5on5: Recruiting For The Movies on LinkedIn
“The better networker you are the better you’ll be seen..” – Aaron Tankenson
I had the pleasure of interviewing Aaron Tankenson, Senior Recruiting Manager at Sony Pictures Imageworks. With his vast background in film and television production and his extensive experience at various visual effects facilities and dealing with major film studios, it’s no wonder he’s now recruiting at Sony. He’s completed recruiting projects for Speed Racer, Watchmen, Valkyrie, Spiderman 3, among others. So with no further a-due our interview.
How long have you been a recruiter and what jobs do you recruit for?
I’ve been a recruiter for 4 years, with 14 years of film and television production experience. I recruit for all positions across the board for the company. There are a couple of additional recruiters here as well. I recruit for any and all digital artists position at the Sony facility. Some of the current projects I’ve recruited for are Green Lantern, Alice In Wonderland, and The Smurfs. I feel my strengths as a recruiter lie in my ability to build and sustain relationships with a broad range of individuals, including executive and upper management, as well as, artistic talent and administrative staff.
How do you go about searching to find potential applicants on LinkedIn?
There’s a couple ways I do it. I use LinkedIn as my all in one rolodex, so I can access it anywhere which is great. And when you have a lot of potential candidates attached to your name it will generally make it easier to recruit for positions. I will also do specific word searches for skill sets and see who comes up and then reach out to people that way too. There’s a lot of approaches I take it just depends on the situation. So like I said I would do a specific word search for a skill set, so for example if I’m looking for a digital artist that specializes in Houdini software, sometimes I throw in one word like “Houdini” and see who pops up. So it’s very important to list all the software you use and know. I also reach out to candidates I know that I’ve worked with or people I’ve hired here before.
As a recruiter what do you look for on someone’s profile to see if they would be a good match?
I look at their profile like I’d look at a resume. I look at their experience and see what kinds of skills they have. Every feature we do at Sony our creative teams will look for different skill sets depending on the position. Sometimes I’ll look for artists that has worked on similar films for the styles we are trying to achieve. A lot of times we rehire people we’ve already worked with in similar positions they have done on other films. Right there I know they can do the job, since I’ve hired them before.
How has LinkedIn changed the role of a recruiter?
It’s definitely made it easier to find candidates. I have a database I use at Sony that any and all artists that come through here go into that database. LinkedIn makes it easy to type in a name and see what they’ve done. I use LinkedIn not only to find candidates but to see who connected to me and check on their experience. It’s a great giant database.
What tips would you give a potential applicant for their profile?
Make sure they list everything pertinent to what they’ve done. Any additional skills if it’s creative abilities they should list them all. The better networker you are the better you’ll be seen. It’s very important to complete your profile and provide links to the work you’ve done if possible.
I want to thank Aaron for his time and sharing his tips for potential candidates and LinkedIn members about how important keywords are in their profile. Next week will be completing our 5on5 Expert Blog Series on Recruiters Recruiting on LinkedIn with our last interview from Khan Ozol, PhD recruiter in the Biotech and Pharma world. Please go to our website and subscribe for our next FREE white paper on this series that will have the additional questions asked. Please feel free to add your tips and tricks to your profile and how you use LinkedIn for social networking.
