Starting Your Career In The Video Game Industry? 8 Mistakes To Avoid Easily When Applying

Starting your career in the video game industry can be both exciting and daunting. As a recent graduate, you might feel overwhelmed by the competitive job market and the challenge of making your application stand out. While there’s no guaranteed formula for success, having the right guidance can certainly improve your chances.

Within our studios, we are lucky to welcome, inspire but also get inspired by students from varied backgrounds. Outside of opening internship opportunities, we collaborate closely with schools & associations, participate to job fairs & other events, organise programs like the one supporting graduates.. those being just a few examples. Outside of our external programs and engagement, we also have internal actions like the "Trainees' Week" allowing interns to meet with Ubisoft recruiters from our French studios, participate to workshops and feedback sessions to boost the start of their career & network. During these feedback sessions, we go through CVs, discuss how to leverage Linkedin, and even how to present experience & skills during an interview.

After speaking with many young talents & graduates over the years, our team has realised that very small changes can have big impact on students' success to applying. In this article, we'll share some useful tips to help you avoid 8 common mistakes and enhance your application. These insights are designed to give you a better shot at landing that first job in the industry. Let's explore these tips and help you take the first steps towards your career goals!

1. 👵 Out of date CVs

We'll start with a first tip which can be a quick win! Before pressing the upload button, make sure that the file you're about to send is the latest version of your CV, and that it includes your latest experience (it does happen more than you'd think that the last experience doesn't appear!).

If you're planning to attend an event or meet with recruiters through job-dating in person, take that extra time to review your CV beforehand and have it ready for the big day.

2. 🔗 Don't forget the portfolio link!

We're lucky to evolve in an industry which has plenty of creative specialties, sometimes very visual jobs. Don't miss the chance to showcase your work when applying via a resource like a portfolio. It still happens that we receive CVs or applications without a link to the portfolio despite the candidate having one.

If you used your real name on your website or portfolio, the Recruiter might be able to find it doing a simple search on Google. But if you have a handle name, it might not be so easy! To avoid any issues, make sure that your portfolio/showreel/website appears in your CV.

3. 💔 Hyperlinks, ohh hyperlinks

If you have included a link to your portfolio/website - you're halfway there! But have you checked that the hyperlink was working? And if there is no hyperlink, do you know if the Recruiter will be able to copy and paste it into a web browser?

If you export your CV in PDF, sometimes it will disable the possibility to copy paste links. Make sure those are accessible before sharing your CV!

4. 🔒 Portfolio on online drives behind a lock

This one is a very common issue. If you use an online drive to share examples of your work, make sure that the Recruiter will be able to access it without having to log into an account. Some companies might use the same email client, but others won't and will not be able to access your files without logging in (with a non-work address) and requesting access.

5. 🌎 Not adapting your application to the location you apply to

You're applying to a job in France but your CV is in your native language which is Italian? Or maybe applying to a job in Germany in German but the career's website and environment is international and asking to apply in English? You want to make sure that the recruiting team and the Hiring Manager will be able to understand your background and experience. The job advert will sometimes mention the language the recruitment process will be in.

When applying internationally, also don't forget the country code before your phone number! :)

6. 😳 Wrong company name on application

Mistakes happen, we're all human and we understand that you don't apply to one place only. Taking those extra seconds to double check that the document/email you're about to send adresses to the right person/company will 100% make a better impression.

If you send your application via the same email to multiple companies (though we'd recommend separate applications to personalise on the "why you'd like to work there"), make sure that the email adresses are hidden to other recipients.  

Sent an application, then realised I forgot to update the company name

7. 📖 Your portfolio hasn't received as much love as it should have

It's tempting to add everything we've ever done to a portfolio when looking for a first job in the industry. But it might not be the best strategy as your skills develop exponentially during those training years, and the first works might not reflect on what your current skills are. Make sure your portfolio reflects on the quality you can produce.

You can find Yara Tabbara's best tips to prepare your portfolio over here.

8. Sending a generic application

Before applying to a position, make sure that you have a good understanding of what the studio does and what kind of experience or skills would be suitable for it. The studio might be specialised in stylised game.. do you have stylised work on your portfolio or is it all realistic? Interested in that Gameplay Programmer role in a studio using C++? Make sure it's obvious in your CV or website/github that you can program in that language.

We'd recommend you to have a look at the studio page, the games developed, the technologies used, but also the background of people already in the company & their skills (for example, looking at the artstation of artists to have an idea of the quality or type of assets produced).

By making sure that your application is tailored to a specific role / studio, you'll make sure the right skills are shown to the recruiting team.

EXTRA TIP

When you are preparing or updating your CV, it's easy to be so focused on it that you lose the perspective needed to see how to improve it. You can always ask someone you haven't worked/studied with to read your CV. They should be able to understand what you have done and in which direction you're going. If they ask you questions to understand the context of your experiences, what you have done etc.. the recruiter receiving it might wonder the same things!