There are multiple ways of applying for the games industry, from online applications to reaching out to recruiters that don’t even work at the company you want to work.
This little section highlights the differences and what makes them stand apart.
<aside> 📍 Online applications These applications can usually be found on company career pages or aggregator sites (like Artstation Jobs) and are usually a direct link between you trying to get a job and the company looking to fill a position.
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<aside> 📍 Email Applications If the company doesn’t have a career portal page then the fallback would be to send an email directly to the company. This seems to be the less used option these days though, mostly reserved for really small companies.
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<aside> 📍 Open applications Open applications are done in situations where you want to work for a company but they don’t have a current offering for the position you’re trying to fill.
In this case some studios will have a option to still apply for an “Open” application, which means that you will just apply for a potential future position.
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<aside> 📍 Recruiters
Another route of applying is to talking to recruiters, or them talking to you. There are two types of recruiters. Internal that are working directly for the company that is trying to fill a position, External are recruiters working for a recruiter company with a studio as their client, and they usually get paid based on a percentage of your wage if you stay at the studio they hired you for.
Recruiters are really active on LinkedIn, where you can put yourself to “Open for work” and if you have a portfolio link with solid work they might reach out to you. But you can also reach out to them as well.
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So let’s take a deeper look into what a typical application might look like and what information it might contain.
PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO:
<aside> 📍 JOB PURPOSE Here you will find all the descriptions for what is expected from you on the job, your daily responsibilities and tasks. This is good to benchmark what you need to get this role and if you want to do this role yourself.
Environment artist might mean something more specific to the studio you are applying for.
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<aside> 📍 EXPERIENCE NEEDED This is where most people trip up and hesitate if they even should apply to it, thinks like "1 year of experience" or "X amount of shipped titles" can really stop people in their tracks when applying for a job. But if your work is solid, then don't be taken back by this, just go for it, you already have a "No" you can get a "Yes"
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<aside> 📍 SALARY/BENEFITS This is more and more common these days that salaries are open on the application (or at least salary brackets) which can be good to know before even applying.
Next to it, and this is more readily available, are the benefits, these can include things from daily fruits to stock options and free local transport for example.
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<aside> 📍 SOFTWARES USED
I think once you have a preferred set of programs you would like to use that’s something you will be looking for. However, to oppose that, switching a program is also not the most difficult thing to do for a job either.
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<aside> 📍 HINTS AT THE PROJECT Try to understand the project it might be for, why?
This gives you a better understanding of what you will be doing when working for this company, as well as keep you motivated to work on it.
Some companies do put this in their description if it’s already announced, or may even discuss it during the interviews under the protection of an NDA.
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<aside> 📍 CONTRACT TYPE Important distinction between the two, a contract is working for a limited amount of time where a permanent contract is a position with indefinite length. Not having to worry about your position you might be joining, is nice!
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<aside> 📍 QUALIFICATIONS These are the skills they want to check off, this will be a balance between soft and hard skills. This section is probably the most important, to know if you qualify for the job itself.
But to contradict myself here is that you should still need to give it a try, even if you don’t check all the boxes yet or think you are not a great fit. Let the studio decide on that, we can be our own worst enemy.
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<aside> 📍 REMOTE OR IN HOUSE Do you have a deep connection to your local community, then it might be time to look for a remote job which you can just do from your current position.
Then the other option is to do a hybrid position, which to my estimation is what most studios are doing currently, where you still need to go into the office but only for a part of the time. Usually this comes down to 2/3 days a week that you have to be in the office and the rest working from home.
Then there is still the typical office position, where you just go into work every day like normal.
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This is more nice to know information and can help you get a better grip on the logistics should you get through the application process, things like relocation assistance etc... are all added here
Check out our podcast that we did on this subject here:
<aside> 📍 PODCAST EPISODE on this TOPIC
Breaking down a Junior application
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Most of the application forms these days are online and provide you with a clear form of where and how to add all the things they need to give you a fair look, and some applications processes are super transparent to the point where you can follow up the progress of them almost in real time.
However there are moments when it comes down to good old fashioned email conversations where you can add as much as you want to this nice white page. However, you don't want to do that, you want to focus on the crucial information that they need from you and the best and quickest way to get to it.