Career Coach: Ghosts Can Haunt Your Career
You have agonized over your resume to make sure it's perfect. The font is ideal, there are no typos and it makes you look like the consummate professional. This is the resume you submit to potential employers.
But you have another resume which goes wherever you go. Your invisible resume is compiled by those who have worked with you whether on a paying job or on a volunteer project. You built it with every interaction you had with co-workers, colleagues and peers, whether in school or on a job.
Your invisible resume is more powerful than the paper kind. It's the most powerful marketing tool you have. Your invisible resume -- your reputation -- can work for you or against you.
You need to keep your invisible resume in great shape because the world is small and word travels fast. Are you professional, reliable and trustworthy or do you have a lackadaisical attitude, a grumpy countenance and an abrasive personality? Your invisible resume tells all.
Are There Ghosts in Your Past?
The world is small, especially the world of animation and vfx. I was hired by Framestore in London to find someone for a project. I found the perfect person in Los Angeles. He had everything the company asked for. I was excited. He had a stellar resume on paper, he had a fabulous reel, he was available and in the right price range. I sent his resume and reel to Framestore. Several days went by and I finally called the company in London to ask about the candidate. Yes, they got his resume. Yes, it was excellent, they agreed. And his supporting materials were perfect. But they didn't want him because years ago he had worked with one of their employees, now a supervisor. The supervisor's report was that the candidate's attitude was so bad on the job they had together years ago that the London supervisor didn't want to work with him again.
Every job counts: even your first job. Don't be a know it all. Don't complain. Don't be hard to get along with or have to get special treatment. Don't have a bad attitude or be a prima donna. Do every job as if it were your dream job from day one. Because people will remember.
A Monstrous, Unthinkable Mistake
I was hired by a visual effects company to recruit staff for a feature. One candidate, let's call him "Daffy," was interviewed by all the producers and supervisors on the feature and hired for a key position. On the day Daffy was supposed to start work, I got a call from the producer who asked me where Daffy was. I called Daffy at home, worried he might have had an accident, which would explain why he hadn't shown up for work. Daffy answered the phone and explained that he had accepted another offer and wasn't going to work on the feature. I called the producer back, explained the situation and there was a long silence. Then, "He's on the list."
For leaving an employer in the lurch, Daffy added a huge blotch to his invisible resume. The feature Daffy was supposed to work on was released and all the supervisors went on to other companies all over the world. None of the supervisors from the feature film who interviewed Daffy will hire him in the future. But Daffy did far more damage than either he or I suspected.
I told this story last year at KAFI, an animation festival in Michigan, far from Los Angeles where the story occurred. A group of students from Ohio came up to me afterwards and told me they had heard the exact same story from an entry level animator on the feature. Not only did all the supervisors know about Daffy because they had interviewed him, but apparently also every person on the feature knew about it and they all went on to companies all over the world. Daffy's invisible resume is now a permanent handicap.
Don't Spook Employers
Don't post questionable material on the internet. Employers check social networking sites like Facebook to find out what kind of person you are. Don't post anything you wouldn't want them to see.
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Hey, that post leaves me feeling foliosh. Kudos to you!
A lot of this wouldn't be an issue if the industry was unionized.
I can understand an employer trying to get more information on an applicant, but this is rather extreme.
As someone who's had their reputation damaged by a petty, jealous, attention-mongering gossip in animation school, let me say this: don't always believe what you hear, employers. If a friend's cousin's co-worker's former classmate says "this person is a terrible jerk," you might be better off getting to know the applicant yourself. At that point it would be a huge game of "Telephone" spanning over several years anyway, so how would you even know the information you got was accurate, much less still accurate after all those years?
Seriously, leave the small town social politics at the door, animation industry.
"I've known very good-natured, talented people who have been prevented from accessing work due to professional malice."
That is my professional experience too!
Because of the social nature of the animation world, things like invisible resumes do need to be considered. Most hiring is done internally and/or through referrals. By the time you see a position on a job board, the actual job itself has probably been advertised internally for up to a month or two. This aspect of the industry can be very difficult on individuals who are more introverted and less likely to run with cliques.
The unfortunate reality of any creative industry is that a certain degree of "mean" goes a long way. Some people wouldn't call it "mean" so much as "assertive" or "ambitious". But call it like it is. Many of the people who continue to work are those who have good social IQ's, not necessarily the most talent. Although I will say many of them are exceptionally talented.
I wouldn't worry so much about your "invisible resume" as your heartfelt desire to learn, contribute, and most of all "COLLABORATE" :)
If the people you're trying to get along with won't give you the time of day, and if they're the ones getting work, don't sweat it. You'll find like-minded people. Do not get caught up in the negativity of worrying about what people are thinking of you. Just do your job.
I agree with 'Anonymous'. It's one thing to be an idiot on the job, it's another to rely solely on the opinions of people who are trying to keep their own jobs and hire friends. The opinions and feelings of artists are more often than not a little exaggerated. I think everyone can recall studying animation/illustration in college or in some other capacity, it's often very dramatic. Also, "invisible resume" is just another way of saying that competition compels people to back-stab. Not everyone can like everyone. And 'supervisor' does not equal 'mature'.
There is the unfortunate reality that due to the competitive nature of the industry, some people are a little too willing to write your invisible resume.
Supervisors are only human, and if they seem to have high prejudice against an individual, it needs to be considered, but if the artist's work stands up to scutiny, an interview should at least be awarded.
I've known very good-natured, talented people who have been prevented from accessing work due to professional malice.
Challenging personalities will arrise, but that's life. Some of the best art every produced arrose from tension and adversity.
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