Doing a good job in an interview involves a mix of different skills.
The first and most important thing is to stay human: interviewers typically talk to a lot of people in the same situation: staying robotically on-script and trying to control the outcome of every question completely is usually not the right choice. It may be more appropriate if you’re having a phone screen with an HR person who has a checklist of qualifications and is trying to filter for exactly that list — they probably don’t know much about Techart and are looking at you as a list of qualifications. But most often the actual hiring interview will be with peers, and they will be evaluating you as a real person first and foremost – if you come off too slick, too careerist, or too focused on mirroring everything they say you’ll leave a bad impression.
A second thing to consider is the power of storytelling. Lots of questions (especially the highest quality questions) offer you a chance to portray yourself positively in multiple dimensions. For example, a question about rigging could easily give you the chance to demonstrate your knowledge of, say, IK principles. But it could also let you showcase how you deal with your animator customers:
There was this one animator who was really afraid of using IK and wanted to FK key every frame, so I made an IK control that … in the end they really loved it and became much more productive
or your problem solving skills:
I inherited this rig where the arms would flip out every once in a while and nobody know why; I took it apart piece by piece and discovered there was an expression on the pole vectors which was unstable if you raised the hands higher than the shoulders and…
or just you willingness to deal with production problems :
The IK on the rig in my real is really simple; I wish I had time to do something fancier, but there was this huge problem with the facial animation on another character, and I had to pitch in to fix that the last minute – so I gave this rig a simple and reliable setup so I had time to fix the more pressing problem. I’m going to back some day and add…
The best stories include the “S.O.A.R” part but a lot more as well: they show how you deal with TA life in a positive way. It’s often going to be stories that the interviewers talk about when you’re out of the room. This isn’t the same as going “off topic” – it’s expanding the answer to include multiple dimensions.
It’s not unlikely that somebody will ask you a question you can’t answer, or where the answer is a flat no. Don’t panic – the interviewers are working in the dark and they need to figure out a lot about you in a short time. They’re going to ask until they hit the limits of your capacity – it’s part of understanding how you might fit into their position. Unless they’re really terrible interviewers they will not be trying to score points or trip you up! Stay calm and consider if you should follow up with a question (“No, I’ve never done that – is that something you use a lot around here?”).
The last thing is to remember that you’re interviewing them too: it is hard to remember when you’re really eager to get that first job, but part of the purpose of the interview is to make sure you want to work there. You get to ask questions too, and good interviewers are looking to see what kinds of questions you ask. (Hint: questions about money and benefits are usually not things the interviewers have control over or like to hear – those come when you’re actually discussing an offer. But questions about how the studio is structured, studio philosophies, and culture are good – they’re also evidence that you’re thinking maturely about the position and are not desperate).
One a related note, you it often helps to consider things from the perspective of the interviewer before you go in. Be as familiar as possible with the job on offer, and ask questions about the position so you can tailor your responses to the things they need to hear (always be honest, though!) . You might find this useful reading.
