Advice for graduate moving to Aus

Hi guys,
I’m brand new here, and looking through the forum say that people were giving out some great advice.

I graduated from doing a Masters in Material Science and Engineering in 2014 and I am mid way through completing a Masters in Multidisciplinary Design Innovation.

Basically after graduating from my initial degree I found I had no passion in the jobs that became available and consequently took two years out doing seasonal work in the US and France.

After many discussions with lecturers, friends and family I decided to go back to University to explore other avenues that would give me a richer more creative career.
I would love to work within design, whether product or service design, and feel I have a huge amount to offer. I have become proficient at sketching and using the adobe suite, and have also had a go at 3D modelling (using blender).

After I graduate I am moving to Melbourne, Australia, and looking to start a career in the design field.


On my current course I work with many student who have done undergrads in product design, and design for industry, and they have encouraged me that I have the potential to work as a designer but I am unsure as to whether I am actually qualified to even be given a shot.


Basically, I was wondering if my expectations are too high and am I being unrealistic?
Is there any kind of design firms I should be targeting? Would an internship help/be possible?

I would love any advice from you guys.

Thanks in advance


I would love any advice from you guys,

A good designer has confidence.

You need to find some confidence to pair with all of your education.

A designer without confidence cannot succeed nor survive.

Good luck…

Hi William,
I am a lead designer working at a consultancy in Melbourne so probably can add something here. There is a reasonable amount of work here if you know where to look. You could start with some DIA (design institute of australia) events to get a feel for the lay of the land, but I wouldn’t expect to land a job straight away using this. Figure out what kind of work you want to do and put together a folio that reflects where your interests lie and shows your strengths. I’ve seen so many folios where someone says they can do everything, but they do it all very averagely and the folio has no wow factor or impact. Generally here, within my experience you are hired for a role with a particular type of skillset in mind (creative, CAD, some generalist) so having a real strong point will make your folio jump out.
From there, send it out to all the places you are interested in working and plant a lot of seeds. A lot of the best jobs are never even advertised. If you are good they will put your folio on file.
Hope that helps.
Cheers,
Mike

Thank you both for you replies. Designbreathing ,you are definitely right about having confidence, and I know I have a huge amount to offer a company. I think I just need to find the best way communicating this to potential employers.

And thanks for the advice, mike_dnhm. I am currently working on a portfolio, and will definitely take your advice about giving it a focus/wow factor. It is difficult to know what exactly to put in there when I have not created a lot of tangible results, and a lot of the I am currently carrying out on my course lies within the early research and concept creating stages, so difficult to present any cool visuals.

Thanks again for all the advice,

Can’t wait to get stuck in!