As a young designer searching for a job, reading this article made me register to this website just to reply on this arrogant post. Here are some of the most frustrating things you have to handle with, searching for an interesting job:
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Spending a lot of time doing your research finding interesting companies, job openings and so on, preparing 1 page cv’s and bla bla… after sending the email your work is done and you hope for a reply. There are just a few, but really just a few companies sending a reply, even an automatic ‘thank you for sending, but at the moment we are not…’-one, but at least it is a reply and it is very much appreciated.
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After waiting too long but still seeiing on the net that the job is still available, you phone those companies to hear:
-No, we didn’t recieve anything.
-No, that job is already gone (then don’t show there is an opening)
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Than take away the ad, send a short, cruel email back that you’re not interested but don’t make me loose time and wait for nothing.
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Because sending an email is most of the times not working, you start calling companies (even if there is written, DON’T CALL US) to verify if they recieved your email with all your hard work in it. Usually then there is the promise to contact you back in a week with an answer.
After the second week you have to call back yourself to hear a vague answer… job’s gone, you don’t fit the profile,… fair enough, but just tell me, I’m losing enough time already.
Getting tired sitting behind your PC waiting for nothing, you invest money (that you don’t have) and print a nice flyer of your work and your CV (which is luckely just 1 page) and you go from door to door, “disturbing these companies by surprise” (Showing that you are interested working there, it means to me). Some of them are not interested, but at least you know it immediately, and that’s what is important when you are hunting for a job.
Some of them are indeed searching and you have your first short conversation. You can see the office from the inside, you find out the website and the jobopening you have seen made you think this was a giant office, but there you discover it’s a studio whit three people working in it.
It’s a lot of work ‘just passing by’, so if I read this post and see that this is more annoying, I don’t give a sh*t. When you’re searching for work, this is an encouraging way for not giving up. Plus there are also a lot of companies appreciating you just stopping by, leaving your stuff (small version of your portfolio and your cv) behind and continuing your search.
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I already put a lot of work in my portfolio, trying to make it nice and understandable (don’t forget, arrogant employers, that I’m a young designer with not much experience, so there is not much to show also, deal with it). If you wanna know more about the project, let’s have an interview, so you can see with your own eyes how passionate I am explaining it.
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Why a designer is supposed to be creative, but when searching for a job, you have to follow the rules. To hell with these rules, I’m trying to stand out and getting noticed, I will paint my CV on the walls of your office if necessary. I get bored filling in
standard application forms, asking all the stuff you have already written in your CV, fighting to downsize my portfolio, just to upload it.
Here are the ingredients to a great job opening:
Treat possible candidates with respect and don’t think you are the only one we are applying for, so if the ‘personalized’ letter doesn’t seem to be so personal… get over it and read between the lines.
Give ‘any’ answer asap. Don’t make us feel there is a chance when you already forgot about us. Be clear and never forget that maybe I will be your boss one day.
Cover letter, Resume, and Samples
Cover letter - What is this obsession of recieving a ‘personalized’ letter? If I have to send everything to info@xxx I’m not able to make it personal. I prefer 5 minutes of your time to have a talk, instead of spending hours and hours creating personalized letters to every company I apply for. Get away from your screen and open the door, there is somebody ringing.
And I do care telling you why I moved to another country, because that’s part of my profile and why I’m perfect for your stupid organisation. It means I’m motivated, eager to gain experience, willing to learn, and so much more. Even if I’m not fitting the profile, there is always a reason why I contact you. Do some effort yourself too finding interesting people.
Resume: I like the idea of a 1 page resume, it’s difficult to make but I agree with your point of view on this one.
Samples could be a teaser or a complete portfolio:
If you’re really fresh, it’s difficult to show a portfolio, simply cause there is nothing to show. Participating at contests is nice, but it’s not a project and my experience is that companies don’t care about these projects.
Even if you have experience it’s possible to work for a whole year, getting a lot of experience but still not being able to show anything of your work in your portfolio. Why? cause you started to work as a mechanical designer, just because it was a big name you worked for… but if the company is giant, you are just 1 little designer in the chain. But the experience you get there is not something to put in a render. No, you learn to interact with suppliers, you learn to have responsability and you learn that that one single email you sended, will cost the company so much money, you are surprised you could still come the day after.
On the other hand, then you get the chance to work in a studio of a famou.s designer, that doesn’t pay you, but after this short period you’re able to add some real stuff to your portfolio, real projects you worked on. It’s a completely different kind of experience, one that you do show in your profile. But it’s a pity you are not able to explain the non-visible stuff to the company your applying to.
Also, don’t act so arrogant and be more open minded as a company. I’m an industrial designer, if there is 1 chair in my portfolio then that doesn’t mean I’m not able to design a mobile phone or a washing machine. I’m not specialized in 1 thing, that is exactly what’s getting me bored, I’m interested in everything, so that’s why I’m ringing at the office door now… get up and answer the door…
Teaser: 1 project with support work or 3-4 projects in final form
Again, you will get this information when I’m sitting in front of you and I’m able to give an explanation with it.
It’s not that I’m not able to sketch, it’s just that there is no way I can explain properly how things went showing a sketch that only the insiders understand, and all of that in 1 page.
I give you the result, the nicest image I can find… I can give you some sketches I made, just to show a bit my skills. But if you wanna find out the link between them, invite me over… so I’m sure there is no miscommunication about any project.
I appologize for my english, I learn from a book (manuel - fawlty towers) but I really wanted to show ‘the other side’ of the story also.
They say there is a crisis, but in my opinion a lot of companies are abusing this ‘crisis’ which is making them feel superior, offering shitty contracts (because there’s a crisis, it will be just for 3 months), demanding almost impossible hours, just because they know how difficult it is these days to get a(n) (interesting) job.
Well, this is just my little opinion, I hope I didn’t offend anyone.