- Today, I wanna give you some tips
for landing your first design job.
This video is sponsored by Squarespace.
They are my favorite website building platform.
And they're really good for building portfolios.
Which, spoiler alert, is something
that you really need to have to land your first job.
I honestly think that landing that first design job,
is the hardest one.
Because many places call for experience,
and it's really hard to get experience,
when no one's giving you experience.
And so, there's a few things you can do
to really increase your chances of landing that first job.
And getting that first piece
of official professional experience on your CV.
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The first piece of advice I have for you,
for landing your first design job,
is actually about which roles you apply for.
You wanna look for ones that have perhaps Junior,
or Internship in the title,
and you could also go for ones that have nothing,
maybe it just says graphic designer.
Definitely don't go for ones that say MidWeight,
Middleweight, Senior, anything like that.
Because you're just not ready yet.
You can set those ones aside and apply to them later
on after you've had a bit of experience.
Read the job description really carefully
and make sure that the task that they're talking about
that you'd be working on would really suit you
and is something that you're actually interested
in doing, as well.
You should be able to fulfill
most of the job requirements listed in the job description.
But don't worry if you don't have all of them.
You can definitely do some learning on the job.
So, if perhaps it say is one piece of software
in particular, that you don't know yet,
don't let that put you off applying,
if you already meet most of the other requirements.
One of the biggest factors, though,
that goes into landing
your first job, is your portfolio.
Firstly, you need to have work in it
that really demonstrates your skills.
And what you're capable of.
For your very first job, this first entrance
into the world of professional design,
I would say it's probably good to have more
of a general portfolio, showing skills
and different areas in that,
you are a person of many talents.
Later on down the line in your career,
you'll definitely want to specialize more
and pick one sort of avenue of design
to go down, because that's how you're gonna
be able to grow and get really strong,
in that one specific thing.
For me I chose web design.
But to start off with general is pretty good,
because it shows that you're gonna be able
to dive in and help out whichever area of design
the company needs.
Make sure every piece of work in there,
is one that you're really proud of.
If you only have three projects,
that you're really proud of, that's fine.
Just put three projects in your portfolio.
It's much better to have three super strong pieces,
than to have three strong ones,
and then perhaps three you don't like so much.
And you think perhaps I'm that good,
but you felt like you needed more on your portfolio.
Those weaker pieces are really gonna bring
the quality of those three strong ones down.
And that's not good.
So it's much better to have them in there on their own.
If you're in design school, especially,
I would really advise you not to have all of your pieces
in your portfolio be student work.
They shouldn't all be fake briefs.
Student projects are great,
because they do show your skills,
and of course, if they're things that you're proud of
that you've learned by doing,
then it's awesome to include them,
but having all student work is bad.
Because those projects tend to have quite
an unrealistic timeline in terms
of the professional design world.
For example, at design school
you might get six weeks to focus on designing a poster.
That is never gonna happen on the job.
A poster is more likely gonna have to be designed
within a couple of days, or a couple of hours.
So having your portfolio filled with those pieces,
might not give them the confidence,
that you have the experience that you need.
So it's good to get some outside of school
projects in there as well.
Now, even if you don't have any paid work,
surely there is a family member,
who needs a logo for their little side business,
or perhaps an invitation design.
Just anything where you can work with another person.
To then be able to talk about the process of designing
that thing in an interview.
And speaking of process, you should talk about it
in your portfolio, as well.
Don't just put up images of your work.
Talk about the rationale behind things.
Talk about what the brief actually was
that you were trying to design.
Those things are really important
and give context to your projects.
When you apply for a job,
you'll likely have to submit your portfolio,
a resume of some sort,
and it's okay if there's not much design work on there,
if it's a junior role.
That's probably what they're gonna expect.
And you're probably gonna have to submit
a cover letter of some sort, as well.
This is your space to talk about why you want
to work specifically at that company.
I know you might be feeling desperate,
just to get any job at all
and you'll just be happy for whoever wants
to take you, but you absolutely cannot let
that come across in the cover letter.
Companies want to feel special and you'll be a good
fit for them in particular.
So make sure you do some research
into the company that you're applying for.
And note some specific things that make
you excited at the thought
of working there, in the cover letter.
Talk about what special skills you have
that might come in handy for them,
or might make you stand out from other candidates.
For example, the first design job that I ever got,
I talked about my little t-shirt company
that I was running on the side.
Even though it wasn't related to what I'd been doing
on the job, like I wouldn't be producing apparel
at this design job at the electronics company
I was applying for, but the fact
that I had this side project,
and had the dedication and the motivation
to figure it all out
and do it on my own, was really impressive to them.
And that made them be more interested in hiring me.
So, if your portfolio and your cover letter
impresses them enough,
the last final hurdle that you have to get over
is the interview stage.
Now, in an interview you really want to show
yourself to be super passionate
and keen to learn, at this stage of your career, as well.
They're not expecting you to know everything.
You don't have to go in being completely confident
and acting like you're the best designer in the world.
What's more important is that you show
yourself to be really interested in learning,
and getting better, being really passionate
and proactive, as well.
Talk about your process when you talk about your work.
So, they're gonna wanna hear the story behind it,
which again is why it's important
not to just have student work,
in your portfolio because that doesn't make
for a very interesting story.
When you've worked with an actual client,
even if it is just a friend or a family member,
you've got some background
and some context to give them about the piece,
and how you worked on it.
Lastly, you just can't let yourself get too discouraged.
I know it sucks to think you've nailed an interview
to have really enjoyed it
and really love the idea of working at that company.
Only to have them turn you down.
But that doesn't mean
you can never apply to that company again.
Sometimes companies will say that they're open
to people with less experience,
but actually it turns out that they're not.
And that is just, unfortunately, a fact
of a design job hunting.
They don't quite realize what they're looking for
sometimes, when they're writing those descriptions.
So just keep applying, keep hunting,
and stay passionate about it.
And you're gonna learn something eventually
that'll be that first start to your career.
And I promise you, it will all get easier from there.
I hope that advice is useful
and it gives you something to work on
when you go about applying for jobs.
If your portfolio is the thing
that you're worried about most,
then perhaps check out my Portfolio Review series.
It's where I take a look at portfolios that are submitted
to me and give my feedback on them.
And I think you can learn a lot.
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Thanks for watching.
Happy job hunting and I will see you in my next video, bye.
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