Cover Letter Advice

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COVER LETTER ADVICE: The next time you craft a cover letter or intro email to a hiring manager ask yourself, “What is my elevator pitch? What would I say if I had one minute to land the job?”

Next, since you probably do not have a long resume yet if you recently graduated school or are still in schoool? So, what do you do?

ADDRESS THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM HEAD ON

Sometimes employers will wonder why you are applying for a job when you aren’t “qualified” on the surface-level. Or, there may be other red flags that pop up in the readers’ minds while looking at your resume (resume gaps, non-direct work history, short job tenure). Instead of hiding it, address concerns transparently and upfront with confidence.

General Notes:

  • Keep it Brief! I have had students bring me 2-3 page cover letters – NO! It shouldn’t be more than a couple paragraphs at the most.
  • Don’t send in boring template cover letters. Change each letter to contain something specific to the person, studio, and or work the studio does.
  • Explain what excites and inspires you about X studio, grab the reader with something personal and different.
  • Do not send any documents not requested.
  • If the studio does not ask for a cover letter, do not send one. If you send one it is frustrating to the HR people to have to handle more documents than requested.
  • If you already have your name, email, and contact information in your letterhead (which you should) and/or in your email signature???? You do not have to add it to your signature again.

Basics:

  • Today, your cover letter tends to be an email. Have a formal copy of both emails and letters. Examples follow, below.
  • Check your cover letter is addressed to the right person/studio – if not, it shows a lack of attention to detail.
  • If you do not have a person’s name, address it to XYZ Recruiting Team, Recruiting Manager, or Whatever term the job posting states as the group the letter will go to.
  • Save the letter as a .pdf to ensure formatting stays consistent if you are uploading to a website.
  • You should have a .png with alpha channel and a .svg file of your signature ready to sign letters and other documents digitally.

Greeting:

  • ALWAYS use a name for your greeting.  NEVER use “To Whom It May Concern.”

Body:

  • Do not start any letter with… “I have wanted to work in animation since I was a little…”
  • The introduction is the first paragraph – who you are and what you want.
  • Career Experience, Goals and Interests is the second paragraph – qualifications.
  • Thank you’s is the third paragraph – “I look forward to hearing from you,” etc.
  • Remember, explain how are you a good fit for their team.
  • Research the company and their work before you write the letter.
  • Do not use flowery language, keep it simple.
  • Don’t start every sentence with “I.” Change things up.
  • If you can check it with the Grammarly tool, I highly encourage it.

STRATEGY

You are marketing yourself, your skills, and your candidacy with your cover letter. Try using the AIDA Model explained below. AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action, and each letter will serve as a paragraph in the letter.

One important key to success is confidence. An important key to confidence is being prepared.

Also, the key is to:

  • Do your research
  • Send a custom email
  • Focus on past achievements
  • Provide the link to your LinkedIn profile
  • Provide a PDF of your resume (remember that if we are not connected I cannot see your entire LinkedIn profile)
  • Keep it short

ATTENTION

Attention must happen in your 1st paragraph. Your goal here is to grab the reader’s attention. You won’t get anyone excited to read your cover letter by talking about where you found the position, why you are applying, or what you hope to gain from the job.

START BY TELLING A STORY:

You can share an impressive example of something you have accomplished that relates to the desired position, tell a story that showcases your passion for the position you want, or use your own creative writing style to motivate the reader to continue reading.

EXAMPLES

“I am a character animator with over X years’ experience in CG animation, prepared and excited at the prospect of working at XYZ Studio as an entry-level animator.”

“I graduated XYZ school with a degree in animation and am excited at the prospect of working at XYZ Studio as an entry-level animator.”

It is difficult to add too many accomplishments when you have just graduated school or have just started your career in animation but put something about your most recent experiences in animation – no matter if it is production or school. The more specific to the studio you can be, the better.  Add a production you would be excited to work on to the story or comparable content you have created on other shows. Continue to develop this paragraph touting your experiences, awards, and accomplishments.

EXAMPLE

“I am a character animator with over X years’ experience in CG animation excited at the prospect of working at XYZ Studio as an entry-level animator.” and am excited at the prospect of working at XYZ Studio as an entry-level animator. I love the style and energy of the upcoming XYZ film and am very excited to see more about the XYZ movie from XYZ Studios. I appreciate the unique character designs XYZ Studio has been developing as of late. One of my favorite aspects of being an animator is developing personalities and unique character performances like I did for my thesis film in school and for the feature XYZ released this passed October 2019. The XYZ character for XYZ with six arms seems super challenging and the XYZ character in XYZ remimds me of my brother so I would love the opportunity to animate him in this upcoming film. The story for xyz film is something I identify with in my own life. I have been a big fan of XYZ studio and the work since XYZ show was released. XYZ show made a huge impact on me because of the intricate story and individual characters.”

I realize this is very open ended in how it is wrtten but it up to you to tell a story with specifity.  The details are what grabs the reader so find the details.

Be Proactive Tip: Take it a step further and sign up for Google alerts at your most desired studios. Let’s say you want to work for XYZ Company. You can sign up for Google alerts of XYZ Company and get emailed when they are mentioned in the news. This can even give you a heads up of when there are hiring or plan to open new facilities, offer new services, etc. This often means there will be new job openings. Follow all of the studios you are interested in on Linkedin as well.

EXAMPLE:

“An article in the Huffington Post this month featured XYZ studio and premiered the new roster of movies to come in 2020 and I would be so honored if I could join the animation team to create performances for XYZ feature.”

INTEREST

Now that you have the reader’s Attention, you need to maintain their Interest. This will be your 2nd paragraph. Initially, employers have no interest in what you are looking for or want. They don’t care! Turn the focus on the employer, but still sell yourself. You need to appeal to the needs of the studio and work.

The big idea here is to start establishing a connection between what the employer wants and what you can do. Pull out the job posting to find bullet points for structuring your paragraph. This will also help with bots if the studio is using then to weed out the buzz words from applicants and get the best possible candidates to the top of the pile.

EXAMPLE

“Your job posting mentions skills like working with a team, receives art direction well, and embrace revisions. After working in animation production for three years now, I realize how I enjoy talk about animation and critiques. I did not like critiques in school but that was because I didn’t understand what I didn’t know. The more I work in animation, the more I want to learn, share, and grow. Your job posting also lists experience with Unity as a required skill. As an animator, I have worked on several XR productions that each had their own specific Unity pipeline. On XYZ show we used XYZ with Unity to build the assets. I have created animation for 3 features and 4 commercials including my thesis film for XYZ University where I graduated cum laude.

DESIRE

Once you have gained the Attention and Interest of the reader, you need to create a Desire for your employment. This is for your 3rd paragraph. First, determine the major points the employer is addressing in the job description. Then follow up with specific examples of how you have accomplished tasks related to those major points.

SOME POINTS FROM JOB POSTING:

  • Block in movements in rough animation and show for the Director’s approval in a daily review
  • Finish work for Director in a timely manner
  • Attend animation dailies
  • Degree or certificate in classical animation, film, or related field, or equivalent production animation experience
  • Proven understanding of the principles of animation to tell a story with meaning through movement
  • Shown storytelling skills
  • Strong understanding of traditional animation principles

EXAMPLE 

“My goal as a production animator is to work cleanly and tell stories creating empathy with the audience. I strive to create appeal and continuity with my character animations in production. I love sharing ideas, tips, tricks, workflow, and methods with other animators. I understand animation production from script to delivery. I graduated cum laud from XYZ University with a degree in character animation in 2016 and parts of my thesis film produced while in school are on my demo reel. You may contact any of my previous coworkers and supervisors on Linkedin for references on my work ethic and the quality of animation.”

INCLUDE LINKS:

Since most resumes are delivered digitally today, links in the doc are always helpful. Remember, you want to make it as easy as possible for the person hiring to see all fo the necessary information quickly. “Give the money the banana!”

EXAMPLE

More about me is at XYZ.com. If you have access to http://www.linkedin.com/in/XYZ, you may review references from previous supervisors, artists, and managers under my profile.

ACTION

Now it’s time to seal the deal. You have captured the employer’s attention. You have maintained their interest. You have created a desire for your services. Now, you want to compel them to take Action to reach out to you! It can be helpful to wrap up your cover letter here. Then… Put the ball in their court. Provide options for contact. Be careful not to be too demanding.

EXAMPLE:

“I would love the opportunity to discuss the animation position in person, or over a phone call.”

“I currently am wrapping production on XYZ at XYZ amd am looking to join a creative company like XYZ! Could we set up a 15-minute intro call?”

“I am currently looking for my next big venture and would love to talk more about this opportunity!”