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Your Cover Letter, CV and Showreel

Obviously there are many different ways to create a cover letter, CV and showreel and everyone has an opinion on how this can best be achieved, but the tips below are general rather than specific (I have included some useful links for further reading) and are purely my own findings based on quite a few (too many) years of not only applying for jobs but also of receiving CV’s and showreels and having to trawl through some absolutely dire ones, as well as finding little gems that have really impressed.
A common practice these days, especially for the larger companies, is to use an online application form. Don’t let this put you off or daunt you, this is to make life easier for the company but also to weed out those people who really do care enough to take the time to fill it out. It’s really the same thing. Most of the time you can cut and paste from your original Cover letter or CV anyway.
These tips are based entirely on my own experiences and, I would like to think, common sense.

The main over-riding thing I always bear in mind when constructing a CV, Cover Letter or Showreel is;

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
If you were in their shoes, receiving this application, how would you feel?

Therefore;

Covering Letter
• The covering letter can be even more important than your CV as this is the first point of contact that you will probably have with your prospective employer. You should therefore tailor your letter to each individual employer and role. Don’t just use a standard catch-all cover letter – take the 10 extra minutes that might be the difference between getting an interview or not.

• If you are responding to an advert, acknowledge the fact and where the advert was seen. If this is a speculative approach then your cover letter should be tailored thusly.

• Research the role for which you are applying – not in great detail but enough to know to whom you are talking. This should then inform the way you write your cover letter.

• Bring forward and high-light your skills and experiences that relate directly to the role for which you are applying as these will be the most relevant to the prospective employer.

• Do not go into too much detail – there’s nothing worse than being faced with 2 or 3 sides of A4 waffle, it’ll put you off immediately and your cause is lost - keep the letter concise – what you are trying to do is give a good introduction of yourself, but leaving enough open to make them want to look through your CV for more detail and history and eventually invite you in for an interview.

• Be yourself. If you’re not stiff and dull then don’t write as if you are. At the same time, just because you’re a wit and raconteur, don’t go overboard; humour can be lost in translation at times. Just remember that it’s a real live human being that’s going to be reading this correspondence, even if they do work in the HR department.

• Always be polite.

• Try not to exceed one sheet of A4 (yes, including your address and signature).

 
Putting together your CV
• This document is a factual and functional one based on your employment, education and any other skills you may want to get across (HGV Drivers licence, 15 metre swimming in pyjamas badge, etc). Therefore it should be clean, concise and simple and easy to read.

• The best way to lay it out is chronologically with your latest job at the head and working down and back in time. You may wish to put a very brief “highlights” or “career achievements” paragraph just above your employment history if you feel your career to date warrants it.

• Do not go into major detail about each job unless it particularly requires an explanation, for example if some particular tangible results were achieved then put it down, if not, don’t. You should have picked out the relevant roles in more detail in your cover letter anyway.

• If you have referees, and you have the space, then put their names and contact details at the foot of your CV – please make sure you have their permission to do so. If you don’t have space then simply put “on request”.

• Be sure to include any other relevant skills and grades you may have reached in them (e.g. Maya Third Class Wicked Skills, Grand Master Flash Animator, etc).

• Do include your education and qualifications as well, but put them towards the end of your CV.

• Try not to exceed two sheets of A4 – if you haven’t sold yourself in two pages then the third is only going to annoy.
 

Presenting your Showreel
• Think of your showreel as a visual version of your Cover Letter and CV and always remember your audience.

• Your probably not going to get a prospective employer to look at all of your material so the best idea is to make a compilation of all your greatest works. Put your best material first and sign off with a good bit too. And be sure to include a wide a variety of styles and techniques as you can – you’ve got the skills, show them off!

• Keep your compilation or highlights package to a maximum of one to one and a half minutes long – imagine if you were looking through 30 or 40 of these in a day!

• Choose your music wisely. One man’s Eels can be another man’s Scooter.

• By all means, use today’s hi-tech DVD technology to include the full, original works under new chapters. If your compilation has done its job then your prospective employer will want to look at the full spots – in much the same way as your cover letter should entice them into reading through your entire CV.

• Have a look around on the internet at other people’s showreels to see what you’re up against and don’t be afraid to steal a good idea and use it yourself, but please stay away from gimmicks – you’ll only look cheap and we don’t want that, do we?

• If you’re still at college – use their facilities while you still can.

• If you’re not sure about your editing skills, then ask a friend, colleague or tutor to help out. Don’t send out badly edited showreels – it’s only you that will lose out in the end.

• Update your showreel as often as you can, or need to.

• Don’t send the original – copies will not be returned to you – don’t kid yourself.

• Always get permission to show footage that isn’t exclusively yours.

So, in summary what you are trying to do is to keep the person who is looking through your material moving onto the next element – the cover letter was so enticing that they just had to read your CV and that ticked so many boxes that they simply couldn’t leave without watching a compilation of your best work and that, in turn, was so utterly transfixing that they simply had to watch some of those pieces of work in full, because it was art darling, ART!

And don’t give up hope – it is hard finding work, especially at the moment, but don’t lose heart. You’re not alone out there.

Now, go get ‘em, tigers...grrrrrrr.....

Some useful links what you may find useful and that;

CV
http://www.cvcl.co.uk/CVwriting.htm

http://www.cvtips.com/CV_example.html

http://careersadvice.direct.gov.uk/helpwithyourcareer/writecv/

http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/cv/mediacv.htm

Covering letter
http://www.cvtips.com/cover_letter.html

http://www.cvcl.co.uk/covering-letters.htm

Showreel
http://www.quazen.com/Arts/Animation/10-Tips-for-Creating-a-Successful-Animation-Showreel.148491 (good tips, except it’s usually the cover letter that’s first looked at)

http://www.fxguide.com/modules.php?name=fxtips&file=print&id=269

http://www.computerarts.co.uk/tutorials/new_media/stunning_showreels

http://rubiqube.com/10-mindblowing-showreels/

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=animation+showreel&aq=f