I had my third interview with my prospective company in Australia the other night and it was a trying experience. The first two have gone extremely smoothly to say the least. They were challenging but I felt I had held my own and passed with flying colors which made me more and more confident that I was on my way.The other night was not so smooth.
The guys I interviewed with were very nice, professional and engaging. They asked really good questions and listened well and treated me with respect. I was not too displeased with my performance overall but I felt it lacked the same stellar tempo that the first two had had.
Being that it is winter in The Land Down Under, there seems to be a flu pandemic running rampant through the studio at the moment. I interviewed with two guys who were both really sick and coughing allot. That can be a real problem when you are on a speaker phone with two guys that are like, 10,000 miles away on a shoddy phone connection to begin with. I kept having to have them repeat questions as while one was talking the other was coughing so loud it just made it impossible to hear. Then, while I was answering questions it there was a constant hacking in the background that made it impossible establish rhythm and concentrate.
It was not the worst interview in my life, I have had a few of those, but it was not the icing on the cake I had wanted.
This all underscored the fact that although I wowed them in the first two, this is not set in stone at all. I still have work to do.
For anyone that reads this, I have interviewed allot in the last few years and have had some great ones and some really, really crappy ones, the best you can do is to prepare ahead of time, ask yourself the really hard questions first, write the answers down. It is not about memorization but about exploring the questions and being prepared to talk about yourself and more importantly, selling yourself.
I have some general rules for interviews:
1) Be prepared to sell yourself. "Tell us about yourself" is one of the most common openers. They don't want to hear about surfing, they don't want to know about your ear wax collection, they do want to hear where you have been and what you can do for them!!!
2) Never say "I can't" If you are applying for as an animator and they ask if you can model (even if you can't) just say yes. Just be prepared to learn it if needed. All aspects of game development are worth learning. I am hoping that any 3d artist has some modeling experience and if you don't you should, be prepared that they might ask questions about it.
3) Ask them what they are looking for. This will give you an early indication of what they want, how to tailor your answers and if you are just wasting your time...
4) Never complain about anything. Interviewing and dating are very similar, if you take a girl out for the first time, you don't want to sit through dinner hearing about how bad her ex was or how awful her salad is.
5) Brainstorm... You are applying for a job in games and you should be prepared to talk about games. I don't get people in the industry that don't play games, it is like film makers that are not into movies. I used to be like that until I had a very demanding lead who did me a favor and berated me for not playing games, "it's your industry stupid"... Make a list of all the games you play and the games you are interested in. Same goes for all aspects of an interview, find what you think they will target and brainstorm it on paper just to get you thinking about it.
6) Dignity. Remember, you are interviewing them too. Do they treat you with respect? Are they on time? Do they pay attention and participate in the interview? If they are not the greatest people in the interview they are probably not the greatest coworkers either. I interviewed at a major, major developer once. I sat around a table with five guys and the art director was a total dick. Someone asked if I was married which I replied that I was and that my wonderful wife was from Mexico City. They guy started ranting about how much he hates Mexico and how dirty Tijuana was. (news flash: TJ is not real Mexico) This was a huge turn off for me and I tuned the rest of the interview out, I was absolutely not interested in working for and reporting too, such an insensitive prick. I even had an interview once where they had been out to lunch for someone's birthday, they were an hour late and drunk! Nope, move on...
7) Stay on message. It is great to have something in common with the interviewer but keep your eye on the ball. If they surf and you surf great, but don't let it rule the conversation. You are there to further your career, not to gab about waves. Wow them with your skills in the industry, then take them out for a beer and talk about surf.
8) Research the people you will be meeting with. When HR schedules the interview, if they don't tell you who you are meeting with, ask. Then type them into Google and see if you get a hit. Linked In and Moby Games are great for this, you can find out where they have been, what they have worked on and more. Nothing goes further in an interview if you can let them know that you cared enough to take the time to look them up. "I read you worked on _____ ... I really dug that game, because..." Everyone likes their ego stroked, I don't advocate ass kissing but it helps to let them know you are prepared...
9) Be yourself. If you have to change who you are to fit in to that environment, then it probably is not the place for you.
10) FIRM HAND SHAKE AND LOOK EM' IN THE EYE!!! This is so important to me. It shows that you are confident and know your value. It is a bit different for women and it there are some cultural issues as well but if you are a guy with a limp hand shake, move on. Same goes for people who look at the table the entire time.
11) This one goes to eleven... Dress for sucess. The games industry is a very casual work environment but it does not mean that you are not a professional. Definitely don't wear a suit or look corporate at all but a nice pair of pants (no jeans!!!) and a nice shirt and shoes will help your confidence and help sell you as a product. Don't be that guy that has it all except the good taste to dress well. In my opinion if an artist can't dress himself, he can't be a good artist. Just buy one good outfit and put it in the closet just for this reason.
These are just my thoughts on interviews, take them or leave them. Hopefully, I didn't blow it and I will get a call back for the next stage...
Good luck!
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