Hiring - are my standards too high?

[kris]

All,

I'm looking at hiring some people; as many as four, three being max artists.  (See my site if you're interested.)

I've posted ads online on various and sundry sites (ziprecruiter, linkedin, etc.), and have gotten quite a few responses, but almost all of them are nowhere near the standards that I need and expect.  These hires are to support a pretty large scale (for me) set of projects that are coming in, and I do need them to come in at a full run.  While I don't expect perfection, most of what I'm seeing is very fresh-out-of school talent, and the reels are somewhat underwhelming.  

For those of you who have hired, should I be worried?  Should I keep waiting until I see a reel that blows my socks off, or are these weak reels standard fare that are easily molded into good quality staff?  Obviously, there's a bit of a case-by-case nature to it, but as a generality?

Granted, I need them to relocate to the edge of the known universe (Sudbury, Ontario), but I would think that there should be some folks out there with some skills...  I haven't posted any salaries, because the salary is obviously going to be commensurate with skill levels and working speed.

Or is there something more I could be doing to increase my chances?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Kris.

[madsd]

Having a solid friend ring of artists is always great, you will fast find people you fit together with that way.
Asking people out in the wild will always draw in all kinds of levels, mostly people who are just beneath the standard of what is needed down to very low quality.

I saw your site and your animations on the video, and am more than sure you can find people that can blend into the level of visuals required to match that level, it's good solid base animation so don't worry, keep eyes out and blend into the communities, there are a lot of folks on various facebook pages.

Do however, evaluate if remote work is an option, now a days, people have fast lines, and in general you will find the best people for the job if they stay where they are, unless you want to dive into micro management, but that is a totally different story - the artists you employ should have enough integrity to get a model and sort out the case for them self, else you hired a guy with a too low bar so to speak.

I've personally had the joy of employing some of the best minds on the planet, and never saw them face to face and oh boy did they deliver, so, that is always an option in my book.

[kris]

@madsd

I have to have them local for a bunch of reasons.  I do a lot of work that is under NDA, first and foremost, and my clients do not want me sending their data all over the place.   Some of the data is extremely large, wrt industrial applications, and I don't have the fastest upstream data.  Lastly, there are also funding considerations; if I have local staff, I can get additional gov't money that will allow me to have a greater reach.

I can't say I've been the most social.  I spent a lot of time over at cgsociety onceuponatime, and then there's my regular stirring up of excitement here.  Otherwise, I'm somewhat isolated from the art community.  Most of the people I hang with are CEOs and engineers...

If freelance would work, then I'd go that route...

Kris.

[madsd]

In general it takes a lot longer to establish a local staff than online, by magnitudes.

So, I'd be patient and attempt to make it attractive for people to relocate, and first and foremost dive into you local community, you may find some groups of guys working on games that has a great understanding about 3D in general and you could teach them to slide into your pipeline.

There are many routes to take to attempt to stack up on staff, but they have to want to do it in the first place, and that you can help with by making sure folks thinks it's a cool place to work. Sallery is one thing, but what about the team spirit, are you a nice guy or are you a guy with a a whip, people worry about these things as well, and so it's important that you reflect some nice positive vibes that makes people comfortable in seeking to work for/with you.

If you leave an awesome impression when reaching out, you will get some nice fish on the hook, this I promis.

[kris]

@madsd

Fair enough.  I live in a small city - 180k people, and there isn't a big community of anything.  I'm waiting to hear back from the local college, which has an animation program.

Right now, I'm mostly a glorified freelancer, so I can't declare a great working environment.  Waiting for the space to be finalized before I can go on at length about my foosball table.  And I'm not an ass boss... but does anyone believe that if I say it? 😄

Kris.

[madsd]

Yeah, bad bosses will aviod those kind of things, so if you show you can dive into it and actually touch the subject directly you show you arn't. Crooks are always hiding in the shadows, this is a normal trait, so since you can smile about it, you have nothing to fear 🙂

I understand you come from a city of that size, in my world, 180k is pritty large, you should be able to extract atleast 2 guys that actually qualify, looking at schools seems wise.

I am sure you will get there 🙂 Just keep going.

[whitebirchstudios]

Good talent will be interviewing you like you are interviewing them. If you want to attract the best talent you'll have to work hard. Maybe, upgrade your website, which might detract people; it's rather dated.  It's a good time and people are busy. The best talent is booked for months, so nobody is really looking. The ones who are looking are the ones who want to break into the industry. You might have to look for passion and drive over talent. Just my thought and good luck with the search.

[kris]

I guess there's a question of "good talent".  I'm not looking for world class, at least not yet.  I just want to get talent that shows some attention to detail, even if they need to grow a bit to be exceptional.  Thinking those I've seen along the last 20 years.  Their early work was crude, it was unpolished, but there talent was obvious.  

I have my own limitations - I am not a designer, and unfortunately (fortunately?) I am totally overwhelmed right now.  Rebuilding the site is beyond me right now.  Catch 22, I guess...

Kris.

[dgorsman]

Sudbury isn't that far out there - could be in northern SK, or out on the rock in NL.

Looking at experienced people, you'll be looking for those who are wanting to slow down a little in a smaller community, getting somewhere housing prices are not blowing out the roof while still being reasonably close to major city amenities.  Have a look at what employers in Winnipeg and Okotoks are doing to attract employees, and follow suit.

[kris]

@dgorsman  Good points.  "Here, you can have all the moose you can eat, fight beavers for the trees in your front yard, and have your choice of one of 8000 lakes..."

🙂

Kris.

[Anonymous]

I am a new graduate, not perfect but pretty good. 

I work hard and learn fast since I'm desperate.

Hire me.

[kris]

@Anonymous see PM.