Day 6: What to Do Before and After an Interview

About Yourself

• Tell us about yourself.

• Walk us through your resume.

• How did you choose animation (or VFX) and why our studio?

• How do you know (referral’s name)?

• How much do you know about what Production does?

• Why Production? What excites you?

• In your current role, what are your current duties that are transferrable for this role?

• What would you say your strengths are?

• What is your work style like?

• Tell me more about your experience in (something on your resume).

• Is there something in your resume that you’re particularly proud of?

• What’s your approach in learning about a process that you’re not familiar with?

• If hired, what would you hope to learn or grow into in this role?

• If there was one thing on your resume that we should really notice, what would it be and why?

Scheduling

• How familiar are you with Shotgrid?

• What’s a typical week for you in terms of maintaining the schedule?

• What’s your process for managing calendars?

• How are you with Google Sheets?

• How do you stay organized and be on top of things?

• How do you stay on top of your emails and chats?

Communication

• What would you say your communication style is?

• Do you prefer constant communication or do you like being on your own?

• How do you build rapport with the team? In-person and virtually.

• Was there ever a time where you ran into communication issues? How did you resolve it?

• How do you communicate when multiple departments are involved?

• Tell me about a time when you had to deliver an unexpected request and needed to make a change to the schedule. How’d it go?

• How do you keep communication clear?

• Have you worked in a team across multiple locations? What was that like?

• Have you ever had to work with a difficult personality in the team? How did you handle it?

• Have you ever had to deliver bad news? How did that go?

Administrative Support

• Have you facilitated meetings before? Set up rooms or calls? In-person and virtual?

• How would you describe your note-taking skills?

• Have you had experience working with external clients before?

• Any experience using CineSync? RV? SyncSketch?

• Any experience with facilitating communication in Zoom? Slack? Google Meets?

• Any experience in file management? Downloading and uploading files? How do you keep things organized?

• Any experience in event planning? Or organizing food orders and travel logistics? What challenges did you face and how did you solve them?

Pipeline Knowledge

• Do you know much about the studio?

• How much of the pipeline do you know in general?

• How do you handle communication and flow of information in a team?

Stress Management & Team Morale

• How do you manage stress?

• How do you manage the team’s stress?

• How do you manage competing priorities?

• How do you bring up morale?

• Can you give an example of how you were able to support the team in a high-pressure situation?

• Describe how you’ve supported a team during a deadline.

• Tell me about a time when you made a mistake and how you handled it.

• Tell me about a time where you faced a challenging situation at work. How did you handle it?

• How would you handle a last minute request?

• What would you do if you were given a task outside your comfort zone?

Logistics

• How big was your team in (a past experience)?

• Was that all virtual?

• Are you comfortable coming into the studio?

• When can you start?

About Yourself

• Tell us about yourself.

• Walk us through your resume.

• How did you choose animation (or VFX) and why our studio?

• How do you know (referral’s name)?

• Why Production?

• In your current role, what are your current duties that are transferrable for this role?

• What would you say your strengths are?

• What is your work style like?

• Tell me more about your experience in (something on your resume).

• Is there something in your resume that you’re particularly proud of?

• What’s your approach in learning about a process that you’re not familiar with?

• If there was one thing on your resume that we should really notice, what would it be and why?

Scheduling

• How are you with Shotgrid?

• How do you typically track tasks and keep schedules on track?

• What’s a typical week for you in terms of maintaining the schedule?

• What’s your process for managing calendars?

• How are you with MS Excel? Google Sheets?

• How do you stay organized and be on top of things?

• Have you partnered working with Supervisors in the past? when it comes to scheduling, bidding, or assigning tasks?

• If an artist misses a deadline, what steps would you take?

• How do you maintain Shotgrid?

Communication

• What would you say your communication style is?

• Do you prefer constant communication or do you like being on your own?

• How do you build rapport with the team? In-person and virtually.

• Was there ever a time where you ran into communication issues? How did you resolve it?

• How do you communicate when multiple departments are involved?

• Tell me about a time when you had to deliver an unexpected request and needed to make a change to the schedule. How’d it go?

• How do you keep communication clear?

• Do you have any experience managing teams across multiple locations?

• Have you ever had to work with a difficult personality in the team? How did you handle it?

• Have you ever had to deliver bad news? How did that go?

Administrative Support

• Have you facilitated meetings before? Set up rooms or calls? In-person and virtual?

• Have you run dailies before?

• How would you describe your note-taking skills?

• What’s your process like in onboarding someone new to the team?

• Have you had experience working with external clients before?

• Any experience using CineSync? RV? SyncSketch?

• Any experience with facilitating communication in Zoom? Slack? Google Meets?

• Have you built Shotgrid pages in the past?

Pipeline Knowledge

• Do you know much about the studio?

• How much of the pipeline do you know in general?

• Which departments have you coordinated in the past?

• Do you have a favourite?

• Have you worked with assets before? Shot production?

• Is there a department you feel you can learn more about?

• Have you worked alongside other coordinators before? Which department?

• How do you handle upstream and downstream communication for (department)?

Stress Management & Team Morale

• How do you manage stress?

• How do you manage the team’s stress?

• How do you keep calm and efficient when juggling multiple priorities?

• How do you bring up morale?

• Can you give an example of how you were able to support the team in a high-pressure situation?

• Describe how you’ve supported a team during a deadline or delivery crunch.

• Tell me about a time when you made a mistake and how you handled it.

• Tell me about a time where you faced a challenging situation at work. How did you handle it?

Logistics

• How big was your team in (a past experience)?

• Was that all virtual?

• Are you comfortable coming into the studio?

• When can you start?

About Yourself

• Tell us about yourself.

• Walk us through your resume.

• How did you choose animation (or VFX) and why our studio?

• What draws you to (studio) and how do you see yourself contributing to the team’s growth?

• How do you know (referral’s name)?

• Why Production?

• What would you say your strengths are?

• What is your work style like?

• Tell me more about your experience in (something on your resume).

• Is there something in your resume that you’re particularly proud of?

• If there was one thing on your resume that we should really notice, what would it be and why?

Scheduling

• How are you with Shotgrid?

• How do you typically track tasks and keep schedules on track?

• What’s a typical week for you in terms of maintaining the schedule?

• How are you with MS Excel? Google Sheets?

• How do you stay organized and be on top of things?

• Have you partnered working with Supervisors in the past? when it comes to scheduling, bidding, or assigning tasks?

• If an artist misses a deadline, what steps would you take?

• How do you maintain Shotgrid?

• Walk us through how you typically would build a project schedule from the beginning?

• How do you generate milestones for the team and how do you track progress?

• What’s your experience with cost tracking and flagging overages?

• How do you communicate budget and resourcing concerns with Producers?

• How do you prioritize receiving urgent requests from multiple teams?

Communication

• What would you say your communication style is?

• Do you prefer constant communication or do you like being on your own?

• How do you build rapport with the team? In-person and virtually.

• Was there ever a time where you ran into communication issues? How did you resolve it?

• How do you communicate when multiple departments are involved?

• Tell me about a time when you had to deliver an unexpected request and needed to make a change to the schedule. How’d it go?

• How do you keep communication clear?

• Do you have any experience managing teams across multiple locations?

• Have you ever had to work with a difficult personality in the team? How did you handle it?

• Have you ever had to deliver bad news? How did that go?

• What’s your process in managing Bids vs Actuals?

• Have you ever had to rebuild a schedule mid-production? How did it go?

• How do you communicate with other operational managers like Talent Managers, HR, Product Managers, etc.?

Administrative Support

• Have you facilitated meetings or led cross-departmental discussions? What was it like?

• What’s your process like in onboarding someone new to the team?

• Have you had experience working with external clients before?

• Have you built Shotgrid pages in the past?

• Have you ever closed a show before? What were some of the steps you took?

• Have you had to lead a post-mortem meeting before? What was that experience like and what did you learn?

Team Development

• Have you mentored other more junior roles before? Tell us about that experience.

• What’s your mentoring style?

• How do you empower the production team?

• What’s your style in working closely with department supervisors?

• How do you handle conflicting priorities between departments?

• Have you helped define or document production workflows on past shows? How do you follow through?

Pipeline Knowledge

• Do you know much about the studio?

• How much of the pipeline do you know in general?

• Which departments have you coordinated in the past?

• Do you have a favourite?

• Have you worked with assets before? Shot production?

• Have you had to manage another team in a different location and time zone? Which department? What was it like?

• How do you handle upstream and downstream communication?

• How do you keep the show schedule on track?

Stress Management & Team Morale

• How do you manage stress?

• How do you manage the team’s stress?

• How do you keep calm and efficient when juggling multiple priorities?

• How do you bring up morale?

• Can you give an example of how you were able to support the team in a high-pressure situation?

• Describe how you’ve supported a team during a deadline or delivery crunch.

• Tell me about a time when you made a mistake and how you handled it.

• Describe a time you had to manage client expectations regarding delivery or scope changes. How did you handle it?

• How do you balance deliveries and ensuring team morale is up?

Logistics

• How big was your team in (a past experience)?

• Was that all virtual?

• Are you comfortable coming into the studio?

• When can you start?

About Yourself

• Tell us about yourself.

• Walk us through your resume.

• How did you choose animation (or VFX) and why our studio?

• What draws you to (studio) and how do you see yourself contributing to the team’s growth?

• How do you know (referral’s name)?

• Why Production?

• What would you say your strengths are?

• What is your work style like?

• Tell me more about your experience in (something on your resume).

• Is there something in your resume that you’re particularly proud of?

• If there was one thing on your resume that we should really notice, what would it be and why?

Scheduling

• How are you with Shotgrid? MS Excel? Google Sheets?

• Can you walk us through a project where you successfully delivered high-quality work on time and on budget?

• Walk us through how you typically would build a project schedule from the beginning?

• What’s your experience with cost tracking and overages?

• How do you handle budget and resourcing concerns?

• How do you prioritize receiving urgent requests from multiple teams?

• How do you go about building, tracking, and updating bids and budgets throughout the production lifecycle?

• Describe a time when a show began to run over budget. How did you address it and communicate it to stakeholders?

• How do you balance creative demands from clients with the constraints of time and resources?

• How do you ensure schedules are realistic and adaptable to changes in scope or client feedback?

• How do you support Production Managers in maintaining the schedule, budget, and resources?

• Can you describe a time you helped solve an interdepartmental miscommunication that impacted delivery?

Communication

• What would you say your communication style is?

• How do you build rapport with the team? In-person and virtually.

• How do you manage relationships with both internal teams and external clients during times of high pressure or change?

• Tell me about a time when you had to deliver an unexpected request and needed to make a change to the schedule. How’d it go?

• Tell us about a time when you had to negotiate or enforce a change order with a client. How did you handle it?

• How do you keep communication clear?

• Do you have any experience managing teams across multiple locations?

• Have you ever had to work with a difficult personality in the team? How did you handle it?

• What’s your approach to conflict resolution within or across departments? Can you give an example?

• Have you ever had to deliver bad news? How did that go?

• What’s your process in managing Bids vs Actuals?

• How do you communicate with other operational managers like Talent Managers, HR, Product Managers, etc.?

• Have you ever closed a show before? What were some of the steps you took?

• Have you had to lead a post-mortem meeting before? What was that experience like and what did you learn?

Client Relationship

• Have you facilitated meetings or led cross-departmental discussions? What was it like?

• Have you had experience working with external clients before?

• How do you prepare for and conduct client-facing meetings or reviews?

• What strategies do you use to communicate complex technical or scheduling issues to clients without damaging trust?

• Give an example of how you've handled differing expectations between a VFX Supervisor and the client.

• Have you worked with cross-site teams or international vendors? How do you ensure seamless collaboration across time zones?

• What’s your experience with outsourcing or vendor management, and how do you ensure quality control in that process?

Team Development

• How do you mentor or coach production team members to grow into leadership roles?

• How do you empower the production team?

• What’s your style in working closely with department supervisors?

• How do you handle conflicting priorities between departments?

• Have you helped define or document production workflows on past shows? How do you follow through?

Pipeline Knowledge

• Do you know much about the studio?

• How do you handle upstream and downstream communication?

• Have you had experience in driving bids for all departments?

Stress Management & Team Morale

• How do you manage stress?

• How do you manage the team’s stress?

• How do you keep calm and efficient when juggling multiple priorities?

• How do you bring up morale?

• Can you give an example of how you were able to support the team in a high-pressure situation?

• Describe how you’ve supported a team during a deadline or delivery crunch.

• Tell me about a time when you made a mistake and how you handled it.

• Describe a time you had to manage client expectations regarding delivery or scope changes. How did you handle it?

• How do you balance deliveries and ensure team morale is up?

Logistics

• How big was your team in (a past experience)?

• Was that all virtual?

• Are you comfortable coming into the studio?

• When can you start?