We really try to cultivate relationships with not only the student services and placement heads at great art schools in the U.S. and Canada, but we also try to get to know some of the teachers personally. When we first began the company in 1996, we would teach "Acting for Animators" workshops at the studio, where we would find a lot of great and talented animators.

As we grow, we always try to be creative and fresh in our search for talent -- we send our animators to life drawing classes, where they will meet other potential candidates or we will guest lecture on Flash animation at various schools and get to spend some quality time with some potential candidates.

And lastly, outside of buying advertising, we go to a lot of film festivals, conferences and surf to see who is creating fresh and original content.

Andrea Drougas
President, Unbound Studios

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1. Job fairs at major animation events.
2. Advertising in the local animation Union newsletter.
3. Recommendations from the current staff, i.e. word of mouth.
4. Internships (non-paying).

Word of mouth is the best method though!

Julie Shevach
Managing Director, Click 3X

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The primary way we find talent is from our current staff recommendations. Without exception, every key position has been filled from referrals. We also run ads in regional newspapers for entry level to mid-level talent.

Bill Dennis
Toonz Animation

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Essentially, we hire staff for our LA studio through word of mouth. Although we don't solicit resumes, we sure do receive tons on a regular basis. Also, the digital side of the business is relatively small and there really are only a handful of places where digital artists can hope to find work. I have developed a friendly rapport with the digital heads of other studios and we often trade info on performance and availability.

As for the studio in the Philippines, our first attempt at hiring was through paid ads. The animation community is small in Manila and soon everyone knew that there was a new studio in town. Also, we resigned ourselves to the fact that there were not going to be many "trained" digital artists and that we would have to pick people based on work ethic and attitude and simply train them.

These methods have worked out well for both studios.

Andrea Romero
Virtual Magic

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How Humongous Entertainment would go about hiring an animator...

1. Job listing on AIGA's Website (American Institute of Graphic Artists).
2. Posting through GAG (Graphic Artists Guild).
3. Word of mouth and networking within the design community.

Jen Martin
Humongous Entertainment

Heather Kenyon in editor in chief of Animation World Network.