It may seem odd to think of rejecting a job offer, since most people would kill for any chance of just breaking in, but it is vital for your career that you quickly become selective. If you find yourself in the wrong sort of facility, then you should jump ship quickly. It is much easier to jump ship once you have some experience and a few professional spots on your reel... to pad out that one enormous experimental collage project.
It is more important to find the right culture at a facility your looking at. Far more important than the right pay, hours, conditions or promises. One can�t underline this single point too strongly, the company culture and atmosphere are more vital than any promises or otherwise that are made at the interview. It will determine how much you learn, what projects you work on and how happy you are.
What sort of range of cultures or structures do companies have? It appears that there are three basic models in the area of design, animation and post-production. The Star model, the Producer-Director team and the Team/crew approaches. It is vital to know how you work and how the prospective company works.
The Star model is based on facility equipment and stars. You build a big impressive suite, get a big impressive hardware box, and then you hire a post-production Star. You then sit them in the room and watch them pull a crowd. This individual is sometimes called a rainmaker, and will be paid a fortune. They are paid a major telephone number salary since they attract truck loads of work, - in this senario you are normally NOT this person � you just want to be this person someday, but for now you assist them. For a young person starting out, this seems attractive, �hey I get to work with THEM, and they�re a God�.. wow.. The difficulty comes from the fact that Gods don�t tend to be very generous with their time. Since they are a major Star � they act like one.. making your junior life fairly miserable. To make matters worse the company has no money left over after paying for the Star, his or her overseas trips, car space, expense accounts etc to be able to pay you much. It is the case that many people in the Star system hoard information and techniques. They think that while no one else knows what they do, that they will be unique and more valuable. Companies run along the star system are not generally fun relaxed places to work.. with all things there are exceptions, but this is not your best bet.
The next approach is the Producer/Director team. Now this sort of company has teams of producers with either lead animators, directors or visual effects supervisors. This can work extremely well, each couple is a separate unit and they build teams around them on a per job basis. The danger zones are if the company is owned by the senior creative � especially if they founded it. My advice here is to be careful, sometimes creative owners act like not just a kid in a candy store but a kid who owns a chain of candy stores. Quite often senior creatives set up their own company for more control � so as a junior you will have none. A very successful creative leader may have built the company on their style, making it the defacto �house style�. This is fine to learn from but you will soon be bored with only doing things someone else�s way. A major black spot is if the company is owned by a married couple, and they are also the only management. In this case my advice would be simple. Run. You will never know what is going on and you�ll never get promoted far.
The final type of company is a team approach � where people pool talent and ideas for a common objective of doing good work, and if you find a company like this � kill to work there. A team approach is no perfect solution, since everyone claims to support teams, and most rarely do, but they are exciting and amazing places to work. A good clue to a team based work environment is the level of staff turnover. A company with rapid turnover is a problem, so is actually a company with hardly any turnover, as this normally means a stale environment - a small amount of turnover is ideal, as people move up and on to better things - but generally there is heaps of loyality. The word team is over used but you�ll know it when you walk around the building. The whole place is busy and yet focused, with a sense of purpose. Team companies encourage, promote, and expand ideas.
Some feature film projects can be like this, and increasingly there is growing a new concept of a freelance crew. This is a team without a home, normally a loose crew of friends who are all excellent in their respective roles and who tend to move from project to project.
Sometimes you can break into such an environment by working for next to nothing on someone's personal short film - or low budget yet creatively brilliant film clip - just so people can get to know you and the quality of the work you do. You will fit in with some groups better than others, but don't forget to be really harsh with your assessment of the work being done. There is almost no benefit in working for free on a dud project, or attempting a great project with useless amateurs. (Remember the t-shirt slogan... 'Artists don't struggle - talentless hacks do!' ) But if you can fall in with a good crowd - pick and choose the right projects and find yourself in a supportive crew - it is one of the best professional work experiences you'll come across.
You will learn more in the right environment, it will present more opportunities and you'll be more likely to meaningfully work on complex projects. When the environment allows you to focus on the work, and work is challenging, - everything else - salary, car parking and catering all seem far less important.