How I Got My Job at Vox | Lessons About Getting a Job in Video

so everyone asks me how I got my job at Vox I'll warn you now if you're interested in this look at how long this video is it's not a two-minute video this is not a short answer I am going to tell the story of how this all worked out for me and maybe you can glean some lessons for yourself I am in Utah and I am very happy to be in Utah I have snuck away into the mountains for a moment because that's what you do when you're in Utah I have about 20 minutes right now before I'm meeting up with a friend who I only know from the internet but he's another filmmaker named Brad and we're gonna hang out and fly drones so I recently talked about how I got started making videos and you haven't seen that I'm gonna link it here it's the first part of this story where I left off there was basically I was this kid who tinkered around with my parents camcorder for years the film major for a hot second and then dropped out because I was disillusioned with the program but kept making stuff I married a girl who also like to make stuff and that's how I got started how did I turn that into a professional situation where I was suddenly making stuff for bigger organizations or for a place like Vox and that story begins in April of 2013 are you limping I'm even working out [Music] what are we really doing see so we graduated from college and that same week also is he had a baby that wasn't the most practical decision and then we moved across the country to Washington DC where I didn't have a job lined up we had a baby we had about $1,300 in our bank account and yeah we were feeling really good about life that $1,300 we had in the bank came from a research grant that I got in college to go do field research in Peru so we moved to Washington DC I went to Peru [Music] and at that point I thought I was going to be getting a job in international relations I was like I'm probably gonna be a diplomat or something like that well it turns out that it's really hard to get a job in international relations in Washington DC there are a lot of people who have just graduated who are looking for jobs and there was no way I was gonna find anything better than an internship and so while I was in Peru I came to this conclusion that I really had to leverage my video skills and remember where we're at here my video skills are nothing special like they're a bunch of home movies a little bit of motion graphics that I had done but I was not I did not have a strong portfolio of work or a really developed skill set but what I did have is a big desire to pivot and say I'm gonna go full into video and make a career out of making stuff so while I was in Peru I cobbled together all of the work I possibly could all of the dummy projects all of the stuff that looked at all decent and I put it on to a portfolio website that I built with a basic WordPress template and I started to apply the jobs Wow the top of this hill I put together this pretty weak portfolio everything I possibly could and this was me scraping the bottom of the barrel to say like at least know how to make some stuff this is lesson number one of this store and I didn't realize it then but I realized it now I had my expectations really low I was like man I don't deserve to be making really amazing stuff for really amazing places so I wasn't applying to my dream jobs I was applying to any job that would get my hands on the tools that will allow me to make more stuff and to get better at this stuff that's all I wanted I wanted someone to pay me to just play with After Effects and play with the camera we literally needed money like like I had a brand-new child and as he was recovering from pregnancy so I started working in a restaurant cutting vegetables I've always wanted to work in a restaurant I kind of loved culinary stuff it's an amazing experience and it and it paid the bills so after a month of searching and working restaurant I finally found a job in motion graphics I was going to be making video for not box not the New York Times not National Geographic but for an architecture regulation firm nothing that had anything to do with what I'd studied nothing that I was interested in but the key component here is that they were paying me for 40 hours a week to sit down and to make stuff in after-effects and there I learned a ton I stepped up and started to learn so much about how everything works in these programs and I started to make a lot of stuff and it wasn't stuff I loved and it wasn't stuff that was pushing me creatively but it was stuff I was making stuff got to make so much freaking stuff and I was doing it and I was getting paid for it it's getting close to meeting up with Brad time I should head back down and hopefully I don't slip on this little snow so I worked there for the rest of 2013 and then I saw a job open up at a think-tank and International Affairs think-tank they wanted someone to make videos for them and I was like boom this is my next step like I now know how to make motion graphics and I had done some dummy projects on the side that kind of looked like you know maps and stuff so I applied there to this think-tank CSIs is the name of the think-tank and got the job and again was this my dream job was this what I wanted to be doing for the rest of my life no but was this a job that got me one stepping-stone closer to what I did want to be doing in my life I was able to put my hands on the tools for 40 hours a week and I was doing something in had to do with international stuff which was closer to my wheelhouse so suddenly this kid this kid is now slowly starting to round himself out as a professional video person but this is a lot of time in the trenches and this is a lot of intensity when it comes to learning new things and pushing myself during the process but you can start to see the transformation at CSIS I really start to dig into mapping into storytelling into explanation into honing what my kind of voices my writing voice this skill set starts to become more and more refined into something that's professional and not just a hobby okay so now it is early 2014 and voxcom is born I remember the day I saw a box for the first time it's like in April 2014 it was like a healthcare videos in animation and I watched that video and out loud I said to myself in an empty room I will work for these people I will do whatever it takes to work for these people and I knew that didn't mean just like passion and perseverance it meant like I have to get the skills to work for these people so suddenly my work days were not just you know trying to slowly refine it was like how do I refine my skills to be good enough to work at box that became the goal so after a couple of months I applied for a position at box and an animator position came up I applied for it and I got rejected I wasn't good enough at that time I really wasn't I was left distraught and stewing on what on earth I could do to get hired at mode it was exactly four years ago from right now in Thanksgiving break of 2014 that I decided I was going to make a video specifically for Vox that was my pitch on why they should hire me and over that Thanksgiving break I poured my soul into making that video I called it my video resume and it was like the five reasons I would be an asset to your team here take a just a moment to watch a section of this video so you can get a flavor of what I'm talking about here I am a multimedia generalist based in the Washington DC area and my whole thing is that I'm interested in connecting high quality media arts with foreign affairs I pored over this video I remember being in the airport on the way back from Florida where is these parents were living at a time I remember I had to board the flight but I had these like through the 3d section of it I was rendering in cinema 4d and I was like I can't like let this stop rendering cuz I have to finish it like on the plane and so I downloaded this extension called power nap where you can leave your computer on after you close at your laptop and it will continue to run and so I did that like really quick and then I like closed my laptop and let it render the 3d stuff like while I had it in my backpack and it was an obsession it was a literal obsession like I have to do this so I finished the video and I sent it to Joe and Joe responded yes and that started an ongoing conversation that lasted a few months that ended in a job offer at Vox hmm yes I'm gonna give you a couple of takeaways that I think are useful from this story I don't just want it to be a story I want it to also be like maybe some lessons the first takeaway is the exact same as the one I did in the in the previous video which is you don't need a gatekeeper to validate that you are professional I don't have a degree in filmmaking or InDesign or animation or in journalism but I was able to enter into this craft and the skill set and I'm able to do it now you don't need a gatekeeper to validate you the second takeaway is about understanding the long game of developing professional skills the long game perspective here is that you find a job that allows you to get better at the skills that you need to get better at that job probably won't be the ideal perfect job that you want it won't be your dream job but it's gotta be a job that gives you a large body of repetitive work on doing the same thing that you want to be doing in your dream job if you want to get into journalism that could be going to a local paper and writing a ton of stories in and learning how to be edited a traditional editor if you're a filmmaker that might be shooting weddings if you're a designer that may be like designing for your like local like school newspaper something actually did that in college I designed for our political newspaper and learn design skills not because it was my dream job and that's what I wanted to do but because I wanted an opportunity to put my hands on the tools and to get experience and repetition in those tools okay I got to go run to pick up Brad now but the last takeaway here I'm gonna call the prove that you're worth hiring take away what I mean by this is if you really want to work at a place and you really believe that you have this skill set then prove it like prove it like show don't tell I get emails all the time from people who are like I love box box is like my dream it's like so great and I want to work there like III is there a job and I'm thinking you're telling me that you're passionate about box and that therefore you should be hired that's not like proof like a million people are passionate about box if you feel like you should be hired prove it like show me in fact the emails I like the most or when people are like hey check this thing out and it's like a link that the perfect example is my experience with Joe I sent him an email with my application didn't hear anything I sent him a very short probably one line that was like look at this video resume boom I got an interview show don't tell that is like not only a lesson for storytelling but that is a lesson for getting the job that you want develop the skills and then prove that you if I rambled enough I'm gonna get in my car now my hands a little cold here in the shadow of these giant Rocky Mountains I'm gonna go pick up Brad and we are gonna go fly some drones I've got Brad Devine here teaching me the ways of the new drone I've been like it's a good marginally piney bit bigger yeah this is whatever you call your owner I found him on the explore phase I might do that ever since and he still talks me off he's always one of the Mount Fuji recently pose I hope my long story about how it all worked out with Vox is helpful please leave comments let me know if you have follow-up questions I'm happy to get more detail and as always these videos are for me to answer questions that I can't answer in emails and other things so please just tell me your other questions and if I get a lot of them I will make a video about them alright thanks so much have a good day [Music]

Channel: Johnny Harris

Views: 514,108

Rating: 4.9654851 out of 5

Keywords: Vox, how to get a job at vox, work at vox, vox video, Vox borders, job, video production job, job in video, professional video

Id: hzwfWzGmCnw

Length: 13min 55sec (835 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 25 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/TheEvann33]

Hey thanks for the infos, I do Videography as a side job besides my university studies and while I never intend to get a full time job in videography maybe I can combine it with what I am studying. I have to say the Vox videos and especially the Borders series are a massive source of inspiration and also motivation to get better at it.

Cheers from Switzerland, hope you enjoyed your time here

[u/Voyezlesprit]

Went to university and studied film to be a real filmmaker. Found out real filmmaking wasn't for me.

Got an internship doing digital marketing for a film company. Missed the making content & got a bit bored.

Liked sports, and randomly applied for a social media video job in sports. Was the only person to apply.

Spent a year at that company, now freelance. Still in sport. Still sorta making films and sorta doing digital marketing.

[u/mitchrichie]

Thanks for sharing. I have a similar career path. So many people expect to get the perfect job as their first job. Gravitating towards what you want to do over time is more realistic. If you’re ever in Idaho, come look us up at Porter Pro Media.

[u/calomile]

Started in fashion photography, working up from full time studio assistant (responsibilities were prepping studios before shoots, lots of painting, cleaning, hauling kit, helping out as an extra pair of hands and lots of teas and coffees), then lighting assistant (still lots of kit, setting up lighting and being involved in the process with the photographer) then digital assist (staring at a screen, still helping set lighting up, much more responsibility managing all the images and grading in a sense)

All the while I had a camera of my own and the business had me doing behind the scenes stuff, some beauty shoots, a few full fashion video shoots.

Realised I had to make a decision to either stay in the stills side and become a photographer or pursue what I always wanted and transition to shooting just video. I left that world and basically started from ground zero in the video world, but with my background in photography that helped when getting in touch with clients.

This felt like the slowest progress in all my career, I no longer had a production company behind me pushing me to shoot. I learnt a lot about self motivation and networking. Fast forward through a year or two of being in a worse position financially, scraping by with far less work.

Eventually I found I wasn’t having to do as much cold calling and self promotion to just get by as relationships with clients became more important - becoming in demand and having clients reach out to me instead.

Now I own a tonne of kit and don’t really edit my own stuff anymore, I work in online promotional and commercials. I’m still pushing and getting in touch with clients but as an aspirational endeavour to move into TVC world, but it’s a big one to break into and I’m in a relatively smaller industry area than the main hubs in my country.

[u/jorsixo]

johnny! big fan of your work.

I'm awfull in front in the camera but love your work.

currently i'm 23 y/o and had film shoots in 20+ countries so that really helps as a selling point to reach out to companies but animation skills are so good to have so hopefully I can improve my animation skills the coming years and combine my film experience and animation. great video, thanks!

EDIT: heh, i've been follwing iz.harris on youtube for some time now and had no idea you guys where married, Thats dope heh.

[u/Teerendog]

Thanks for sharing! So inspired right now!

[u/TuckingFypoz]

Hey Johnny I am surprised to find a post by you on here! I really love your content, especially Vox Borders. You right now are doing the things I am dreaming about. Continue doing you and keep on inspiring others!

[u/sojournfp]

Hey Johnny—thanks for sharing. One question: what resources did you use to find the full-time jobs that helped build your skill set, and how did you find out about the position at Vox? I’m currently trying to make the leap from freelancing to working for a larger company, and am fairly clueless as to how I might hunt those jobs down in the first place.

Thanks for your excellent content!

[u/Iwasborntostare]

I grew up skateboarding, which lead me to videography. I never had any aspiration to do anything.

After I graduated high school and a series of good luck, I now am a working photojournalist who teaches photojournalism at conferences.