Impressions

“You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”

I forget how long ago I heard that wise bit of wisdom, but it has always stuck with me.  It hit close to home many years ago when the mother of a high school friend told me about the first impression she had of me.  She saw me in church, where I was sitting in a bit of a slumped pose, my unkempt mullet framing a rather morose expression on my face.

First impression (in today’s terms): meh.

As she related this story some months after that initial impression, she said that she was glad to know that the real me wasn’t as morose as the image I presented at that time.  Similarly, I was glad that she’d taken the chance at getting to know me.  Still, the story of her first impression stuck with me, and led to conscious changes in the way that I presented myself.

This situation came to mind after reading some comments by Kara Edwards in response to a recent article on VoiceOverExtra.  The article presents an example of how one individual made the wrong first impression with an agent, and Kara shares some great follow-up thoughts.  The final sentences from her post are particularly valuable:

Also, make sure to approach everyone in this business (or in any business for that matter) with a ‘Here’s what I can do for you’ frame of mind, NOT a ‘What can you do for me?’ attitude. You’ll find more doors are opened by being kind, humble, and prepared.

“Kind, humble, and prepared.”  Those are words to live by, and it’s easy for some to ignore those words — or greatly undervalue their importance — when looking to break into a desired line of work.

I’m reminded of a call that was patched through to the animation department at Reel FX one afternoon about a year ago.  I was the (un)lucky bloke who answered it, and whose ear was immediately hit by a barrage of words.  After a short stretch, it became clear that the caller was a fledgling animator who was looking to break into the business, and who couldn’t hold himself back from presenting a rapid-fire sales pitch.  He claimed that he was self-taught, had gone as far as he could down that path, and wanted to find a studio that was willing to meet with him in person to see his material and give him a chance. I practically had to interrupt to ask him questions.  After each question, he’d launch back into pitch mode to provide an answer (and then some!).

Did he have a demo reel?  No.  Was he willing to take the time to prepare a reel?  Not really.  Was he willing to work with the local school that he was now attending to wait for one of their tours of the studio?  No.  Everything I got from this guy felt desperate and pushy.  He complained about how various people that he’d talked to previously (including those at the school) didn’t understand him, and how he didn’t want to take the time to go through the established processes/channels.  In short, he wanted us to give him the green light to come to the studio immediately and talk to us.

One of our supervisors encouraged me to get his name, and after sufficient wrangling, I eventually did.  After the call was over, I passed the name along and asked the supervisor why he wanted it.

“I’ll pass it on to recruiting,” he explained.  “I want to make sure that we never hire him.”

Strange that some prefer to burn bridges before they even cross them.