How to... Get a creative job

• By Lisa Campana, MOO Design Director
• 06 Nov 2015

It’s difficult to get a job in your chosen creative industry – difficult, but not impossible! The best way to know how to go about your job hunt is to seek advice for the very person who will be doing the hiring! We caught a mo’ with MOO Design Director Lisa Campana to give you just that.

Network, network, network:

First things first, get out and meet as many people as you can. Go to industry events and socialise with other people in the design world. You’ll learn so much and you’ll build a book full of people you can approach for introductions too. Never say no to a meeting – you never know what it may lead to. Remember to bring professional and stylish Business Cards.

Internships and getting your foot in the door

Even if you do a 6 week internship at a company while you're on summer holidays it's real experience in a real working environment and that's got great value. Always try and get a reference from your employer at the end of that time. Having that in your portfolio is a plus for anyone looking at your work.

You got an interview, great! Now make sure you know your stuff:

It's shocking the number of times I ask in an interview, "So what brings you to MOO?" and people can't tell me what we do or why they've applied! Always before an interview look at the company's website, look at their competitors, know who they are and why you feel you'd be a good fit for their team. Going into an interview saying, "I loved the work you did on X, how did you come up with that concept?" or "I saw your work on the X awards website and it really inspired me" will signal to your interviewer that you've done your homework and are genuinely interested.

Be confident:

Having said that, don’t be cocky. I've interviewed recent grads who were so over-confident it was a total put off. No recent grad is going to walk into a lead design position. You may have great ideas, but at an entry level you're there to learn. Demonstrate that you are enthusiastic, hard working and up for a challenge.

Your CV:

Any employer in the design industry seeking to hire a new graduate will want to see how you think. How you concept is just as important as final work and this is difficult to see when you only put final work in a portfolio. Make sure it's presented in a way that's tidy and interesting. Document how you arrived at your idea, or create a video showing work in progress. Printfinity is an impressive way to display a series of ideas or designs. The Printfinity feature allows you to print up to 50 different images on your the backs of Business Cards, Notecards or , Flyers for no extra cost. Don’t hold back, the possibilities are endless! But whatever you chose to do, keep it clear, concise and never, ever forget to spellcheck.

Follow up:

Always thank your interviewer for their time and reiterate what you liked about their company and what you found interesting or surprising in the interview (you had no idea they did all that genius work with a team of 5, how amazing!) And as ever, it’s important to give your interviewer more to take away than just the memories of your seamless witty conversation. A Notecard with designs from your portfolio and your details are a great take away, where else are they going to write themselves a reminder that you were their favourite?

So now you’ve heard what Lisa has to say, it’s time to put your game face on, polish up that CV get out there! The competition might be fierce, someone has to fill the position, just make sure that someone is you!

Written on:

06 Nov 2015

Categories:

Networking, Best Practice