Career Advice — Basic Reminders

• Student reels should be under 2 minutes (ideally closer to 1 minute) — edit!
• Best work first. Always.
• Use a consistent font throughout
• Annotate to make clear what you are responsible for — this matters far more than software credits
• Include breakdowns where possible
• Industry should not be the first to see your reel — check with professors, peers, friends, and family first, then filter their feedback
• Have a website!
• Your career goal and demo reel work should be related — customize your reel accordingly
• Consider adding blogs to your website

• Demo reel — the home page should land on it so the visitor only has to hit play
• Career goal (lighting artist, FX artist, etc.)
• Breakdown page or blogs — include a few breakdowns on your reel too
• Resume
• Contact info — should also appear on your resume and in an About / How to Reach Me section

Some excellent demo reels can be found on the student examples page.

• Contact information should be easy to find — name, career goal, email, and website URL
• Experience should be at the top, not education — unless education is more impressive
• Include your expected graduation date so people know when you will be available — replace "present" with month/year of expected graduation
• Spell check, spell check, spell check — then read it over, then have someone else proofread it
• Chronological order with most recent first, for both experience and education
• Order your skills by importance to your career goal
• Make sure your resume looks good both digitally and printed

• Keep it concise
• Remember that email has no vocal intonation — word carefully and have someone else read it before you hit send
• This is a first impression — go formal until you have a cue to do otherwise
• Do not use "Mrs." unless they have used it in an email signature
• Research the person and company — Google and LinkedIn are great resources

Structure of a cover letter:

• First paragraph — why you are writing
• Middle paragraphs — what you have to offer the employer (be specific)
• Final paragraph — how you will follow up

Always include:

• Name
• Discipline
• Email address
• Phone number
• Link to website
• Graduation date

• Answer the question they ask — many of us tend to focus on what we were last trying to solve
• Listen carefully
• Be concise but give an appropriate length answer
• Spin things positive — don't lie, but instead of saying "I don't know that," say "I haven't had experience with that but would be interested in learning" and relate it back to something you do know
• Be yourself — you are allowed to be nervous
• Practice, practice, practice
• Know your work, your resume, and your reel — be prepared
• Know the company and your interviewers if possible