For this blog series, I’m going to focus on a coaching client of mine who has seen the highest highs and lowest lows in the past year. In Part One, Todd was fired from his job as an animator with a major movie studio.
Todd took his severance pay as a lump sum, put half of it into a low-risk, medium-yield investment and figured he could live four months in Los Angeles without a job on the rest. He thought this would give him plenty of time to find a new job.
When you’ve done one thing for over 20 years like Todd, it can be almost unfathomable to consider moving to a new organization. He thought he was going to retire a little early in 10-12 years, get his pension, and finally move back east with his wife.
The only thing Todd knew was that he was not going to stay in movie animation. Along with disliking the digitally animated product, he also never learned how to do it quickly. Making a lateral move to another studio was pointless.
I don’t sit with my clients and pour over job boards, but I did try to get him to focus on what might be important to him and he realized it was the opportunity to continue to draw. He thought he could rekindle his passion for animation if he was allowed to draw.
He dove into looking for a new job. Make sure to see the next entry to find out what happened to Todd! Until then, some of the ways he looked for a new job included:
Headhunters/Recruiters: Since Todd is in a specialized field of an industry that’s already difficult to break into, some common ways of finding jobs wouldn’t work for him, such as job fairs, which don’t exist in his industry, or standard job listing sites online, because the entertainment industry has their own specialized sites for that. He contacted about a dozen headhunting agencies known for placing people with specific skills in positions in Hollywood. If there was a job that would fit his skill set, they would know about it.
Referrals: In the entertainment industry, this is probably the most popular way for non-rookies to find work. Within the industry are dozens of small communities and Todd let those from the animation community know that he was looking for work and if any of them heard of opportunities, he would appreciate if they could put in a good word for him.
Networking: Another Hollywood favorite, networking is a great way to meet a lot of new people at one time. Some groups create networking opportunities, hosting different nights to bring people together, but there’s always a networking opportunity if there’s a person standing in front of you.
Cold Calling: Not in the sense of a salesman who is looking for leads, but simply getting his name out there to people who may not have realized he existed. Todd had a resume and a DVD of five minutes of his best work made. He shipped out around 50 of them to studios and production houses big and small. You never know when somebody is looking exactly for what Todd could offer, and now more people would know he was available.