Finding your Career Path
Once we leave University, we'll have to think about how we would find our way into the animation industry by creating our own career path. A career path is a timeline that shows a sequence of all your jobs from short to long term that will plan out how you will end up at your desired job role or position in a estimation of ten years; helping us students get a better idea of where we will be transitioning into from an education environment to a workplace environment. These paths don't always have to be set in stone, as these are just to give an idea that we know what we can do once we leave our final course year.
Our task for today was to create our own career path to help prepare us for the future, especially since as of this decade where it will be even more difficult for us to get jobs thanks to lockdown and covid-19. But first, it is good to start with an understanding of what is expected at the start of our career paths.
What jobs can we start with?
What jobs can we start with?
When we leave uni and apply to animation jobs, because we would be new faces and therefore, not have the experience studios would want new employees to have; we would end up starting with either runner or junior jobs. But since runner positions aren't available now due to the pandemic, I will focus on junior jobs.
Junior jobs are basically smaller jobs in the industry, where the job is more to give the employee the needed experience and to get some quick help on a animation project rather than a employee to stay for a long while; but if you work really well and impress your employers, there is the possibility to move up and stay with the company or studio.
From my research on the website Totaljobs, a lot of junior animator jobs are seemingly revolved around being a graphic designer; this could work for me since it focuses on artwork and designing which relates to the jobs I am aiming for in the future, being a storyboard artist or character designer.
What issues can we come across when applying for jobs?
When it comes to applying for jobs with our CVs and portfolios, there are two main issues that can effect your chances of getting picked out for a interview or even being employed by a studio; but there are workarounds to help avoid these issues. Those are a person's gender and a person's location of residence.
Gender
When it comes to the animation industry, women aren't hired as much as men; thanks to the industry mainly being male dominated and not much being done to change that. But thankfully, there are some people who are working hard to change that and give women a change to find employment.
Animated Women UK, founded in 2013, is a networking support company that helps ladies inspired to work in the industry to find connections and mentoring members to give them a better fighting chance in being employed.
On the one hand, this can be good for people like me as it would make it easier for me to find work in a better position; but, I can see how this would feel unfair from a guy's point of view who have to fight against many other applicants while women have the extra help. But I can also see how this can also affect women negatively too as it could give the impression that equality will never be accomplished as women apparently need extra help compared to men; as well as giving women a complex of them being hired for just their gender and not for their talent which could effect their mental state at work, something that even I deal when it comes to my autism hero award.
Location
With locations, it's recently been noted that animation studios and companies aren't as willing to hire people who live in Essex if the studio is found in London. This is due to the fact that most people who have to travel long distances to get to work, aren't as willing to stay behind for extra hours late into the night; or they can often be late due to issues out of their control such as trains and buses breaking down, being cancelled or anything else. So, it's safer for a studio to pick someone more local to hire than someone who lives away.
Now, we can always move into a London apartment for example before applying for jobs, but we could also put addresses of family or friends that live in London. Luckily for me, I have my Grandma and Uncle who live in Bexley (The London Borough) so I can always use that address in my CVs to have a better chance at getting hired. But I can also use this to my advantage if I ever end up in a situation where I need to stay the night, I can always visit and stay the night at their place so I don't have to worry about returning home late. Or my family would help pay for rent in a London apartment.
But, considering that a lot of work nowadays is being done online due to the current pandemic, I don't think I need to worry about the location when applying for jobs yet.
So, while we do have options and ways to deal with the obstacles that come with applying for jobs in the industry, they aren't as clean cut as they seem to be. As being a woman, we seemingly have to cheat our way into getting a job in the animation industry and we could deal with thoughts of not feeling good enough for the job. And for the location issue, I'm glad I have a way to combat this thanks to my supportive family; but with the current state of the world, I don't think we should have any issues with not being hired due to our home location since working from home/online is becoming more natural in society than a few years ago.
My Own Career Path
So, after doing all this research on being prepared for a career path and what to consider, I created this career path base to use as a rough reference for what my plan is after university and where I want to end up within ten years time. This path does split up into two; but this is to help with combating against the uncertainty of the current world with the pandemic and how unpredictable the animation industry can be with finding success. On the left is a career path that's more based around being a independent, online artist; where I can be more flexible and have more creative control of my life. Where the pathway on the right is based on a more traditional career path of finding jobs in the mainstream animation industry and working in big name studios.
Graduate University
Spend six months building up my portfolio website/online presence
Start doing online art commissions and personal animatics
Keeping an eye on the world pandemic's news to determine where to go next.
Start creating a online comic on Webtoon with my long term and long distance boyfriend (with him doing the writing and me doing the artwork)
While working on the comic, try looking for small freelance animation work to do (IE: animate for a youtuber or work in a collaborative project)
Work with Animated Women UK to try applying for runner or junior jobs
After working in one of those jobs and getting experience, try sending out cover letters and letters of interest to various studios and companies
If the comic gets successful or popular, try using that to pitch a animated adaptation to a studio in a similar manner to how "God of High School" was adapted into a anime for Crunchyroll
Continue applying to different animation studios and jobs until I either land a secure position in the studio or job of my dreams.
If it does get turned into a animated adaptation and also become successful; take this as a chance to pitch my other ideas for animated projects and start on a new project.
If we're allowed to travel across countries again, I might move to America to not only move closer to my partner but use my work experience in the UK to try and work in big name American film studios.
If all else fails, I could try and create my dream project independently in a similar manner to "Hazbin Hotel" or "Epithet Erased"
If all else fails, moving in with my boyfriend can help with us creating our own independent projects together (IE: the pathway on the left)
The main end goal for this path, is to create at least one successful property in two mediums.
The main end goal for this path, is to end up working as my dream role or working in a dream studio.