I remember when I was at Pensole run by Dâwayne Edwards in Las Vegas, a classmate had just graduated and wasnât finding any work. He told his story for a few days and Dâwayne listened for a bit and then one day gave him a reality check⌠and the reality is that NO ONE is going to feel bad for you, it will never get you a job. Itâs brutal, but itâs true. Dâwayne has one of the roughest life stories Iâve heard, and he had two options.
He could sit in his neighborhood complaining about why he couldnât become a footwear designer because life wasnât fair, or how others had it better than him because he couldnât afford design school and had to work a day job at Mcdonalds.
He could use every minute available channeling his energy towards being a footwear designer.
If you REALLY donât want to be living at home, then take control of your own path, donât allow yourself to be the victim.
On a side note thereâs plenty of resources here to post your work and get feedback. Every bit of criticism is helpful one way or another.
It is never my intention to âplay the victimâ, that is not who I am, I was just looking for advice and seeing if this was something out of the ordinary. This has just been some frustration based venting really
As I could understand this is only another hard working phase, that will take its time⌠but this time with less money, and paying more taxes since youâre not a student anymore.
I donât think youâre (weâre) playing the victim by talking about a confusing phase and asking for advice.
At least in my case, itâs really confusing habe been had a succesful academic career (always with design jobs) and then have to struggle like everyone else after being done with school. And thatâs the point here, youâre not the only one.
But a degree is not a ticket for the ID job market. Itâs more like a permit. And getting thereâŚ
But in the bottom line Aaron said something true. The only way is getting out there, researching about the kind of work you want to do, and working to show properly that you have what it takes to be there. Nobody said it was easy, did they?
It might take a while. Itâs not that youâre bad, itâs that youâre not putting the right portfolio in front of the right people and part of it is just circumstance/luck. Your portfolio needs to show what you can bring to a company. This can be hard as a student as you may not know which area you want to work in and you might not have the body of work to effectively show what you could do once you get the job. This also shows you that someone with a few years of experience that can hit the ground running is much more valuable to a company than someone fresh out of school.
Also, keep in mind that there are not that many job openings for junior ID but, not all that many students come out of school. Itâs a bit like selling a sports car, there arenât a whole lot on the market but not a whole lot of people looking to buy one, so it might take a while to sell when compared to something like a Civic.
Keep your chin up. Keep applying. Review your portfolio, does it show what value you can bring to the companies that you want to be hired by? Keep working on it, start projects to fill gaps in your skill, keep learning new skills, meet people - meetup.com can be a great place to find events and meet people, it can give you a different perspective, possibly a gig. Also, consider smaller companies if you arenât already. While it might seem glamorous to work for the big names, it can be easier to get your foot in the door at a smaller place. Not to mention, youâll get experience and responsibility more quickly and in a broader area.
As someone who just got employed after looking for a while, it was tough at times. Try to keep some discipline in the way you spend your time. Having a part time job is actually a good thing - just for the social aspect of it. Iâd really suggest starting a new project, something that excites you and puts a fire under your feet.
Finally, post your portfolio on the portfolio feedback section of the forum.
I hope you take the outpouring of responses here as affirmation that most of us go through this at one time or another. Design is not like accounting, it is not 1+1=2. So the needs of hiring managers are greatly varied. It takes time to find the right fit. As someone who has hired a lot of designers I can say it can be just as frustrating on our side, reviewing dozens, sometimes hundreds of portfolios, taking time to interview the candidates whoâs work I think is the best fit for what our team needs, and then figuring out who is the right personality mix for the team now and in the next few years⌠all the while the work is piling up! But these decisions have to be made with care because the team will have this person for 2-5 years on average.
The entire thing is a dance. Some dances are fast, and some are slow.
When I was in your shoes I was definitely falling into despair. A few years ago I wrote an article about it for core77âs main blog. You can read through all of the grey details here. It was painful and humbling. It is easy to say now, but Iâm glad I had the experience. In a way I needed it. (It still sucked though)
Thinking you can control every circumstance to not become a victim is foolish. You forgot the second and the most important part of the equation - dumbass luck. Without it, all the hard work in the world can get you nowhere.
My point wasnât to call op the victim, or blame him for his situation. I was merely trying to caution that the easy road and most often traveled is to roll over and say that life is unfair (which we all know to be true anyways).
Iab, you are right. Luck has a lot to do with it. I believe the saying goes âin the right place at the right timeâ. Assuming this maxim is correct, be in as many places at as many times as possible. Physically and digitally. Go to IDSA events, start some of there arenât any nearby. Ask local designers to go to coffee (everybody loves free coffee) and get their advice. Take a trip to SF or some other big city and set up as many meetings as you can. Post your work here and as many other places as possible. Things like that. Years ago I posted two concept projects for mobile phones on my coroflot. Those projects led to me working at frog. You just never know who is going to see what. Make sure you are out there.
In the summer of 2010, I was in almost the same position (21 years old with a 2 month-old son and a failed relationship). It wasnât until about 7 or 8 months of sending out resumes and portfolios (and I was STILL working part time at a pizza shop) that I realized I needed to treat my situation more like a design challenge. The constraints were pretty clear - money, time, and level of comfort. I sold everything and moved to NYC with a some clothes, a sketchbook, and a suit. A few uncomfortable months later, I had landed the first gig at a job fair. That was all I needed - I figured any design job couldnât be as hard as designing your own (and your kidâs) future. So far, so good.
But those âuncomfortable monthsâ were easily the worst months of my life. If I could give any advice besides âkeep at it,â I would suggest to
A) Donât stagnate! Keep learning/ designing/ networking. TONS of free and cheap resources online. Learn something to stand out as an ID candidate (Javascript? Experimental photography? Basic UI/UX principles?)
B) Follow your passions. Cheesy I know, but easy to forget about in this scary period.
I wouldnât have stood a chance without the help (and couches) of friends and the mini projects I gave myself - usually design competitions. Following my passions led to me explore with a more optimistic view, and allowed me to network outside of the design world, which really led to a more lasting impression than my name on a business card.
For me this factor, you may call it luck or âbeing in the right place at the right timeâ, eases the panic.
Accepting that there is this side that I cannot really control kind of makes me free to concentrate on what I can control: work on portfolio and networking.
Hereâs a visual designer from Google explaining how he got the job he did. A lot of good points that go with what IAB and Michael have said about luck and putting yourself out there.
It took me almost a year and a half to find my first full time job. I recommend that you give yourself design projects as though they were a freelance job. Keep your skills sharp. You will get out what you put in.
BTW: I think the only people from my class working as designers today are myself (I would consider myself top 4 in my class), someone that finished at the head of the class and a guy that barely graduated.
As someone who graduated last year and who was also in your shoes, my #1 advice is to be patient. Iâm actually shocked youâre complaining you donât have a job after only a MONTH has passed. Panic after a year has passed and you still havenât found a job. It took me 6 months to find an industrial design job despite having several on-site interviews and interest. At first, I was willing to take any ID job just to have a job. This was mistake #1. Donât rush into an application, interview, employment JUST because you feel bad for not having a job already. My biggest take away from the job search process was that every single employer was trying to find the right fit for the job. Guess what? You probably arenât it and maybe the company isnât a right fit for you either. Think about what YOU want out of a job. Donât want to work by yourself? Donât want to be a sketch monkey? Donât apply then. Donât try to mold yourself to every single company! You are not a fit for every company and every company is not a fit for you. Figure out what YOU do well and SELL that. Then find a company who aligns with this. Make your passion for design show more than your desperation for a job.
Iâm now a year post-grad and finally work at my dream design company doing exactly what I wanted to do (only after unhappily working for a design company that was not the right fit for 7 months prior). That being said, the design field can be tough to get into. Luck and timing is everything! Companies arenât constantly hiring or may not have a need for another designer right now. I only got my current job because two designers moved out-of-state at the same time and my company finally had an opening after 4 years. Yep, 4 years they hadnât needed a new designer. Dumb ass luck indeed. Things take time and donât expect to find your dream job (or any job) right away!
No joke. Took me three years to find a job, not that my portfolio is world class. Even applied at the AutoZones of the world. Life is crazy. The job I eventually got all but ruined my life. The typical path of getting a mediocre ID job right out of school, toughenâ it out for a year, getting a better and better job until youâre a superstar, Iâve found out the hard way, is not how it works for everyone. Certainly not me. Iâve even been considering reworking a couple old projects, which I may do, actually, I already am for one, but itâs been a work in progress for years really. But thatâs not really my style, and Iâve come to grips with that. Iâd rather focus on whatâs next and make that better than last time. Itâs a rougher, grittier road maybe, but I feel like Iâm building design & life muscle in some ways. Everyoneâs path is a little different. Donât let yourself become deluded by the âgolden ID pathâ that nobody seems to dissuade you from believing youâre destined for in school. For better or worse I donât really have âpanic buttonâ in my brain. So I just rolled with whatever happened. Iâm trying to change that. I do have a âreally pissed off and irritatedâ button. The âPanicâ one is probably a better one to have, but definitely no need to panic that you donât have your dream ID job after a couple months. Just go with the flow, homelessness is Very Underrated! (Just Kidding!)