Once again, its fair to say it's a list of things I wish I knew when I started getting interviews.
You have the portfolio, you have sizzle reel & you have applied to that perfect job where you tick all the requirement box’s. But you don’t hear anything. Nada. Zip. Sweet FA. Sound familiar? Trust me I know how frustrating it is. There’s no secret to getting an interview, keep working on your portfolio and keep applying. Every time you send an application it will improve. The main thing to remember is that you never know what they are looking for. If you see an advert that you don’t quite match send an application anyway because sooner or later that email you come. “Thank you for your application, we would like to invite you to attend a phone interview”. And that’s it, that’s the first part of the interview process. Different studios have different recruitment steps but typically, it will go something like, phone interview, test and face to face interview.
A phone interview is the first step, it’s likely to be over Skype or zoom, though some places do a traditional phone call. It’s main purpose is to see if you should go through to the next round but also to see if you are who you say you are, if you know what you’re talking about and if you would be a good fit with the rest of the team. So, make sure you are prepared as best you can be for it. Play the latest game they have made, if you can, or at least watch a play through. Note down what you liked about the audio and also what you didn’t. You might not need that info but they will likely ask you if you have played their games. Nothing kills an interview more than “No, not my cup of tea”. By prepare, I also mean the room in which you will be in. Make sure the washing (or anything else embarrassing for that matter) is not visible in the background. The interview itself will be fairly informal and with senior members of the Audio Team. You have gotten this far because they liked your application and portfolio, this is a chance for them to quiz you on your experience and see if you would be a good fit for the role. Expect questions about your portfolio, expect questions about your CV. Be yourself, take your time and answer the questions. Make sure at the very least you know a bit about the company. What games they make, what they are working on now (if announced) what awards they have won. All this information is out there, sites like Glassdoor are also great for getting some insight into the company from past and present employees. Something I do is write down answers to common interview questions and have them in front of me with my CV and my portfolio to hand. As an example, (and I’m not saying you will be asked these) some common interview questions include; Tell us about yourself. Why do you want to work here? & the classic, what is your biggest weakness?
It’s likely most questions will be answered during the interview but it is really important to make sure you have at least one question ready to ask them. There’s arguments to say you should ask questions about salary and perks but in my opinion, if this is your first gig in the industry I wouldn’t advise it at this stage, it’s not the time. If you think the interview has gone well and you are confident, some questions I like to ask are “at this point is there any reason why I wouldn’t advance to the next stage?”. “If you were describing to a friend what it was like to work here, what would you say?”
Even if nothing comes from it, be proud that you have got through to a phone interview, with the amount of applications studios get, it’s impressive.
So, you’ve nailed the phone interview, the second step is the test. Typically, a test will be a liner redesign. The studio will likely send a gameplay video of one of their games, roughly a minute in length though could be more. You are tasked with adding the audio to the video and sending it back to them. Read the instructions very, very carefully, they may ask you to pay particular attention to a section and ignore another. It’s not just a test of your skill but your ability to follow instructions. Bjorn Jacobsen at Cujo Sound has a great video on his experience with AAA tests. You will normally have a week to complete the test which will be more than enough. Watch the video and write down what jumps out, do this a few times before you get stuck in. Make sure you think about the non diegetic sound as well as the diegetic.
As well as, or perhaps instead of a liner redesign test you might be asked to do a middleware test. To create SFX and implement them into a pretend game. As an example, a Wwise test I have done in the past was to create a project with SFX and events for a helicopter take off, flying & landing, the creative challenge being the helicopter was made out of office supplies! A middleware test is a good opportunity to show your knowledge of the software, explain why you used a blend container controlled by an RTPC. Explain why you created a custom share set and bus etc etc...
If you’ve been asked to do a test, no matter what it is you should again be proud. If you are successful you will go on to the third stage, if not you can ask for feedback and learn from it.
The third round is the face to face interview. Make it to this round and you are qualified for the job, now it’s about you. On the day you will likely meet part or even the whole audio team, though only a selection will interview you. Expect to sign a NDA if you are going into the studio and as strange as it sounds, don’t over dress. Many industries expect strict dress codes for interviews but this is not the interview to wear your three piece. Think, first date. Think, Christmas Day at your mother in laws. You want to be smart casual. Yes you can turn up in jeans and a hoodie and the people interviewing you will most likely be wearing that, but it’s a job interview. You’re presenting yourself.
While at the interview you may watch your test back with the interviewers or at least talk about it. They will give you feedback and ask why you did certain things. Again this is multi purpose, how does the candidate respond to feedback on their work? Listen to the feedback and respond/ explain your process but do not be overly defensive. Brace yourself for some more questions, these will be more intense than round one. Some questions I have had in the past that have caught me out include; if you had worked on “our game” what would you have done to improve the sound design. What didn’t you like about the sound design in “our game”? Tell us about a film where the sound design impressed you and why. The face to face interview is a great opportunity to say anything you think is interesting about yourself, your test or your past work. If you don’t say it they won’t know. Make sure you have something to ask at the end of the interview. At the very least ask when you might hear back. I like to ask if they can tell me how many applications they have had and how many people they are interviewing.
Is not totally unheard of to have a forth round of interviews, again face to face. Very similar to the third round. If you find yourself in round four it will most likely be about you and the team. A personality fit. Only advice for this one is relax and be yourself. It’s probably between you and one other.
I again know it is not the same for everyone but I write this post having been involved in a fair few interviews on both sides of the desk. When I first attended game audio interviews I didn’t have a clue what to expect. Coming from a different industry there was a lot to learn & I made a lot of mistakes. My hope is, that by sharing some of what I have learnt, others may befit.
Pete
Glassdoor - https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/
Cujo Sound - https://youtu.be/RkthMJVr9FU
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