“Work takes on new meaning when you feel you are pointed in the right direction. Otherwise, it’s just a job, and life is too short for that.”

Tim Cook - CEO of Apple Inc.

When you find yourself in need of new blood for your animation studio, you’re going to have to hop on the web and go fishing.

But you can’t just post a job link with no information linking it to you or your studio. You have to ensure that you’ve got an accurate and effective job description to ensure prospective hires know what you’re looking for and what they’re getting into.

In this blog post, we’re going to cover the hows and whys of writing animators' job descriptions. We’re also going to give you all the tips you need to perfect your writing and snag the right person for the job.

Why Do We Write Animator’s Job Descriptions?

^{Gif by The Spongebob Squarepants Movie via GIPHY}

While some jobs don’t really require incredibly detailed job descriptions, they can certainly help both you and your prospective new hire, legally and practically.

So let’s break down some simple why’s for you.

Effective Means Of Communication

^{GIF by Masterclass via GIPHY}

Your job description is, for some people, the first impression they get of your business, of your animation studio. Your job is to make sure that the first impression they get is a good one.

You can simply communicate succinct and relevant information through your job description.

If you’re not providing enough information or even the right information in your job description, your new hire might not have the slightest idea what they’re supposed to do.

It Helps With Employee Identification

^{GIF by Sky via GIPHY}

In your job description, you need to ensure that you’re effectively weeding out those who might apply but don’t fit the requirements for that position.

If, at step one, you’re looking for a hiring manager to help with the hiring process, you need to make sure that you hire someone who is capable and qualified for the job.

You might need to make sure as well that they can easily click into your company’s work environment, so you need to make sure that you include the working atmosphere and necessary personality traits that would work well.

When hiring animators, you need to ensure they have relevant work experience or, at the very least, have a decent portfolio and/or work ethic to match your studio’s style.

What Does A Basic Animator’s Job Description Look Like?

^{GIF by Adult Swim via GIPHY}

While you can, of course, take everything we say with a pinch of salt and include whatever you feel is necessary for your job description, there are some basics that every description should have.

Let’s cover them in the order in which they would most likely appear in your job description.

Brief Overview Of The Job

^{Image via Monster}

Step 1: tell people what the job is. That’s it.

Ok, yes, animators do know how their job works, and they can probably figure out what your job requires, more or less. Regardless, you need to provide even a brief overview of what an animator would be required to do when they find themselves working for you.

This goes for every job description you ever do, from PMs to marketing managers and animators. 

Finally, when we say brief, we really mean brief. Your job description should in total not really exceed 200 words. People generally stop reading if your description looks more like an essay.

Responsibilities Of The Job In Question

 ^{Image via Monster}

While you will almost certainly come up with many specific responsibilities for your job description, here are some of the basic responsibilities of animators in job descriptions.

• Collaborate well with clients and production team members to work effectively through the production pipeline.
• Use specialist software that coincides with the studio.
• Liaise and work well with the rest of the company staff to ensure projects run smoothly and effectively.

Qualifications Required For The Job

 ^{Image via Monster}

Next, you should make sure you include the preferred qualifications for your new hires to ensure that you’ve got a threshold for hiring the best animator for the job.

This, of course, isn’t necessarily limited to educational qualifications, such as Bachelor’s Degrees or diploma certificates in animation, but also extends to certain soft and hard skills required for new hires.

These skills include, but are not limited to:

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills
• Good computer and presentation skills
• Attention to detail and skill for adaptability 
• Ability to work both independently and/or with a team

Regarding experience and education, you can state that any application requires:

• A Bachelor’s Degree or higher in animation
• X number of years of animation and/or drawing experience

What Else Can Your Animators Job Description Include?

^{Gif by Pitch On FOX via GIPHY}

While what we’ve mentioned so far can be considered standard for animator job descriptions, there are several things one can include in a description to further entice and/or grab the attention of the reader, some of which we’re going to take the time to mention now.

Overview Of Your Animation Business/Animation Studio

A nice addition to your animator’s job description can include a brief overview of your business or animation studio.

From a job hunter’s perspective, it’s always nice when looking through potential job descriptions to see a description of the actual company. That way, you know what you’re getting yourself into.

There are a lot of animation studios out there, and a lot of people looking for work in the animation industry. The more specific you are about who you are, the better for those on the lookout for what they want!

Key Skills Necessary For This Particular Job

^{Gif by The Tonight Show via Giphy}

While this section may very well fall under the qualifications tab for the job, you could also separate some of the more personal skills or personality traits into a different section.

These skills could include but are naturally not limited to

• Attention to detail
• Receptiveness to feedback
• Presentation skills and comfort with performing presentations
• Patience

Call To Action For The Recruitee

^{Image via Monster}

A good and often necessary ending for your animator’s job description should be a call to action for the reader. Something along the lines of: “Send your CV and portfolio to” or “Follow the link to apply”.

This would almost always be concurrent with your studio’s contact details, email address, webpage link, and social media accounts.

3 Tips When Writing An Animator’s Job Description

^{GIF by Cartoon Hangover via GIPHY}

Now that you understand what’s necessary for your animator’s job description and you’ve got some ideas of interesting things to add, let’s go through some tips and tricks to make your animator’s job description stand out.

1. Use Bullet Points And/Or Numbering And Short Sentences

As we mentioned before, people often tend to search through many different job offer listings, and one thing that can be an immediate turnoff is essay-style, long-form paragraphs detailing a job down to the letter.

It’s frankly too much, and it’s unnecessary. Switch to using bullet points for skills and qualifications and short sentences in small paragraphs for any other information you plan to add.

2. Include And Be Honest About Compensation

^{Image via Monster}

Another thing people look out for when scrolling through listings is whether or not a job is stating upfront an idea of what one is likely to earn.

Often when searching through work, if one job is secretive about their payments or compensation methods, a reader will scroll right past.

While this obviously doesn’t apply to everyone, and your animator’s job description doesn’t strictly have to include it, it can be a nice touch.

3. Refer To Accessibilities Provided By Your Studio/Company

If your studio is hiring animators to work in an actual physical space, something that can speed along and smooth line a hiring process is a list of provided accessibilities and/or physical ramifications of working in that space.

Just over 1 in 4 adults in the USA are affected by some form of disability, and any and all missteps can be avoided by simply providing the relevant information upfront.

Platforms To Look For Job Description Inspiration

While you may now be more than able to go ahead and write your own animator's job description, it can never hurt to look for some inspiration on the interwebs, as that’s where you’ll be posting your job listing in the first place!

Here are a couple of the biggest platforms to advertise new hires for your animation studio.

Linkedin

^{Image via Wikipedia}

LinkedIn is one of the biggest social media platforms and the biggest online professional connecting space in the world.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of job listings posted daily by companies all around the world, and so there are naturally equally as many job descriptions for you to choose from to garner some inspiration.

Fiverr

^{Image via 1000logos}

From a completely different angle Fiverr offers an avenue for you to see exactly what information freelancers themselves are providing for their services.

Once you’re aware of the information freelancers are providing themselves, you can much better tailor your animator’s job description to suit them.

Business Of Animation

^{Image via Business of Animation}

We don’t mean to toot our own horn, but you can also effectively find inspiration for all sorts of things here in our very own Blogs tab.

We also now boast our very own Animation Business Accelerator Program that offers a business-in-a-box opportunity for any animators who wish to learn more about the business side of animation.

Keep Your Animators Job Description Short And Simple

Wherever your company and/or studio may advertise new job opportunities, your animator’s job description should follow a set of standard rules and guidelines to make sure that potential new animators know what you want from them.

Your animator’s job description should always be relatively short and concise and follow a relatively neutral tone so as not to show either desperation for or apathy toward new hires.

For more info about how to write the perfect animators job description, as well as answers to any other questions you might have, be sure to follow our blogs, check out our free masterclass, download a copy of our free marketing handbook, and check out our blog on “How to Start an Animation Studio”!