Re: don't give up

JJ,
Mark S. is probably right on target... they don't want to spend the kind of money that you are worth.

Having said that, there may be another issue. They may simply think that your personality doesn't fit with the rest of their team as well as another candidate.

That's not necessarily a slight on you. It may feel bad that you aren't "invited into the club", but who wants to be a member of a club that doesn't value your natural talent. It's really better for them to say upfront that you aren't the best fit and give you a chance to go ahead and find a team that does gel with you.

The alternative of working for (and with) them might be getting a paycheck, but at the expense of having the life sucked out of you and not enjoying your day to day work. Nothing will kill your creativity and talent faster than working in a place that's incongruent with your personality, style and goals.

It may be that they think that you would not be happy and would probably move on as soon as you found a position that would fulfill your creative and financial needs better than they could. They don't want to invest the time and money getting you "up to speed" with their workflow and culture only to have you leave within a year or so.

Of course the third possibility is that they already had someone else in mind (a friend of a friend perhaps?) and were only giving you the interview so they can say they did a real search for the position.

Understand that recruiting is difficult on both sides. No one wants to mess up the hiring decision because making the wrong choice can really have long term effects on people's lives.

Have patience. Wouldn't you feel worse if you had a mediocre reel and were hired to do a mediocre job at a mediocre company? The money might make it o.k. in the short term, but it's much more fun to work at a place where you feel that you have an opportunity to grow and get better.

Find a place where most everyone who works there is BETTER at what they do than you are. Learn from them, share what you know with them, and enjoy being a part of things that become bigger and better than any of you could create alone. Then you will truly be able to look back knowing that you are a better artist and a more content person for being in THAT environment.

-TJA