Animation Portfolio and Interview Questions
Q. What to do when interviewer likes to show that he /she is senior in the industry and you don’t know anything? Or say he/she not satisfied with your answer due to conflict in ideas.
If the interviewer has an attitude like that, perhaps you don’t want to work there. If you do get a job there, you can only hope that the interviewer’s attitude has not spread to the rest of the company. If so, it may be time to start looking for another job.
Q. What miscellaneous interview mistakes made by most of applicants?
 Don’t be late to an interview.
Be sure to wear something that is clean and neat. You don’t have to wear a suit to 99% of the interviews out there. Exceptions might include CG jobs for the government, executive positions, research facilities, architecture, and corporate animation jobs. Wear something comfortable. Sometimes interviews can last for hours and ill fitting clothes will put you in a bad mood, making you uncomfortable both physically and mentally. However, don’t show up in an old T-shirt that has stains on it. No one wants a dirty employee.
Be nice to your former employer. If you’ve had a previous job and quit, were laid off or got fired, don’t badmouth that company or the people who work there. (No matter how much you hated it.) Be very diplomatic. Do not tell them that your coworkers were not nice; your boss was not smart, etc… Interviews are not the time for you to vent about the last place you worked. Not only is it unprofessional but you never know who the interviewer might be friends with.
Never share proprietary information with your potential employer. If they ask you to tell them how your last company did their skin system, set up their render farm, created certain “trade mark” effects or anything that the general public can’t find out by attending a SIGGRAPH paper, reading a copy of Cinefex or watching a “making of” show, then don’t say anything. Just let them know, nicely, that you are not at liberty to share that type of information. Sometimes companies will ask you questions just to see what type of person you are. If you are willing to give out proprietary information from your last company, you’ll do it with future companies too. Once this becomes common knowledge, it will be very hard for you to get a job anywhere.
 Never point out mistakes in your reel during an interview. You are at the interview and they are watching your demo reel. You see all the mistakes. (After all, you’ve seen this demo reel hundreds of times.) You want to point out the problems and explain why they are in there, but don’t. If they didn’t see it, why call their attention to it? If they point them out, and you knew they were in there, explain why and that you’d have fixed them if you could. If you didn’t know they were in there, be honest and thank them for showing you the mistakes. Let them know that you’ll fix it before your next batch of reels goes out. This makes them feel good because they were able to help you out. It also boosts their ego a bit because they were able to spot something that, up until now, no one else had noticed.
Q.
When you have an option of choosing telephone interview or personal interview then which one to choose and why?
A personal interview is always better. You and the interviewer can learn a lot more from each other in a face to face interview. There is a lot of information that does not come across in a phone interview. Such as your personality. Some animators are great at what they do, but they might not fit in with the culture of the animation company. If there are constantly conflicts or the employee simply is not happy, their work will suffer.
Q. What changes to make in yourself when you every time called for interview but not able to clear it? Its good to call interviewer to ask about the reasons of disqualification when results declared after few days, may be he/she doesn’t remember you.
Chances are you’ll apply for and interview for a lot of jobs before you actually land one. It is perfectly fine for you to call your interviewer and ask if there are other positions in the company that your skills would fit. You might even ask if they know anyone else that needs someone like you. Some people will feel bad turning you down and will be eager to help you out. It usually makes them feel better and can only help you. If they don’t remember who you are and there is nothing that you can do to jog their memory then perhaps it’s best to thank them and move on. Keeping them on the phone for a prolonged period of time with someone that they don’t know isn’t going to get you a job.
Q.
Please give the best possible answer of these common interview questions.
a) Tell us about yourself?
Don't Say - “I’m the best, no one can do this job better than me.”
Do Say - “My specialty just happens to be (job function) and I feel that I’d be able to fill that role very well”.
b) Whar are your main weaknesses?
Don’t say – “I don’t have any” or “Everything, I really can’t think of anything that I’m good at.”
Do say – There is no “right” answer to this. Honesty is the best policy here. For example: if you are good at modeling and terrible at animation, let them know.
c) Why do you want this job?
Don’t say – “I’ve got to pay my bills somehow.”
Do say – “I’ve always wanted to do the sort of work your company does.”
Hope these questions and answers will help you in finding the best job. CGArena thanks Ed Harriss for taking out some time from their busy schedule and helping this community.
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