In this video, I'm joined by Bernd Bousard
he's gonna tell us how he got his internship at Buck Sydney
And how that turned into a full-time position
all right Bernd, you got an internship at buck, buck Sydney and now you're working there
full-time I think that's probably 90% of the people's sort of ideal career path
starting in the industry so let's talk about how did that happen how did you
get that internship to begin with
um I mean it's a bit of a story I mean I
started interning and Amsterdam like after my studies like during my studies
and got a full-time there as well and so I was working in Amsterdam for about a
year and a half year in six seven months and I was just like craving for
something new like a new adventure something more abroad as in Amsterdam is
already abroad for me from Belgium it's not that abroad but it's a little bit it's
it's
two hours by car um and I was just looking for something else and I was
working at a company called plus one over there they're great like I still
love them they're great people I ended up just like sending like making a show
reel and a web shot website which was basically just like a portal to my
channel and my social social stuff so I only like sent a showreel off to like
my little list I had like companies I really wanting that wanted to work for
and some of them were like it would be cool to like work for them like five
years down the road like but then all of a sudden Buck was like one of the first
like came back to me and I ended up having a Skype call or like a call with
both like a Sydney studio and LA studio so it was it went hyperspeed from
there like I found myself like one month later packing my bags and stuff
really, one month?
yeah it was a quick turnaround which was actually like an internship at
that Sydney studio yeah I mean I just sent my showreel had
a Skype call with him, Gareth and that was about it like just like make
some work like you were really proud of putting in a show real putting some some
editing some some nice tracks and some nice beats out and that's it
awesome, that's great to know that you know don't hold
back and think I won't approach such studio
just send your showreel to everyone there's nothing
to lose you don't gonna get put on some
blacklist cause your work wasn't good enough
they'll probably think his work is probably not for us right now, maybe later
yeah yeah it's also that you know I think there's also like a lot of luck
involved like I hear later they were just at that point in time just looking
for an intern and they're just open the mailbox and I was probably there
it's like there's something like a lot of luck involved but don't send an
email every week though
yeah, keep it short and keep in mind like those producers or HR
people are getting a lot of emails in the day and just like put all your
time and work in like a really nice showreel rather than like making it for an
average showreel with text just be like and I did this project and it's I think
I sure a showreel will speak most of the of your
talking
was it a paid internship
it was a paid internship, that's good to know I
think you know a lot of places don't pay and I think I'm not totally against
taking an unpaid internship if you get lots of experience if you're in a
position where you can not everyone it's in a position where they can you know
work free is awesome Buck you know
yeah I feel like it's not like a goal ticking
like in back in Belgium I heard a lot of like students and friends that were
doing an internship and it was probably not paid which was like three-four months of
like putting your time in there I mean it's worthwhile like you get so much so
much experience but also like I mean if you go abroad you need to pay rent for
your stuff and like it's nice to get paid even
in Amsterdam I I got paid which I'm
really grateful for but in Sydney as well that's awesome cuz they are my I
did an internship with a illustration agency I want to be know straight up
before I was an animator and my internship was the unpaid and that was fine I was
going to accept that and I still had a great experience but also like I know at
buck they really treat their interns like staff like I wouldn't in there was
a freelancer I didn't know who was an intern who wasn't like everyone's given
the same amount of tasks and responsibilities obviously you know
there's more sort of coaching and then training on the interns but you know
you you're not fetching coffees you're in there you're you're making like I'm sure
from the week one your credit was on on the Buck website
like day one I was already like animating together with all the like
lead animators and stuff like it's I feel like
the internship was as much as you put into it you get back
like if you just want to serve coffees and stuff like no problem to you
but you're there to just to like get experience and
like get better so they just like give you projects
and you just make the best out of it
that's awesome, man I'm very jealous that wasn't the start to
my career
I'm sure there's a lot of people out there yeah so how did you turn that into a
full-time so the internship was six months that's nice, hefty time
so I arrived in September so like at the start of the nice weather
September 2018?
yeah so yeah I was like interning for like six months and I just really
loved like the whole vibe in the studio like the studio culture but also like
the things I learned like it was like some kind of boot camp of like this is
design and art direction like animation like all these really important skills
and like I think of the form four months into the internship I was contemplating
with idea like I wanna be full-time here like I really like it did you have to do
any contemplating it was kind of like day one, you're like I wanna work here?
well, that was like half a second. I was really thinking deep
but it was basically like a no-brainer but then like I said yes like
said yes to myself like it I really want to stay took all my courage and like
arrange like a coffee and conversation with Gareth the creative director there
and I had like a whole list of questions I really wanted to ask and like all
these like arguments like oh I'm doing this something this is like this whole
list of this is what I'm doing, selling yourself yeah like nothing beautiful I
was making a list at the moment itself like in the heat of the moment I was
like super stressed and like no questions like nothing on this list came
out I was just cannot say like I just really love like working it for you guys
and I was just wondering this like room and time and effort like everything
ready for for someone full time and he really promptly said yes like it very
much and from there like I said yes they said yes and then so like whole like
Australian visa process which is I mean a very long process it's
just like a lot of steps it's not hard it's just like a lot of steps to follow
a lot of waiting so then I didn't work for like a month and a half
ish I was still in Australia though just like exploring the area and after that I
got like my my full-time like my my visa got granted on my birthday actually
which was super fun pretty cool and so I started my full my first full-time there
and back on my birthday the things that make me transition from an
internship to full-time is just being super eager to learn and like keen to
contribute to projects look like show what you got and then just make the best
of it again like this like talent and personality thing like you can be the
most talented like doing all these things for projects and like giving your
best but also just be a cool person to work with in the studio you just want to
be easy to work with but also I I really like music so I was just like playing
tunes the whole day in the studio not every day but just when I saw suited and
it's like building this little culture in the studio like contributing
definitely, you'll be part of this yeah this family yeah and it's just a
combination of skills and personality they're like make you full-time it's
like again like a lot of luck involved like they just have to find position
free and like having head room for that like maybe just to use expanding or like
they're just like let someone go like all these variables I think that that
for me was was the thing like being super eager and being a nice guy? I don't
know
definitely man and I think you know simply well-deserved they can see from your
work you know they'd be a fool not to swipe you up while you were
still yeah while are you available and like I know Liz is the other in intern at
Buck
was there were lot of freelancing she's now like yeah so that's like you know
Buck you know they think yeah they can keep their interns you know and again
like for her as well like she's so talented
like she's amazing but also like I heard she's experienced it like she's
super easy to work with like super keen to like your feedback I don't know that
there's like no ego involved it's not like I get feedback from you but I think
I'm better yeah nothing of that it's just I do this and I'm really proud of
it and what do you think about and and an art director like Gareth would
say maybe it could be cool but if you change it in this way I think it's more
like an organic thing rather than I know this skill and I'm going to be full-time
probably not yeah it's more than that certainly my time like freelancing at
Buck like the art direction there is so it's like the best art direction I've ever
had like Gareth and Lucas the creative directors like it's so much it's not
like these are orders make this it's part of the process and they you know
like what do you think about this could we try this
yeah we don't you don't feel like you know there's this hierarchy of system of
you know well these people say what you do and then you do the intern doing a
little redescribe pinion yeah and all those things yeah it's a really awesome
process because there is all this like had this rumor like they they keep you very
free you like to take responsibility as well like they say could you make a
super nice frame and you were just like you know what like I'm gonna make the
best frame ever like I'm gonna try to impress you rather than can you make the
best frame ever like this is not like this impose like yeah we need you to
make, you know if it's not good enough we're gonna know it's more
like this like self-imposed like I want to make something really cool and then
you just like go for it and make the best you yeah I do I don't well self
realized that it really brought out the best in me all right I'm gonna make my
work up to the standards of like everyone else that's working here I'm
not working for some stuff you really want to you know
make not seem like you're letting the team down as well but that's not in a way
that makes you feel like I have to do anything is like you know you want it
yeah you just want it these expectations is you know likes self expectations
like I want to feel really good I want to be as good as everyone in the
room and that just elevates everyone I mean my advice for like if you're
interning somewhere and you want to aim for something full-time show
you're eager show you're like keen to like relearn things in the process you
will also improve like you will like hone your skills as well but also like
just be normal good guy girl to work with just be nice just be like yeah all right
so I think if you take away so anyone that wants to be inter and staff at Buck
you wanna first of all like have it be nice to be a nice person to work with
have some good work put together showreel doesn't
matter how far in your career if you
think you know I'm not ready for buck yet send it send it anyway
I sent them an email to them a few years ago they had a position opportunity in design
I sent an email to Buck I got an email back saying we're not ready for you yet
I mean I don't know I was gutted at the time but like looking back yeah I was not
ready you know I was not to that standard
it's all right you know then if you later on freelancing for them and it's
awesome on their website they've got an application form yeah
you don't need to hunt down producers' emails
yeah like sometimes I find myself people asking me
like how do I land an internship in Sydney like maybe it's like very like a
generic answer but the form on the website I think it's the best way to do
like reach them but just like even not Buck but just like every
other company they probably have like this like standardized way of like
applying and it will probably end up in the right mailbox rather than just like somewhere
Thank You for showing me the story, I hope you find some use for that