Exploring Lucrative Career Paths: How to Land Animation Jobs Overseas in the Booming Cartoon Industry

The cartoon production industry has changed, cartoonists work not only in the studio staff. They are often hired under a contractual agreement for a specific project or freelancers. Therefore, an animator can make a name for himself in the foreign market of the cartoon industry.

How does an animator get a job at foreign studios

To be marketable and advance professionally when someone places vacancy for animation abroad, an animator needs to:

1. Write a clear cover letter

Why does the Cover Letter come first? Because, as a rule, the applicant communicates directly with the employer and the cover letter helps in this. Occasionally, it is enough to fill out an application form on a job site, then the Cover Letter is not sent.

2. Create video portfolio or animation reel

Employers look at it right after the cover letter. The ril primarily determines whether a studio will respond to you or not. The length of the ril should be no more than 2-3 minutes. It shows the strengths of the applicant, the studio recruiter should immediately understand from the portfolio, what technical skills you possess.

3. Write your CV correctly

If you make a CV for the first time, use specialized sites, for example, “Resume Builder”. On the site you will enter user data in the form of a questionnaire and get a well-structured document.

If you have already made a resume, then try to make a CV yourself. Be sure to follow the basic rules:

• The volume of the text is no more than 2 sheets. It is ideal to fit the whole story on one page. Recruiters are known to spend no more than five seconds to familiarize themselves with a CV. If during this time they do not see the necessary information, they will reject both the resume and the candidacy. Therefore, it is important to compose the document correctly, make it short and clear.
• The font is easy to read.
• The text is well written and formatted.
• The structure of the statement is organized.
• The recruiter understands the applicant’s application immediately. In a good resume there are no double meanings, understatements and ambiguous phrases. Before sending your resume, double-check all points, make sure that the information is stated correctly. Specific questions you will be asked at the interview.
• No photo needed. You do not attach a photo to your CV. The exception is professions that are related to the candidate’s appearance – TV presenter, photo model.
• Personal information that does not relate to work is not required: marital status, gender, etc.
• Resumes are written in the third person past tense. The present tense only refers to the current place of employment.
• The title of the desired position is placed in the header of the resume. It should match the job opening.
• List experience that is relevant to the occupation. If the experience is not relevant to the vacancy, the employer is not interested in it.
• Contact Information. Provide possible ways of contacting you – email, skype, phone, link to personal website. Do not write your home address.
• Tell briefly about the purpose of your professional career;
• Show achievements in your specialty.
• Your skills.
• Awards and accomplishments that demonstrate skills.

4. Must know English

As in many industries, English is the language that animators around the world communicate in.

5. Start effectively promoting your personal website, blog or group

A Facebook blog or Instagram account will be a great foundation for personal promotion. Publish your work, talk about your professional life, create your own loyal audience. Part of it will become your customers.

Job Search

Where else can you find a suitable job opening? Roughly speaking, there are two types of job seekers:

1. Active job seeker responds to a job posting directly, uses specialized job search sites like Jooble where you can find 3d artist remote and many other available options or they use freelance platforms (Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer, 99 Designs, Dribbble, Art Wanted, Design Crowd).
2. Passive job seeker waits for a response from the recruiter from various sources (social networks or job search sites). Usually they want to work in TV production, full-length projects, with studios and fulfill orders of private individuals.

Where to gain the necessary audience and earn a name:

1. Specialized sites (Artstation, Behance, etc.).
2. Blogs and social networks popular among artists and animators.
3. Animation challenges, giving the opportunity to pump up skills, show your portfolio and get feedback from experts with a name (Animation International Challenge, 11 seconds club, “2 hour challenge”, AnimChallenge).

And let’s take a look at a few popular services that can help you find a job abroad:

• LinkedIn jobs. Filling out a profile on the site is similar to building a resume. On the plus side, your experience can be verified by employers who are registered in the same network. In addition, there is a voluminous section with job openings. Post an application or respond to suitable job offers there.
• Animatedjobs. The site owns a Facebook group and a well-known Twitter account. You can subscribe to it and receive regular notifications for fresh job opportunities. And every three months Twitter Animatedjobs runs promotions and publishes a portfolio of subscribers.
• Indeed. The site is similar to LinkedIn. It too has a job search resource, you can fill out a profile and create a PDF resume.
• Artstation jobs. This site allows you to post a portfolio, search for jobs, and sign up for job postings.
• Glassdoor. Read first-hand reviews of studios on the site because the reviews are written by employees. Learn about studio policies and even salaries.
• Facebook groups. For one-off freelance jobs.

How much does animation cost

When responding to individual vacancies ask to specify the range of desired earnings. So you need to know what amounts to aim for.

Once the site Glassdoor was the only resource where you could find out the fork of salary certain studios depending on experience and qualifications. But during the quarantine period, animators and artists revealed the industry’s best-kept secret – their earnings – by launching a hashtag. Under it, animators from different countries posted the size of their salaries.

This helped to create tables by category: salaries in the film industry, in the effects industry, in the animation industry. Today, all this information is publicly available.