It took me 17 months to get a “real” job out of school.
During that 17 months, I freelanced 15-20 projects ( some concept sketches here, foam mock-up model there) for a local 1-person ID firm. He paid me $15/hour. I worked restoring vintage cars. That was 40 hours/week at $8/hour. But I got to drive rich-guy cars. I worked landscaping jobs, it put me through college so I had the experience to do everything. That was self-employed and I charged about $25/hour. And finally I designed and fabricated studio furniture and sold it at shows, commissions and I was ripped-off by a very prominent gallery in NYC. Again, self-employed and I shot for $50/hour, although that was not possible through a gallery, reputable or not.
Near the end of that 17 months I was pretty much done looking for a “real” ID job and was ready to go all in on the furniture thing. I built my business plan, lined up a show schedule, was ready to interview several galleries and was going to market the hell out of myself for commissions. I really had given up on a “real” ID job. But I decided to send a resume/portfolio to a firm in Chicago because my S.O. lived there. As a matter of fact, I had interviewed with them 14/15 months prior, just right out of school. I added the work I had done in those months into the portfolio. The freelance ID, furniture and even the landscaping and car restoration. They had me in for an interview and I literally started work for them that day. At midnight, I drove the 4-hour round trip to back a bag to work the rest of the week, they had presentation due that Friday. What most impressed the boss was the additional work I did in those months when a didn’t have a “real” ID job. I applied skills needed for the “real” job in my other jobs.
Now I’m old and I mostly tell designers and engineers what to do. But occasionally I sneak into the shop and make my ideas real. 