Any help is some help...

sarah_a

sarah_a

Member
Hey,

As you guys all already prob know I am just about to leave university. I wanted to go on to do my MA however the funds aren't working out. It also seems impossible to get a job or part time work any where around here thinks makes me feel like the past 4 years of working hard in my degree have been worthless...I seemed to have hit a brick wall and no company around here wants to help me.

My questions to you guys is do any of you have any advice...

Sorry for the depressing tone of this post lol
Thank you
Sarah
 
Hey Sara :)

I know exactly what you mean, I've just finished my 4 year degree and Im not sure what to do...

Though, what seems to be a good source of job opportunities is within your own college.

Every now and then. the graphic design secretary is emailed job oppertunities from clients who use the college as a source for design. I'm currently looking up a company who only deals with graduates from my college.....they think the quality coming out of our college is the best. I've no doubt your college would provide the same?

Im approaching them for an internship, and they might take you on full time if they like your work. It might seem like a daunting time for you, but persistance pays off, I know all too much about that. You could try maybe joining up with someone from your class?...2 guys in my year just done that, and its working out quite well for them...

:icon_smile:
 
Hello, what I'm about to tell you may seem obvious, but believe me it is not. We have someone contacting us almost every week because they are looking for work. I strongly suggest you do contact companies all over and it's the way you present the email that will get you hired. For example:

Do not send a long formal email with an even longer cv attached, chances are it will be binned right away. I even suggest you do not bother sending your cv at all in the initial email (it's your designs not your previous
 
Sorry, posting from my mobile and ran out of letters...

jobs that are going to get you hired)
By the same token, never send this (you'd be surprised at how many we get):
'hi im lookin 4 work, please download my portfolio here' (and yes that's the spelling they used). Apart from the atrocious introductory email, the pdf is hosted on one of those free ftps where (unless you pay) you have to wait 30 secs before you can download it and it's 70mb or so in size. Needless to say, this person did not get the job..

I suggest you put together a friendly, confident and snappy email to send to prospective employers. Do not let on that you need work asap, make sure you put several links to a very well laid out, easy to navigate and coherent website. The website should containg striking images & all of your best work properly categorized. Do not forget it should also load quite quickly. If you need a free template you can always have a look on http://www.oswd.org/ for free templates.

Basically the employer should feel they need to hire you before somebody else does.
 
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Thank you 10thway I have contacted lot of companies around my area and some of the replied saying they have no room to host a new designer. However I will try again using the tips and information you have given me :icon_smile:

Again Thank you for your help

Sarah
 
No problem Sarah, to give you an example, this guy was hired as a freelancer: [Hype Design]

His name is Scott and he's a s**t hot flyer designer. He wrote us a friendly and confident email, with a wicked signature at the bottom. I clicked on the links and straight away I knew I wanted Scott to work for us. As you can see, his site is snappy, well categorized and it loads very quickly (avoid flash intro pages that take half an hour to load). I suggest you write everything in html and (if you use dreamweaver) maybe use this extension Projectseven.com - Image Gallery Magic to make your gallery pop out.
 
Wow he is really good !! Again thank you for all your help :icon_smile: Its a lot of help when you dont get any from your tutor at university lol

Thank you :icon_biggrin:

Sarah
 
hi there,

go and buy the book "how to be a graphic designer without losing your soul" by Stefan Sagmeister

it contains loads of stuff that they dont teach you at uni and is a great book. you can even preview a lot of it on google books...

How to be a graphic designer ... - Google Book Search

contains loads of advice for getting jobs as well as loads of other stuff.

Personally what i did was prepare a great looking CV/mini portfolio and sent it out to every design company on yell.com within a reasonable distance. remember that many bigger companies also have their own in house design departments also. Out of all that i got one reply that said they dont have any jobs going but i would be welcome to go in and present my portfolio and have a chat with them, which i did.

they basically offered me a freelance internship. it was hardly any money at all but it covered my expenses and some beer money. I stayed there for 3 months, did lots of boring work and learnt a hell of a lot about working in the graphic design industry. And believe me they do not prepare you for it at uni one bit.

after this a had some experience and was then more attractive to other design companies.

you could even just ask for work experience and for the company to cover your expenses.
at the end of the day its a foot in the door and that is what you need when you first finish uni as you are in for one hell of a learning curve!

anyway, this worked for me!

good luck
 
Don't forget that many printers offer in-house design so it may be worth contacting a few of them, good luck :icon_smile:
 
Make sure you have a great portfolio...online and off. I use to teach graphic design students and I know a few that got a job at the place they went on work experience...so maybe try to get a couple of weeks somewhere..if nothing comes up from that...try somewhere else. There are a lot of graphic design students out there looking for work, so you will have to try to stand out.

Definitely look at printers as suggested..

Good luck!

Pauline
 
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