I had a job interview for a voice job.
That's NEVER happened before. Usually it works like this... You get an audition, you do the audition, they either hire you or hire someone else. But this happened very unexpectedly. The client contacted me through backstage.com (a site for actors and casting call jobs) and said they really liked my voice and wanted to know if I'd be able to do an audition for them. To clarify, I didn't audition to get their attention, they just reached out to me, I'm guessing, based on the audio I had on my profile on Backstage. They liked the audition I sent them and then we scheduled a time to chat over video conference. I clarified that this wasn't a recording session, right? "Nope. Just an introduction/meet n greet."
Flash to the next day and I'm on a video call with 4 other people from the company explaining what they're looking for and what the voiceover project entails. After about 20 minutes of delightful conversation and meeting some people who I unexpectedly have a lot in common with, we said goodbye and then a couple days later we agreed on a budget and other parameters.
In 20'ish years of doing voiceover, I don't think I've ever had a 'job interview' for a voice job. That's now no longer the case.
So what's the takeaway here?
The takeaway is you REALLY need to hear people's (ahem) voices and see their faces to truly get to know someone or at least get a sense of who they are. It's easy to just email someone and inject your thoughts on how they are, what their beliefs are, etc. But you don't get a sense for people until you actually communicate with them 'in person.'
I feel like even if I wasn't hired for the job, I made an important connection and maybe even left a good impression on not only some good people but a possible future client.
(#PeopleSkills)