biting finger-nails waiting on a decision that’s apparently been delayed*

The company I work for takes on 3rd Year Art students for a 3 month placement . They dont pay, however the student gets paid via an organization called “steps” or “skillset”….I forget

If it is skillset then this is one of their sites:

http://www.skillsformedia.com/

Their job links:
http://www.skillsformedia.com/jobs/web_job/index_1.asp

Thats what I do.
Always bring along a CD to interviews but they’ve always had a look in advance. Only one or two companies have asked for hard copy to be posted to them and I’ve never gotten around to replying to them.

Good point Tony. I’ve been to interviews for animation jobs before where they hadn’t even looked at my showreel, I’d gotten the interview based on my CV and in some cases they watched it in front of me. Pretty scary for the applicant if they haven’t seen it already. :eek:

I know form my own experience (as the interviewer) that of all the applications I get I only check out the showreel/portfolio if the CV and cover letter has caught my attention

a cheaper (better?) option than shelling out for CDRs, jiffy bags and postage is to put your portfolio online and send the URL along with your CV. That way, you only have to shell out for the CDRs when your show reel is requested… just a thought [/quote:d90a09715f]

thats what we do on r course! its handy just to put up your latest work once its done. only my friend had a problem that all most cost him his placement. he had a great website but he didn’t know that it only worked within the uni, so he was send a blank portfolio to a position at intel. luckly he got it fixed by the time a second position came up and he got it :D no such luck for me, there was a mess up with the uni database, and my CV was not even sent it was too late by the time the misstake was found out. oh well these things happen, micky(my friend) had a better CV anyway ;)

persoanlly, i don’t think that’s acceptable behaviour from any professional company at all. It’s simple courtesy, if nothing else. [/quote:6569a6e4c1]
Really? I would think for a company like Lionhead or EA who must have countless people applying they may not be able to get back to them all. Also, I hear that even the smaller companies don’t reply to everyone cause they just don’t have the time while having to handle other matters. I agree with you that it’s common courtesy to reply to all applicants but do the majority of companies actually do this?

I meant after the applicant’s have been interviewed – telling them whether they have the job or not. That’s a minimum…

I an ideal world, anyone who applied for a job (reagardless of whether they got an intevriew or not) would be notified – but due to the volume of applications and cost, etc. it’s not practical….

Hiya Pete

I’m only looking for work experience in the summer or even during the college term as I am only in first year of the diploma in classical and computer animation, although i have done ADS (one year cert in art/animation).

I’m looking for work experience anywhere. I’m young and eager and i’m not even looking for paid placement, i just want to get a feel for a studio.

Last summer i was offered work experience in an animation studio in Berlin called Hahn Film but I didn’t go (kicking myself now!)

Pete, what did you think of the course in Ballyfermot? Does it have a good rep within the industry?!

Be a Bally-er!!! [/quote:083d380030]

I am basically from Ballyfermot (the area not the course). However I only really learnt the true importance of the course after I was away from there. Basically the graduates are like gold dust :) The school has a great rep. in the industry and the staff usually get sucked up by UK games companies and US animation studios. I dont know if the latter is still the case, as alot of them are disappearing :p

Hi All

Looking at this from the company perspective, I’d be interested in what peoples expectations are of wrok experience?

Is is generally seen as a necessary evil, a fulfillment of a course requirements? Or are people generally keen to cut their teeth so to speak?

What kind of work is expected? Are students keen to jump right into a project or be left to their own deveices to build up their own skills, with some guidance?

What terms are generally acceptable?

Here at meedja, we do take on work experience people and generally have one in-situ at any given time. These range from transition year students to FAS trainees right up to graduates. (this is not a cue for a deluge of CVs!!!).

We find, that from a company point of view, there is quite an investment in having someone in, even for a few weeks. A workstation is required. A workplan is required. Quite an amount of staff time is dedicated to logistics (set-up, server infrastructure, house procedures etc.). And a good deal more time is required on an on-going basis to oversee the intern, ensure personal productivity, effacy of placement etc. Then there’s a lot of admin re. reports to student institution/sponsor etc.

Yes, most things so far in the thread are correct. Bring demonstrable material to an interview (if not provided beforehand). Have a good idea of your career objectives. Be flexible.

However, it would be useful to know what people expect once placement has been acheived.

Cheers

Peter