Brandon Hanvey
03-23-2007, 07:29 PM
So about 5 months ago I left my job as a pre-pess/designer/porduction artist/whatver else they needed me to do at a local SF copy shop. Kinda like Kinkos but not corporate in any way. I worked there for over about 6 years, and I enjoyed my work there but my wife finally convinced me to try and find something different. Plus her salary pretty much pays for all our expenses.
For the past 5 months, I've done little freelance jobs here and there while looking for jobs that I really wanted. Recently things got a little tight because of some unexpected expenses so on Wednesday I applied to what I first thought could be a ad for a position at a print shop. The ad is a little vague on what they want. Most of what the ad says is they want “Desktop support” and they want experience in pre-press. I get a call on Thursday from a guy who wants to interview me on Friday. I setup the interview for 8:30 AM this morning.
After the call, I do a little checking on the company. I find their website, and it turns out they are a design firm that handles all kinds of different projects. This gets my attention a little.
So I get to the company this morning and have my interview with two guys from the company. One is the head of design and the other head of production. It’s a standard interview. What is your background, what are your skills, etc. Then the head of design says, “You know, one of the reasons we called you for this interview is that you said in your cover letter that you do comics. We happen to have Viz as a client, and we do the production of their books. And that is one of the things what you be doing if we hire you.”
I’m a little wierded out and happy when I hear that. I then go on and on about how I’ve created my comics and show them my books that are in my portfolio. I even ask about whether or not they flip the pages of the book or does Viz. Turns out hey do it and even have a InDesig action palette setup specifically for it.
The interview goes really well. They ask things like what kind of hourly wage would you expect and if they called me on Monday would I be able to start on Monday? The interview is only about 20 minutes, and I leave with a good sense that I may have gotten the job. But you never know.
I later meet up with Nicole for lunch and we discuss the interview and how I did. I later stop by my local comic shop and shoot the breeze with the owner for a few hours.
I get home at a little after 6 PM, and I have a message to call the head of design’s cell home. I call, and he says they would like me to start Monday.
The pay is pretty good. It is more than I made at Copymat. For now they say it’s only an hourly wage, but it can lead to a staff job if things work out.
I’m still a little weirded out that my little self-published comics helped me to get me a nice paying job.
For the past 5 months, I've done little freelance jobs here and there while looking for jobs that I really wanted. Recently things got a little tight because of some unexpected expenses so on Wednesday I applied to what I first thought could be a ad for a position at a print shop. The ad is a little vague on what they want. Most of what the ad says is they want “Desktop support” and they want experience in pre-press. I get a call on Thursday from a guy who wants to interview me on Friday. I setup the interview for 8:30 AM this morning.
After the call, I do a little checking on the company. I find their website, and it turns out they are a design firm that handles all kinds of different projects. This gets my attention a little.
So I get to the company this morning and have my interview with two guys from the company. One is the head of design and the other head of production. It’s a standard interview. What is your background, what are your skills, etc. Then the head of design says, “You know, one of the reasons we called you for this interview is that you said in your cover letter that you do comics. We happen to have Viz as a client, and we do the production of their books. And that is one of the things what you be doing if we hire you.”
I’m a little wierded out and happy when I hear that. I then go on and on about how I’ve created my comics and show them my books that are in my portfolio. I even ask about whether or not they flip the pages of the book or does Viz. Turns out hey do it and even have a InDesig action palette setup specifically for it.
The interview goes really well. They ask things like what kind of hourly wage would you expect and if they called me on Monday would I be able to start on Monday? The interview is only about 20 minutes, and I leave with a good sense that I may have gotten the job. But you never know.
I later meet up with Nicole for lunch and we discuss the interview and how I did. I later stop by my local comic shop and shoot the breeze with the owner for a few hours.
I get home at a little after 6 PM, and I have a message to call the head of design’s cell home. I call, and he says they would like me to start Monday.
The pay is pretty good. It is more than I made at Copymat. For now they say it’s only an hourly wage, but it can lead to a staff job if things work out.
I’m still a little weirded out that my little self-published comics helped me to get me a nice paying job.