The search for employees in indie studios is different from large companies. Valya Severin, co-founder of the Russian helpnode team, told about the subtleties of this process. Inside — personal experience and some basic tips for beginners.Sanek
Severin shared his observations the other day in a small thread on Twitter.
Here is the conclusion the studio came to during the search for a 2D artist and animator:
- despite the large number of responses, there were few relevant ones among them — partly the reason was that helpnode did not clearly formulate the criteria in the description;applicants rarely read the job description: during the search, the studio received, for example, a response from a 3D artist, and some were without a portfolio at all;
- 4. to be honest, I don’t really understand how to solve this problem.
recruiters send job offers in huge numbers. candidates apparently too. as a result, both of them spend a lot of time on something that will definitely not suit them
— valenok makes games (@sireseverin) February 8, 2022″It’s a little scary when a lot of people come from some course at once,” Severin notes and adds that all portfolios in such cases do not differ from each other;
- because of this, it is difficult to understand what a person can do himself, and what he was simply taught “by the manual”;
- a lot of novice specialists write a lot of unnecessary information in their resume: “It doesn’t matter to me at all that you went to an art club at the age of 5, and worked in Pyaterochka at the age of 20.
- I don’t want to read a 3-page document because of this”;in the absence of experience, it is better for the candidate to tell what exactly interested him in the project and attach his portfolio — this approach, according to Severin, will work better;
- 9. we had a dude who told us that he had a cat, whom he loved very much, who got lost, and therefore our project with the dog is very close to him.
it’s very endearing
— valenok makes games (@sireseverin) February 8, 2022finally, it is important to change the portfolio for each vacancy: it is not necessary to attach pictures from mobile games when using a PC studio, and vice versa.
- Also at the end of the thread Severin said a few words about the expected salary.
It differs greatly depending on the candidate, and therefore it is impossible to find some “objective” average value: “We received expectations from 15k and up to 150k+. And [a person] for 150 thousand is not that much better than [a person] for 15 thousand. So if you are looking for a job, always remember that this is a very subjective thing.”
Now helpnode is working on a narrative 2D game “Sanek“. The action takes place in the 90s, and the project itself tells about the adventures of a boy and his dog. The title is scheduled for release in 2022.