Coroflot is an invaluable resource for contacting firms, but does anyone have any advice for getting into the corporate design scene? The only thing I know is to go through their corporate resume page thing… but that always seems like a dead end. Is there a better way of doing this? Any advice on this is appreciated!
In my experience A LOT of corporate jobs are obtained atleast in part through networking. This may mean you personally know someone in the design group and they recommend you, or you may be the acquaintance of an facquaintance, but in my experience references mean a lot when trying to obtain a corporate gig.
Basically, anytime you can start your application process from the inside (maybe sharing work samples with someone in the design group) rather than just starting on the applications page on the corporate website (still a prereq, but you should go above that) it can be very advantageous.
AND don’t be mistaken, corporate designers are looking at coroflot.
Trying to get a job is a full time job.
First try to figure out what are your interests and what you want to do. Choose some companies and star doing some research about them. Eventually you’ll find the names that you want.
This is much easier for consultancies, but in the case of corporations can be done too. It is truth that sometimes you don’t find the info you need and the only way in looks like the jobs corporate site.
If you are a member of IDSA, they have an online directory of all the members. You could use that too.
If you don’t want to spend your money on IDSA, try to read articles, interviews, press communications from the corporate sites. This way you may find contact info and a lot of useful info for an interview.
Hope that helps. Good luck.
A lot of corporations have recruitment people or teams. These teams locate people a number of ways; they browse coroflot and post jobs on coroflot, they follow leads generated from their in house people, and they also go through all of the online applicants. If you can reach them through all three you increase your chances.
I would check the website of the company you are interested in and apply online or through mail if you can find that info. See if you or anyone you know works their, send them a sample set and ask if they would pass it to the correct people, get a corefolio and keep checking the postings… a lot of it is a waiting game. Timing is key. If you have a skill set that matches it should work out in time.
Also, never put all of your eggs in one basket, one thing that is also very attractive is if you work for their competitor, so try to get in the industry you want to focus on…
Thanks guys for this valuable information.
This may be a bit off topic, but my tactics as of late have been to go the email route, including a link to my corefolio, rather than attatching PDFs of my work. Is this a wise choice?
Also, would you rather receive a hard copy of work, rather than email?
corporate culture. it’s about attitude and “fitting in”. there are things you can’t do at a corporation that firms or consultantcies will be more forgiving about. experience and skill aside, corporations are sizing you up to see how you fit in with their design team. they want to get a feel for how you carry tourself and how you interact in that team. not to say firms or consultantcies don’t, but i think it’s a bigger part of getting a job in a corporation.
i’ve worked for 2 firms and 3 corporations. each has it’s positives and negatives, but the difference between the two is undeniable.
It was already mentioned in this thread, but I would highly recommend using the IDSA member search to find contact info for designers at the corporations you’re interested in. It has been effective for me in the past.
Once you’ve found some people you’d like to contact, send them a short but nice email with either a link to a PDF or website. Remember to be polite, so that you’re email doesn’t feel intrusive.