Ani-jobs.com: a new type of job site: portal launched by working VFX pros looking to build a community.(Knowledge & Career)

While many Internet job sites--with free listings for artists and employers--emerged from a grassroots movement, some of these have recently been bought out by independents, and as a result, the site models have changed.

Producer Billy Jones and VFX supervisor Craig Russo, founders of 310 Studios in Los Angeles, are industry veterans who have been following this evolution closely. Jones and Russo believe this change has reduced the diversity of companies posting openings on job boards. "Many of the small to midsize [studios] seem to have disappeared from these sites, leaving job seekers with multiple posts from mainly large companies," reports Jones. As a result, many of the listings are "outside the range of typical animation job positions," he adds.

So Jones and Russo decided to do something about it, launching Ani-jobs.com, which they describe as a free job board and resource dedicated to the animation, visual effects, gaming community, and beyond. According to Jones, the pair came up with the concept in December, spent January building the site and figuring out the format, and launched it in early February.

"In our industry, there are just a few Disneys out there, but a ton of little visual effects houses, animation and Flash studios, and little gaming companies that need to hire freelancers," Russo continues. "And when you put them together, they add up to a very large job pool, but they don't have big budgets to spend on this." Rather, it's the free listings that bring in the diversity of the posts.

Though still a nascent venture, the site's job board and main page were up last month, and the guys reported the first confirmed hire from their board. "We are still developing new features for the site," reports Jones. And the momentum is building, with postings from companies as diverse as Nickelodeon, ABC Television, Midway Games, Animal Logic, CIS Vancouver, Luminetik, and Barnyard Animation.

Reeling Them In

Russo is currently working on the section of the site where people can post resumes and reels. To save costs so that the service can remain free of charge, the group requires applicants to upload their job to YouTube, and then on the job site, they fill out a form that includes their YouTube code. "This will put their reel in a structured template," he explains.