Creative Job Search for Creative People by Stewart MacKellar

Creative Jobsearch For Creative People

UWIC Career Development Services Cyncoed Road Cardiff CF23 6XD Tel: 029 2041 6333 Email: careers@uwic.ac.uk Web: www.uwic.ac.uk/careers Contact: Esyllt George, Career Adviser

Creative Job Search for Creative People How to find jobs in Art and Design ……..and other places This booklet is written with the job search of art and design students in mind but the principles outlined here could just as easily apply to other career fields. We know that something like two thirds of all jobs are never even advertised and that proportion is likely to be higher in art and design. Art vacancies seldom appear in the socalled graduate press, publications such as Prospects Today and Prospects for the Finalist which are specifically aimed at recent graduates and final year students. The employers with exciting and creative jobs in art and design, public relations, journalism and such fields actually prefer to deal with people who are pro-active and committed enough to seek them out, rather than the other way round. They also save a pile of money by not having to pay the exorbitant costs of advertising their vacancies in the national newspapers. This all means, of course, that you will be waiting a long time if you are dependent on the jobs in the Monday edition of the Guardian or Artists’ Newsletter. Even those jobs often demand a lot of previous work experience. Everybody else sees these vacancies, too, so the competition is bound to be severe. You’ve got to be pro-active and seek out the jobs that are not advertised – the hidden jobs market. Perhaps being creative means actually creating your own vacancy.

But there are some serious dangers along the way……………………

What not to do! You need a job and there doesn’t seem to be many or any advertised. Perhaps your parent or partner is saying things like. ‘I really don’t know what we’ll do with our Jimmy – three years at the university and he doesn’t seem to know where he’s going. Mind you, I always had my doubts about where a degree in Perspex and Polythene Design would lead to’. So you become all pro-active and you get hold of Yellow Pages. You turn to ‘D’ and copy down the address of any firm. ‘Dear Sir or Madam’. You begin, I have recently completed a degree in Polystyrene Studies and I was wondering if there was any openings in your organisation for a person who is ……..’ You get copies of your CV printed and you write 40 letters. You feel as if you have really made progress. You lick the stamps and the letters fall with a satisfying thud into the post-box……….. Two weeks later you haven’t received a single reply. You start to feel depressed and after four weeks without response you feel desperate. You look for a reason – and you find it in yourself:

It’s me I should have done module X; I chose the wrong course; It was a rubbish course; It was three years wasted; I’ve no talent; What do you have to do to get a job? I’ll never work in art and design

Self-confidence takes years to build……….. .…and days to destroy.

The net result?

Your most valuable asset – your self-belief – is in tatters.

And why?

Because you didn’t apply for hidden jobs, you applied for jobs that probably didn’t even exist. You went about the job search in an amateurish way and your self-confidence picks up the bill.

Speculative applications like these are fine if the job is unskilled and the main qualities required are commitment and dependability. You would be demonstrating them by getting off your backside. But employers at graduate level take these qualities for granted and demand more. Job Clubs and other organisations helping the unemployed often use these techniques and although they can be effective it does very much depend on the level and nature of the job. (In any case you have to write a lot more than 40 letters). So what went wrong? Here are the main mistakes:

You must not: •

Depend on a single source of possible leads. If you relied on Yellow Pages, many of the organisations you wrote to will no longer be in business, but you didn’t even phone to check. There are also other directories for artists and designers. Track them down. Ask in the Career Development Service, or the University/College Resource Centre and check websites.

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Think that you can get one CV and covering letter written and send it off to a range of employers. Each CV or application has to be tailored to a particular organisation. If it is the same for each employer it will sound like a circular – and circulars end up in the bin.

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Write ‘Dear Sir or Madam’. Always write to a named individual. Ring the company first and speak to the correct person before sending your CV to that named person.

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Wait in a state of expectant excitement for the postman to come up the garden path with replies to your letters. Therein lies the road to insanity because it’s unlikely that you will get any response. Instead you will have to actively follow-up all the leads you had.

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Expect employers to act as careers advisers. If you write ‘Can you see an opening in your organisation for an individual with my qualification and skills?’ they will dismiss your application as too unfocussed. You should be concentrating on what you can do for them.

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Blame yourself or wallow in negativity (see above)

Instead you should get a heavy-duty job search strategy in place………………….

Nine-and-a-half steps to a creative job search strategy 1

Identify your Career Focus

This is absolutely essential. What are you looking for? If you are not sure what you want how can you persuade an employer? It seems logical that in a tight job market you should cast your net as widely as possible but this is a mistake. If the first time you have thought of a particular career is when you saw the advert for the vacancy, you are more unlikely to be successful. The biggest problem graduates have in their job search is not their class of degree or the way they write the application, it’s not being able to show they are committed to the career in question. Firing off dozens of applications for different career areas is not a good idea. Commitment and career focus is the starting point. If you are not sure of your career direction Use a careers planning package like Prospects Planner available in the Career Development Services and on the Prospects website www.prospects.ac.uk and see a Career Adviser.

Remember that goal identification comes before goal realisation

Understand and Research your Chosen Career

Applying for a job that is different to one the employer has advertised is a common mistake. Personnel management, for example, is not some kind of industrial social work and you shouldn’t apply if you simply want to help people. You may think you know what a graphic designer does but you need to talk to people who are actually doing the job. You’ll find that people like talking about their work and you may be surprised to discover the ways they got in and what qualities make for success. Make notes of any discussions you have had with practitioners. Read the relevant Sector Briefing available from Career Development Services to understand industry trends and visit the jobs profile section of the Prospects website at www.prosepcts.ac.uk. Visit the website of relevant professional bodies such as the Association of Illustrators. Get into the habit of reading publications such as ‘ Design’ ‘AN’ and ‘Creative Review’’, many will be available at your College Learning Resource Centre. You must be sure that you understand current market conditions in the industry. You need to keep a file of all the information you glean. There is a range of information available at CDS and our website. If you are looking outside art and design you will find it easier to get hold of employer information. You can target three or four industries and make yourself an expert by simply reading the business pages of the national and local newspapers. Again the Learning Resource Centre is useful for back copies of newspapers and you can search the websites of the national newspapers. Remember that ‘Why have you applied to us?’. is one of the most common questions at interview. You can, of course, still apply for jobs outside your target industries.

Know Yourself (and what you have to offer)

What is special about you? The marketing people talk about a product’s USPs or unique selling points. A Mercedes, for example is an expensive car but the build quality (allegedly) ensures a higher residual value after five years than a Ford Mondeo. So what do you have to offer? You need to be very clear about what you are selling. Everybody, but everybody, writes that they have good communication skills but what does that really mean. Designers work, for example, with clients who often have only a vague idea of what they want and you may have experience handling difficult customers. In small organisations you will be expected to design products, deal with customer enquiries and file VAT returns. If you are genuinely versatile, can you prove it? What evidence can you produce to show you can work on three projects at the same time? Employees need good organisational skills and self motivation – how can you prove this? All too often people assert they have a quality without backing it up; all too often they say they are used to working under pressure because they can’t think of anything else to say. You need to give examples to demonstrate your skills. The crucial question is: ‘What can I offer an employer?’ . People will apply for work experience with a small organisation or even an individual designer/maker and concentrate solely on what they, as an art & design graduate, want to get out of the relationship. (How many modern language graduates apply to Peugeot, not because they are interested in car manufacture but really because they just want to speak French?). You need to offer and show professional documents and examples of your work.

Say what you can do for the employer rather than simply stating what you want 4

Accessing the Hidden Jobs Market

So now that you are thoroughly prepared, here comes the creative bit. First, ditch any second hand ideas and clichés about designers and artists being creative and only concerned with their art. Talent is not enough, you need to be organised and systematic. And that means files, spreadsheets, databases, maps with coloured pins and all the paraphernalia of the successful administrator professional. If you aren’t organised or if you are half-hearted you will not last long. Where are the likely sources of hidden jobs? Remember that in art and design we are really talking about clues and leads rather then actual vacancies. Indeed it’s a mistake to overemphasize the job aspect in any contacts you have with employers because if they have not got a vacancy you do not get to see them. The whole purpose is to arrange an advisory discussion which will form the basis of a longer-term relationship.

Don’t ask for a job, ask for the opportunity to present your portfolio.

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Which organisations have advertised vacancies in the past? Look at the back issues of the magazines mentioned earlier. Speak to other artists about how and where they got their first exhibition.

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Visit Career Development Services website, look at our database of local Art & Design companies and useful contact names and addresses.

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Visit the CDS resource library and look at relevant publications such as Artist’s Yearbook.

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Use your initiative to seek out employers of interest to you and don’t forget to Network!

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Follow up the local press to find who is advertising.

You need to define the field of search and this needs to be realistic, based on your aspirations but also the limitations imposed by geography and personal circumstances. You cannot apply for every job in your chosen field as many jobs will require skills and experience you do not have, but do remember also the transferability of your skills. Do not waste effort on applications for which you stand little or no chance but do not automatically rule yourself out. It costs nothing to get a job description sent to you. If in doubt phone the employer to ask whether they would consider your application or seek an opinion from Career Development Services. Keep up-to-date files on your target organisations and their specialisms because you will be contacting them more than once. Personnel change and you want to be writing to the right person. You must be professional, systematic and organised for this. Professional staff never make a phone call without looking up the file: name of contact; main areas of work; date last contacted; what was said; any advice given etc. Finally, go beyond contacting the personnel department. Because they only advertise vacancies on behalf of individual departments, they can be a waste of your time. You would be better off contacting the caretaker – at least he has a key and might let you in! Find out the name of the person in the department of interest to you and try to speak directly to them.

Prepare your Portfolio/Samples of Work

For artists and designers preparing your portfolio means much more than simply collecting all your work together. You need to assemble a targeted portfolio/samples of your work for each employer which relates them. You must be prepared to talk through your work. Find out from the organisation or gallery what format they would like your work presented, this could be: e.g. CD, slides, showreel. Remember to give details of your website if you have one. Your portfolio/samples or work should: •

Include your best work. Leave out anything you are not happy with. Including initial sketches and preliminary designs may be helpful in showing how a design brief was tackled but you don’t have to put in everything.

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Be relevant and of interest to that employer. There’s no point including work which distracts attention.

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Be properly and professionally displayed. This includes professional packaging and overall presentation.

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Be supported by clear, well-rehearsed comments. Visual examples of work are very important but don’t think that it will speak for itself.

Finally, how will your work develop after you graduate!? A portfolio, which stops the minute you graduate, becomes a fossil. No degree course in the world can prepare you for all eventualities; you need to grow and so does your artwork. If you are looking outside the field of art and design you will need a portfolio as well. It will not be sketches and paintings but will consist of work experiences, voluntary attachments, one-off projects and items of research. It’s really just a targeted CV with concrete examples to demonstrate your suitability. If you want to get in to public relations or advertising ask yourself, ‘What will my CV look like in 6 month’s time?’ or in other words, ‘What am I going to do to make my CV look credible for this kind of job?’

Getting to See Them (or the art of getting past the secretary)

Now you are ready to put all this preparation to the test by contacting the organisations you are targeting. As a first step you will probably ring them, send them a letter of introduction, your CV and perhaps examples or references to your work. The letter of introduction (or covering letter) will tell them who you are, what prompted this approach and what you feel you could offer them. You need to be clear about your purpose. It’s not necessary to get a job (although if something comes up it’s a bonus) but to introduce yourself and your work and to build a relationship. Ask for 20 or 30 minutes of their time to present your work and gain any advice about the situation in the industry. This is important because most meetings of this type will not produce a concrete result – not immediately, anyway. If you are working from a directory, phone the switchboard to check that the contact is current and that he or she deals with recruitment. All you need at this stage is a name and job title to contact. Your CV will be tailored to that particular organisation and the sort of work of interest to you. There are no shortcuts and no excuses. Speak to your Career Adviser and draft a CV and covering letter (with a specific organisation in mind). Remember the structure of your CV will need to be different depending on the position applied for. A mini-portfolio can be a representative sample of your work, intended as a taster. It will probably be something like three or four colour images on a side of A4 and again, it must be visually pleasing. There is no place here for poor quality photocopies. You may want to send a CD or check with the employer their preferences. If you refer them to your personal website be sure that it looks good. An amateurish site with marching ants and flashing lights is fine for railway enthusiasts but will do more harm than good for a designer. Unless this first contact screams out ‘genius’ you will probably hear nothing. You will have to follow up the mailing with a phone call after a week or ten days – don’t leave it longer.

There’s nothing offensive, weird or indecent about asking for the chance to present your work. 7

This is where it turns kinda tough and a touch of grit will be necessary….but remember that the people you are asking to see have been through the same process and in asking for the opportunity to introduce your portfolio you are not being offensive, weird, or indecent. ………………So don’t be tempted to put it off. You have to speak to them personally to get your appointment but that means getting past the secretary……………. You must be prepared for that killer question. ‘What’s it in connection?’ Have an answer or you will be shunted off to the Guardian jobs page on Monday. You must not lie or try and trick your way through – ‘I’m her daughter’s form teacher and there’s been a terrible accident……..’ – will not go down well. Remember that you want to establish an ongoing relationship with these people so that they will turn to you first when a job opportunity turns up. But it’s O.K. to say, ‘Yes, we were in communication last week and we need to arrange a meeting to progress matters’. Once you have been put through to Mary Jones you should remind her of the CV and miniportfolio you sent the previous week ‘I don’t know if you have had the chance to have a good look at it yet…..’

Into the Lion’s Den

Getting a positive outcome whatever the outcome

Let’s assume that all this has been successful and that you have arranged a meeting with Mary. You will need to talk your way through your work as in step 5 and remember these points: •

Always keep your appointment. If something serious prevents you from attending let them know as soon as possible. If you simply fail to turn up you have lost that contact forever.

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Be punctual and dress in a professional way. The person you are seeing may be covered in paint or clay but they have a job. By dressing professionally you are showing a sense of value to the meeting.

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Start by thanking them for agreeing to see you.

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Don’t run over the allotted time. After the agreed 30 minutes stop and, if they seem interested, ask if it’s alright to carry on.

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Let them speak and take notes yourself on any advice they might give you.

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Don’t try the hard sell or worse any form of emotional blackmail, such as, ‘ I just don’t know how I will pay back my debts…..’

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Be professional. If nothing concrete comes out of the meeting – i.e. this meeting – don’t be too disheartened and certainly don’t show it.

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Let them know you are interested in part-time work, short-term work, work experience or job shadowing to show motivation.

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Ask if it’s O.K. to contact them in a month’s time by sending an up-dated CV. It is important to keep in touch with your contacts.

This last point is absolutely crucial, because of the way jobs materialise in the Creative Industries.

If after talking to Mary, she hasn’t got anything suitable ask her if she knows anybody else who might be interested. If she comes up with a couple of leads, ask if it’s O.K. to mention her name. You are not asking for a ringing endorsement or personal recommendation but you will find it much easier if you introduce yourself with, ‘Mary Jones of ABC Designs suggested I give you a call’. It is most important to write Mary a thank you note a couple of days later. You have taken up her time, after all, and it is another chance to put your work in front of her by maybe writing it on one of your promotional postcards. If you decide to follow any of the advice Mary gave you, let her know about it. Nothing in this world is as flattering as having somebody act on your advice. It tells Mary that you are intelligent as well as talented, and well mannered and that she was right to agree to see you in the first place.

Dear Mary, Once again many thanks for the time you took over my portfolio the other day. You suggested that I get more experience with Photoshop and I am pleased To say that I have managed to get on a short course to up-date my skills. Also, I have arranged to see John Smith at XYZ, thanks for the lead. I will Let you know how I get on with John. Regards.

Record and Review your Applications

Of course you need to keep a strict record of all your contacts and this needs to be systematic. It may be a good idea to record everything on a simple Word table or Excel spreadsheet, whatever works for you. To whom did you address your application? If the approach was unsuccessful, why? Is the lead hot, warm or deep-frozen? When will you contact them again? There is no substitute for an efficient filing system. This does not just mean whether you have managed to get a job or not. Are you getting positive feedback, are you making progress? You can discuss your job search strategy with a Career Adviser after you have left the University. Ask the opinions of successful practitioners in your chosen field.

Keeping Going and Keeping your Head Together

Keep your portfolio moving. If it stops when you graduate it becomes a relic.

Your portfolio need to grow but so do your other skills. What is your strategy for developing your CV? Has your CV moved on since you graduated? Short courses, periods of voluntary work experience, developing IT skills or brushing up on your French. All these factors score points in your favour. Sharks need to keep swimming or they drown, and your CV needs to keep moving forward or it dies.

If you keep your portfolio moving it will be easier to avoid depression. Be aware of your selfdefeating beliefs before they affect you e.g. ‘I’m the only one…..I’ll never get a job…….I always mess up interviews’. Succeed at something. This means attempting something which you can realistically achieve and which is completely in your control, e.g. training for a 5 kilometre run or a sponsored swim. That way you will be able to point to a clear achievement – to yourself. Share your job search strategy, with friends, parents and partners. It’s a good way of keeping them off your back and, more positively, talking it through with others draws on their ideas.

After graduation the Career Development Service is still here to inform, advise and encourage. Use us!

Good luck!

This has been adapted from a document from the University of Wolverhampton, Careers & Employment Services, March 2005.

Further reading: There are a range of relevant sector guides produced by the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS) and these are available to download free from: www.prospects.ac.uk

The University Library is a good resource as they will have practical guides on Career Planning etc Reference books are available from CDS Resource Library, Cyncoed Campus Library and Howard Gardens Library. Useful links: http://www.uwic.ac.uk/studentservices/careers http://www.uwic.ac.uk/studentservices/careers/atoz.asp http://www.uwic.ac.uk/studentservices/careers/careerlinks_art.asp http://www.uwic.ac.uk/studentservices/careers/arts/index.asp

UWIC Career Development Services Cyncoed Road Cardiff CF23 6XD Tel: 029 2041 6333 Email: careers@uwic.ac.uk Web: www.uwic.ac.uk/careers Contact: Esyllt George, Career Adviser