After school how long did it take ID’ers(YOU) to get a job? (in the U.S.)
1-2 months if i recall.
But I know some who didnt find anything for 1 year!
R
I’d say less than 10% of undergrads from my program got real ID work, and at nearly 4 years out, 0% of grad students. I think that’s pretty consistent figure that has been definitely suppressed by the design education community.
If you major in ID, DO NOT assume that ANY job will be waiting for you. Most likely the only waiting you will be doing is on tables. Your design faculty and admin DO NOT want you to know this. But its a fact. Sorry.
I dont think that’s really true. You sounds kinda bitter with an axe to grid, to me.
Most of my colleagues from school did find ID jobs. Not all super glam, rock-star design, but ID, nonetheless.
5 years out, Im pretty sure 98% of my classmates are no working in ID. Some have switched fields out of their own choice, but nobody is waiting tables.
Of course a job will not be “waiting” for you to graduate. That doesnt mean, however that there arent good jobs for qualified ID grads.
Especially now as ID grows in the public and business eye, I would expect even more ID jobs to be available.
R
That low employment rate does happen to school that are heavy on “name” and low on “student quality”.
It took me approximatly 1 months to land some job offers but it took me another two-three months to make decision on where I truly want to work. As for all my classmate. Only 5% was not able to land a ID job in first 6 months. Most of my classmate was able to get the job before graduation.
Most of my classmates that wanted to get a job in ID did right after graduation. The ones who didn’t really lacked the drive and a quality portfolio. Internships during school obviously give you a great advantage. After graduation I had one internship. I applied everywhere sending out mailers. Eventually I needed some money so I started looking through craigslist and the Minneapolis Star tribune and I found a job with a small company. Don’t be afraid to take anything to get your feet wet. Your probablity increases if you send your stuff out to more places. I was trying to shoot for like 10-20 per week writing cover letters that were tailored to the specific company to show I was truly interested in their work.
Good Luck!
Right now there are just WAY to many graduates for the number of jobs available. On the other side of things, there is an apparent shortage of good senior designers, though.
What are you basing this on?
Perhaps way too many unqualified designers, but good designers at all levels I feel are hard to find.
If you have the skills, you will get a job.
I can’t recall seeing to many homless guys with “Will design for food” signs lately.
R
I took crappy freelance jobs for about a year and a half untill I found my first real job. Some of these freelance jobs lasted months and some lasted days. but it kept my portfolio growing and I kept using my skills. My biggest piece of advice is not to give up. I think a lot of IDers don’t get jobs because they simply stop trying. If this what you want to do than keep trying and don’t be affraid to take those shitty freelance jobs doing CAD work or renderings of Vaccum cleaners.
The senior designer thing I’m basing on my own experiences (ever notice how many open senior positions there are compared with entry level?) and a conversation I had with someone in the ID department at a major electronics firm. He told me that there are apparently thousands of people vying for about 15 entry level ID jobs, but lots of people bail from the industry after they reach senior level (for a variety of reasons) leaving a vacuum when his company needs people. Hardly a scientific study but seems to ring pretty true. I guess it’s always hard to find good people.
It seems that there is a big gap between what a ID grad knows and what a potential employer needs him/her to know. Big problem. Big problem.
Out of my entire graduating class ('03), I’d say probably 10% have ID jobs, a few others went over to side professions like graphics, several went on to marketing. etc. I’m not exaggerating or overtly trying to be bitter, its just a fact. I went to a middle of the road school but we did have some talented people there.
I dont think I would ascribe the number of sr. positions necessarily as more because of availability, but rather based on supply and (qualified) demand.
Im also not sure where you get the impression that lots of people “bail the industry” after reaching sr. status. I havent heard of this case even once.
Put it this way. Jr.'s are easy to find. there are classes with 100’s graduating per year, and pretty much all are similarly skilled and experienced (relatively speaking, of course some are better than others, with more intereships, etc.). This is why there are so many vying for the same (usually local) positions.
For a Sr. Position, however, if you consider the same pool of graduates, 5 years later, most likely the wheat will be further separated from the chaff and more experienced and skilled designs will have further progressed in their positions. Thus, out of the same 100 designer sample, there is more of a split between top, middle and bottom.
When Sr. positions then do come up, there are then relatively less qualified candidates.
Also consider that normally the number of Sr. Designers to Jr.'s is anywhere from 1:3 or 1:5 depending on your firm, company (that is that 1 sr. may supervise 3 Jr.s).
The reason, I believe that more Sr. Positions are advertised (esp. on a place like Coroflot) is because there is actually a lack of supply which in turn leads to the need to advertise. Generally there is not much of a need to advertise on a place like coroflot (international) for a Jr. position as it may be recruited more through a local paper, university, or word of mouth. For the Sr. position however, it may be more looking for international candidates or candidates with broader experience, thus the need (and cost) to place coroflot ads.
Im sorry to hear that your school has such a low success rate. Where are you located? What ID school. From my knowledge of the industry, and my own school, I feel pretty comfortable saying that 10% of grads in ID jobs is very low. On average I would guess it to be around 75% at least depending on the school and area.
R
After school how long did it take ID’ers(YOU) to get a job? (in the U.S.)
forever…
it took me 6 months (it only seemed like an eternity) & if i could have i probably would have waited another 6 months. though in that time i did a few freelance projects, it was not really major work. admittedly i never felt confident about my portfolio, which is why i was not active in applying or internships or jobs before graduation, which in hindsight was a such a bad decision. that is the one piece of advice i would give, do not wait until after graduation to start looking for a job…
really?
10% sounds low, but i remember reading somewhere on this site that after 5 years much less than half of a graduating design class will actually be practicing designers. in my graduating class of 20+ students, only 4-5 are working in design related
I think Jungle B. and D are fairly accurate.
rkuchinsky you are saying 75% off ID grads have ID jobs, thats 3 out of 4
With all the school out there and with all the different “student quality” your saying that if you randomly picked 4 ID grad portfolios and reviewed them 3 would be professional enough to be employable. really?
in my graduating class of 20+ students, only 4-5 are working in design related
Yes, 10% sounds low but Junglebrodda’s 1 in 4 sounds reasonable
how many portfolios and personalities make the cut?
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Im saying that 75% get a design job after graduating, within maybe the first year.
5 years out, I would agree that the numbers would be different. But think you also need to look at other factors, not just quality of work/skills and # of jobs. People change careers, move into more managing roles, etc. that would affect the count of ID grads in “design” roles.
Put it this way, do you think more than 1/4 ID grads are so bad, yet have passed 4+ years of school, and cant get an entry level design job?
If thats the case, I would certainly take another look at the institution you have in mind, if they hand out professional degrees like toilet paper.
Im not saying all grads would be awsome and get a choice job at a top firm, but there are also (in reality) a full spectrum of ID jobs from lower end consultancies, to in house gigs in a variety of industries.
Maybe we should start be more specific here…5/20+ grads with design jobs…10% working in design? what schools are these?
R
Finding a Job and finding an ID job are completely different animals…
The real world hits you fast after graduation…It took me about six months to find something that was related to ID…I am now a SolidWorks Instructor…and teach designers and engineers how to use the software…this only means that I am now learning what I my university wouldn’t teach and in a couple of years I should be pretty dangerous…but I must also keep in touch by doing my own design work outside of the classroom and updating my portfolio frequently.
But I would say the success rate is about at 50% on landing a job within the year that you graduate…if you’re truly motivated, you should land something within a year or so…
Let me start off by saying I think that the people who are truly motivated and passionate about design will find themselves a position. However, realistically that is not everyone that graduates with a design degree.
Unfortunately there are more mediocre schools out there then exceptional one’s, so not everyone gets to go to these top schools. Sadly not all students receive an education that fully prepares them to enter the profession upon gradation. I’m sure the better schools produce a high success rate of recent ID grads getting employment right after graduation. However, there are many more student that graduate from lesser schools that then have to do some hard persevering to land a position and not everyone can stick it out.
5 years out, I would agree that the numbers would be different. But think you also need to look at other factors, not just quality of work/skills and # of jobs. People change careers, move into more managing roles, etc. that would affect the count of ID grads in “design” roles.
Yes, I would certainly agree that “life” happens and can change your course, it’s to be expected to a certain degree.
Put it this way, do you think more than 1/4 ID grads are so bad, yet have passed 4+ years of school, and cant get an entry level design job?
No, I don’t think that 1/4 are so bad that they can’t get an entry level ID job. I just think that of the grads that don’t land a position 6 months to a year after graduation very few persevere and stick it out in the long run.
And in my opinion teaching jobs and CAD techs while completely honorable jobs are not “design” positions.