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 Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 1:15 pm
Hello everyone. I haven't been in this guild for a very long time and I'm sorry about that. After reading what everyone said what graphic designers do and what not, I decided to go to a 2 year school for it. Its a vocational school, so it went straight to the point.
I graduated back in October 2006 with an Associates degree in Digital Media and had two graphic design internships. I enjoy school and learning so much about graphic design and I also enjoyed my internships. The last one ended over a month ago and hoping to get a full time job or even part time in the field. So far I have no luck.
I don't know if it is my design skills or interview skills or cover letters or anything else. What is the best way to present yourself to world out there to help to get a job?
I don't want to put my portfolio link to this thread because of many reasons, but if you think it will help to see it then send me a pm and I'll give you the link. I don't mean to offend anyone by doing this.
Thank you taking your time reading this long post. I'm sorry if I put this in the wrong place.
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Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 9:10 pm
Senshi_chan Hello everyone. I haven't been in this guild for a very long time and I'm sorry about that. After reading what everyone said what graphic designers do and what not, I decided to go to a 2 year school for it. Its a vocational school, so it went straight to the point. I graduated back in October 2006 with an Associates degree in Digital Media and had two graphic design internships. I enjoy school and learning so much about graphic design and I also enjoyed my internships. The last one ended over a month ago and hoping to get a full time job or even part time in the field. So far I have no luck. I don't know if it is my design skills or interview skills or cover letters or anything else. What is the best way to present yourself to world out there to help to get a job? I don't want to put my portfolio link to this thread because of many reasons, but if you think it will help to see it then send me a pm and I'll give you the link. I don't mean to offend anyone by doing this. Thank you taking your time reading this long post. I'm sorry if I put this in the wrong place. What's the best way to present yourself to the world out there to help get a job, is a good question I don't think a lot of folks ask themselves. First things first, have you used your school to help you in locating work in your field? If you've been managing successfully getting internships for yourself have they been paid, or un-paid? Does your school have an alumni association that you can call upon to help you land work? Do you know anyone who attended school with you, or any professors who could help you locate work? Answer those and it may give us a better idea of what's what.
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 10:58 am
Senshi_chan Hello everyone. I haven't been in this guild for a very long time and I'm sorry about that. After reading what everyone said what graphic designers do and what not, I decided to go to a 2 year school for it. Its a vocational school, so it went straight to the point. I graduated back in October 2006 with an Associates degree in Digital Media and had two graphic design internships. I enjoy school and learning so much about graphic design and I also enjoyed my internships. The last one ended over a month ago and hoping to get a full time job or even part time in the field. So far I have no luck. I don't know if it is my design skills or interview skills or cover letters or anything else. What is the best way to present yourself to world out there to help to get a job? I don't want to put my portfolio link to this thread because of many reasons, but if you think it will help to see it then send me a pm and I'll give you the link. I don't mean to offend anyone by doing this. Thank you taking your time reading this long post. I'm sorry if I put this in the wrong place. Personal recommendations rule. Get active in the community, attend seminars and conventions and try to get as many personal friends as possible inside the community.
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Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 11:22 am
Goldenavatar What's the best way to present yourself to the world out there to help get a job, is a good question I don't think a lot of folks ask themselves. First things first, have you used your school to help you in locating work in your field? If you've been managing successfully getting internships for yourself have they been paid, or un-paid? Does your school have an alumni association that you can call upon to help you land work? Do you know anyone who attended school with you, or any professors who could help you locate work? Answer those and it may give us a better idea of what's what. I have been using my school for finding jobs, at career services. They recently had a job fair and I attended it. Some of the companies there seem kinda interested in me, but I haven't heard from them. I even sent them a thank you email. My school once every week or two send me job listings of all kinds of jobs and I apply to the ones I think I'll be able to handle. Some of my classmates that I still talk to are also having trouble getting jobs or at internships. Only classmate that I know that has a job at a design company, he said he'll give it a shot to recommend me. It was weeks ago and I haven't heard from him. Both internships I had were from the school's job fair. It seems I have better luck meeting them in person, then sending out emails to them. The first internship I had was not paid and I didn't learn much. They wanted someone who was able to work alone and really knew their stuff. They said they only accepted me because I have a passion for anime, and they were thinking to making an anime section for their website. I made a few logo images for that webpage, it was close to their liking, but not really there yet. After 2 months they decided to drop the project because they had no one to support it and they think they might need more people for it. (They are a small company and they receive money from supporters and investors) They said they'll let me know when they start it up again. Honestly I think it was because I wasn't that great and I took too much time to do things. I have learned that lesson. The second internship was a little different job direction. They were a post production company. I'm a little bit interested in video editing, so I thought to give it a shot. They only paid my transportation for 3 months that I was there. I learn a lot from there, from learning After Effects the first time, a little bit about marketing with excel and about tape dubbing and how their machines work. They made me animate images, fix graphics to be put on their website & on their wall in a frame, collecting info to be put into excel, going to the bank & post office, creating DVD labels, and did some tape dubbing. I was told to never stay at an internship for more then 3 months, but it seemed they want me to stay. They were thinking to change their website into html, but keeping the same look. I showed them a little bit of how it will look, but they weren't sure. One of the workers there, he was in charge of the interns and did the office work, he said that I should do the whole work and show them, if they like it, they may pay me for it. I didn't think it was a good idea, so I ended the internship. Did I do the right thing? Funny thing is, when I met some classmates at the job fair, they were surprise I was there. I was an A student in school. I helped everyone in class with their problems. One time my teacher made me teach the class for a day. Thats pretty much happened to me since Oct 2006. The last internship I had ended at the end of May 2007. Thank you both for the help so far. biggrin If you think seeing my work helps, send me a pm and I'll give you the link.
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Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 7:35 pm
3nodding Well, Senshi_chan, short of selling your soul to the devil, it reads to me like you're doing the best you can to locate employment. The advice I've gotten from across the field is to avoid unpaid internships. Think about that old saying, "nothing ventured, nothing gained." Any organization unwilling to invest into its staff, seeks to gain nothing from them, so don't expect to learn anything that will make you a better asset to the industry in those particular situations. Whoever told you to not stick with any internship position longer than 3-months gave you some invaluable advice there. Back in the day internships where how companies would try you out. Like you go into a store to buy a pair of jeans, you want to make sure it's a right fit, same thing here. The company had 3 months to figure out if you where worth taking on as a salary staffer, but if you're willing to work for less than you're worth, why should they turn down free labor.
I don't know if anyone's told you, but graphic design is an over-saturated field with a massive surplus of competition right now, and it's not likely going to change anytime soon. As a matter of fact, it's only going to get worse with more schools graduating graphic designers, and everyone and their grandma getting on photoshop. So you can imagine that there's a lot of under skilled, inexperienced folks out there in addition to vastly superior skilled folks competing with you for what graphic design positions there maybe out there. It's also made worse by people both employers, and designers, with little or no understanding of effective visual communication.
One option you should consider with graphic design is to develop a solid online portfolio for yourself, and try the freelancing route. That said, craigslist, creativehotlist, and similar sites will be your ally on this end. Most companies that use graphic designers tend to farm the work out to small graphic design companies, but they can tell you who those companies are. Another option you could consider is to approach as many as possible for a job, try locating listings for them in the various graphic design magazines out there like Print, HOW, ID, Metropolis, Illo., and any others you know of. Other then that, get in touch with art directors and see what advice they could offer. Mind you, this is all the tip of the iceberg of options for you and the arts tend to be the most difficult places to make a reliable career of.
I hope this is helpful for you. And I wish you lots of luck.
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 4:53 pm
Thank you for the help. I'll give it my best shot to find a job in this field. biggrin
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Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 10:47 pm
If your city has a graphic design club then look at their website. There is one where I live called DSVC.org for the Dallas, TX area. They always have job listings and internships. I agree that you should never stoop for a non-paying one since they abuse you! I had one and all I did was fetch coffee and things from the printer. UGH!
I earned my BFA degree in Dec 06 and am still looking for a job. The market is so hard! gonk
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Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 2:19 pm
Hey Senshi, I just joined the guild today and figured I'd contribute to this thread... Senshi_chan What is the best way to present yourself to world out there to help to get a job? These are my key points: It's all about your portfolio. A lot of companies I've come across could care less where you went to school, how good your grades are, or where you interned. Your portfolio is the physical evidence of what you can do. Before you hit up employers it is crucial that you show your body of work to objective audiences to find out if it sucks. Talk about concepts when you're interviewing. Ultimately people want solutions from designers and if you're able to fluently discuss scenarios -being presented with a design problem and how you would solve it- that will help the panel of people interviewing you get an idea of what working with you would be like, or what you might be able to contribute to a team in terms of your ideas. Make connections with people in your domain especially locally. Go to First Thursday events, art exhibitions, etc. Get plugged in! Also it's good to stay in the habit of critiquing the works over others. I think that keeps your creative brain fresh and analytical.
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