Thread by @englishscribe

I finally have some shiny new business cards ahead of #Rezzed2019 and #ECGC

If I have business cards...why don't you?

Get serious. Get professional.

THREAD...with an element of rant.

At the networking event last night I was shocked at how few people had cards. It was a wonderful night with great people, but the evening was advertised as a Networking event.

Yet most people didn't bring cards... It's 2019 Andy...cards went out with the Model T Ford....

If you understand the need to complete Side Quests so you’re ready for the main Quest in a game then…

Why The Flying F*ck Aren’t You Doing That With Your Life and Career?!?

Aha, but business cards are old fashioned. We don’t need business cards in the digital age. Right. Heard that.

Following someone on Twitter and v.v. is great. But as @JamesWallis said last night…how many people out of your 350, 500, 5,000 followers do you really know?

So, how many will the person you’re following remember?

How many don't have time to reply to DMs or have them closed?

Emails are direct, professional and written on... business cards.

That aside there are two other big reasons to think about getting business cards

(Stop thinking and do it… 10 mins and £10 online, people…)

What does a business card do? It gives someone your contact details. Yes.

And this is cool, but here’s a secret (shhhh) this is NOT its real purpose of a business card in many cases.

If you’re starting out/looking for work at any stage in your career, a business card does this – it prompts the other person to give you their contact details.

You get the email address/website etc of that person in the industry…

Then you do this – follow up (politely).

If you wait to be contacted you are (in most cases), likely to be disappointed.

The ‘seeking’ in ‘seeking work’ is an active term.

It is different from -
‘Waiting for work’
‘Hoping for work’
‘Sitting on my arse doing absolutely f*ck all for work’.

Now, this doesn’t mean 1 business card = 1 email = 1 job = 1 career.

Getting work is a numbers game. The more people you are in contact with, the more jobs you hear about. The more jobs you apply to the more chance (see end of this thread ) you have of getting a job.

Having a business card increases your chance of getting contact details which increases your chance of getting a job.

£10, 10 minutes.

So, why haven’t you done it? You spent £5 getting to the Network event £10 on drinks, £5 on a sandwich on your way home and a night of your time….

It might seem old fashioned, but…why not do something – DO THE BASICS

To repeat - If you understand the need to complete Side Quests so you’re ready for the main Quest in a game then…

Why The Flying F*ck Aren’t You Doing That With Your Life and Career?!?

Think of career building as a resource based sim and start playing the game.

Three other things to do ahead of/as part of your networking –

Get a website. Put content on it. Put the website on your business card. Add it as an automatic footer on your email.

Have a professional email address – ivorbiggun8237, Misskinkyboots69, GAMERZRULE728 – might be fun, but it doesn’t come across as professional.

Which segues to -

When you talk to professionals…you need to be professional. Get used to flipping that switch in your head. It’s fine to joke around, but if you’re looking to be employed, act like you’re employable.

Focus, answer questions honestly. How to do that? Prepare – If you’re at university, just left university – take some time to go and think.

SERIOUSLY think.

Think SERIOUSLY about what your plans are and how to achieve them.

Few of us do this enough.

‘How do I get into games writing?’, whilst valid is such a basic question. As has been said recently by others, you can google answers like that. Which means when you get your 5/10 minutes/hour talking to someone in the industry –

-you can not only ask something more useful to yourself, but you can leave a better impression. That person probably gets asked a thousand times a year how someone can get into the industry, so be the person who asks the inciteful question, be the person they remember.

We all feel self-conscious. Imposter syndrome is a real thing. If you’re British then this whole selling yourself thing is socially painful. Preparation helps with that. Preparation is professional.

Doing the basics shows people you are serious and every little thing you do increases your chances of getting that job. It’s incredibly competitive out there. So, every advantage you give yourself counts.

Do the little things.

Get an advantage.

Get a business card.

Rant over - Love, respect and good luck to you all!

Have a great day!

Other potentially useful threads.

Portfolios

https://twitter.com/englishscribe/status/988680531142422529

…
Applying

https://twitter.com/englishscribe/status/1100685502167089152

…
More about applying

https://twitter.com/englishscribe/status/1100681606426169344

Somehow this thread broke - grrr - continues here =

https://twitter.com/englishscribe/status/1113730935692963841

PS Contrary to rumours, I do not have shares in a business card company.
PPS Contrary to the whole professional thing, I just managed to paste 'business card business card business card' into the script I'm writing. At several points and now need to track them all down...

@ThreadReaderApp unroll please