So, you want more voice-over jobs?
We get many messages from voice actors on Twitter and by email, enquiring about what they need to do to get more work opportunities from Voquent.
It usually goes something like this: “I've made a profile, and I've emailed to tell you I'm available for work, so where is it? Why aren't you contacting me? Do I need to change my profile picture? Do you need to see or hear more of my work? So, what do I need to do now…?”.
And this makes us feel bad. 🙁
Along with 'Where are the auditions?', 'Where's the work?' is one of the most frequently asked questions we get, but both questions misunderstand how voice-over jobs work at Voquent.
Firstly, we are CONSTANTLY working on new productions, and the pace is relentless.
We also make substantial investments to increase the exposure of our services and awareness of the thousands of highly talented voice actors on our site from around the world.
Fundamentally, all opportunities are born from consumer trends, market needs and economic conditions. Organisations ranging from retail, entertainment and manufacturing to government, healthcare and education all seek to provide products and services.
When a company or individual decides to run a campaign, whether it's promoted on TV, radio or internal—the requirement for voice-overs in many languages will be one of the last elements. At this stage, the project will have already incurred a vast multitude of costs.
This process creates the demand for voice-over translation work, and Voquent responds to this demand each day. Our role is not only to generate voice-over jobs but to fulfil them.
The fact remains that the volume of voice-over talent available worldwide (the supply) is ALWAYS going to be proportionately more significant than the number of jobs (the demand).
This is the case, regardless of whether it's direct, via agent representation, non-exclusive agencies and production companies, P2P websites or a freelance marketplace. The voice-over industry is a competitive and buyer-friendly market.
No one source of jobs and opportunities is ever going to sustain a full-time voice-over career. It's why we encourage every voice-over talent to widen their network and reach out to multiple voice-over agencies and sites. Never rely on one source.
For starters, we're opposed to the manic mission audition culture perpetuated by many other voice-over casting websites. We will happily organise auditions for projects with a solid brief and a finite shortlist, and we will do big open casting calls where appropriate. But we're dead against making voice talent audition for every single project going. The audition culture demonstrates a lack of respect for a talent's time, and in most cases, requesting auditions for generic roles with average pay is just lazy casting. Constant auditions for every part are bad for the voice-over industry, and if it's obvious, there has been no forethought about what voice will suit the role best we push back.
Voquent's voice actor casting services and search is all about speeding up the process for both customers and talents.
Customers who use Find Voices can start broad and then filter down to particular voice types, tones and characteristics. Needles in haystacks DO get found on Voquent, and that's what many customers are trying to achieve. Ensuring your Demo Samples and Reels are labelled with relevant keywords in every accent and language you can perform will increase your visibility for niche searches.
Sometimes we get asked 'where's the work' questions by voices with zero Demos on their profile. They sign-up to Voquent; without uploading more than a couple of Demos. With no Demos, they won't EVER get discovered.
If only it were so easy, huh!?
If they've made little or no effort to optimise their Voquent profile or, at worst, have not uploaded a single Demo Sample to their profile, they cannot expect to book any work from the Voquent platform.
Shortlisting Demo Samples is how the majority of the casting works here. And we recommend uploading as many Demos as possible.
Did you know that you get space for up to 65 Demo Samples by linking to your Voquent profile from your website?
Related: The Underdog Advantage
Even if you've only uploaded the default of 45 Samples, you're already 697% more likely to appear in search than someone with less than five Samples. So, unless you corner a niche language or accent, uploading more Samples is the best way for customers to find you on Voquent. Be a Voquent superstar. Invest time creating and uploading different Demos with descriptive tags in a range of accents and tones. Also, consider changing the Demo Sample picture.
Additionally, you can unlock and add Reels when you have at least 15 Samples or a verified home studio. Adding your best Reels and moving them to your top 6 featured Demos is a great way to show off your versatility. The featured Demos are available in the media play bar and on Talent Search.
Doing all of the above will help your Demos to stand out and mean your Demos appear in more niche searches.
Some more recommendations
- Whatever world language you speak, invest some time optimising your Voquent profile, and it will pay off.
- If you've uploaded a wide range of styles and tones in a classic broadcast version of a language, consider uploading the same styles and tones in the local, regional accent that you usually converse in.
- If all of your material sounds almost identical in tone and pace, consider working with a vocal coach to widen your range and demonstrate a little more versatility.
- If some of your Demo Samples are shortlisted more often than others, consider uploading some newly recorded replacements for those with weaker statistics.
Ultimately, in life, you get back in reward what you extolled in the effort; garbage in = garbage out. However, even with a fully optimised profile, we cannot guarantee you will get work. Ultimately you're being compared against your peers by our producers and clients. If you're up against some tough competition, consider creating Demos in niche searches where you have a better chance of selection.
Also, please remember, Voquent are a relatively young company – we launched in mid-2018 – and we're still in the process of growing our presence around the world. Our operations are primarily UK based, and the SERPs (search engines) tend to favour local companies.
We've been working incredibly hard (and investing a lot) to boost our presence in other regions that we can efficiently service right now, such as Europe, North America, East Asia and the Middle East. It's early days, but it's growing fast! If you live in one of these regions, stay tuned, more opportunities are coming soon.
Key takeaways
- Adding more Demos to your Voquent profile gives you the best chance of securing opportunities.
- It's not a guarantee, and clients will still compare your Demos to your peers.
- So think creatively about where your Demos appear in searches and create Demos for niches with less competition. For example, we've got lots of Demos in the General American accent. You're going to have a significantly reduced chance of standing out. Consider uploading Demos in your regional accents too.
- If you're unsure where to start, read our blog: 8 Ways to Create Audio Samples for your Voquent Profile
- Get your home studio Voquent Verified
- Unlock and add Reels to your top 6 featured Demos
- Don't solely rely on Voquent for work. We generally operate in the high-end market, and there are fewer opportunities per voice than on more established platforms.
- We're a free platform, so there is nothing to lose! Upload your best material, and you could book a commercial or video game role like many of the other voices on Voquent have.
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