Any advice for wannabe graphic designers on getting work experience&/ jobs?

Hi all

I am self taught, like many others that set into this business without a design school backing, it is really hard to find openings or get support when trying to start out. I currently live in Sheffield and was wondering if anyone knew of any contacts or agencies that are looking to take on a junior designer as either work experience, placement or job.

Thank you so much for reading my post, and even more for any help that you can give.

Lauren.

As there are more designers (with qualifications as long as your arm) than jobs; you are going to struggle.

I'd recommend that you set up on your own; what have you got to lose (other than time)?

The good news is that you have reference work that you can refer to. I'd strongly recommend that you have your own website (and make it really good...the site should portray what your design skills are).

All the best for the future.

Hey Lauren

Did you draw the genie here:

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Advertisement-Design/1953555

I really enjoyed your portfolio LaurenLK, especially the Sheffield series - not because it's Sheffield, but because it appealed to my two loves of architecture and graphics, and I Love is very thoughtful. Anyway, enough of the fluff.

As Steve says, your own website is essential. Buy buy buy http://www.yourownname.com with http://www.123-reg.co.uk and keep it forever and ever. Knock up some simple and elegant pages on Blogger, Posterous, Google Sites, or Wordpress and use that as your personal portfolio and profile. Even if you just have a series of static images and a Lauren's Profile page to begin with it will be the best and cheapest career investment you'll make.

Join the LinkedIn group Design Sheffield. It's a bit up itself but you'll find it a useful place to hang out and ask questions. There are lots of other regional LinkedIn groups that you might find useful too. Facebook is useless, I'd ignore it. Twitter is equally useless for winning work but it's OK for improving your general web presence if you can get your own real name or business name.

Network. Again, search LinkedIn for stuff that interests you locally. Eventbrite has listings. Business clubs can be useful if you're that sort of personality (I hate all that gratuitous glad handing of stranger stuff), but drinking in the right bars and hanging around the right coffee shops can be much more productive.

Finally, if you are struggling finding an in with design firms, you could try a different tack with non graphics firms such as architects, engineers, small printers, website builders, interior designers, exhibition firms, estate agents, etc. They often won't have the in-house capability but will often have a job and if you are the last person they spoke to then you'll probably get the job. Only ever pitch straight to the partners / owners / senior directors (ie the decision maker), and never ever send brochures or flyers, they just go in the round file.

As an aside, don't be tempted to be silly cheap or work for free unless there is a damned good reason - and even charities have budgets. Because design is ephemeral people often don't see the value of it and they think that a week of your time is worth the price of a new kettle for the kitchen.

Good luck.

Good advice above, so I will keep this short and sweet. There's a lot of competition out there, and i mean a lot, been completely honest about it, a few years ago it seemed to be fashionable to go to college to be a "graphic designer" and more often than not it was because people didn't really know what else to do... but don't let that put you off.

My advise to you is start up on your own... work extremely hard build an exciting portfolio and don't take no for an answer, be persistent and have that tunnel vision to succeed. If your passionate and actually enjoy what you do, your potential clients will pick up on this. Get around networking events and get in people's faces, don't be afraid to ask for business and don't be too conservative... GET OUT THERE. You will need a website too, and a good one at that. I used to employ graphic designers and the one single annoyance for us was that they didn't listen, didn't apply attention to detail... i.e., silly things like grammar, careless spelling mistakes and it felt like we were babysitting them.

I had one guy in an interview saying that he hated coca cola, mcdonalds and wouldn't work for them because it's too commercialised! Now I don't personally have a problem with that... but did he need to bring that up in a interview? Our problem was that they wasn't the willingness to be flexible. So Don't talk about personal issues if talking to a client, it's so off putting. It can be good to have an opinion but it is very important you express it with respect, so you do not become opinionated as there's a big difference. My partner never studied graphic design beyond GCSE but did the majority of the work and design that worked for the clients because the actual graphic designers just did not cut it. In business it is not your qualifications with graphic design, trust me it's what you can do and how much you listen to what your client wants and how you can best advise them to get the best outcome and be adaptable to achieve this. One final point, is that when we interviewed people who got there qualification from college their work was literally all the same and people could not work independently or from their own initiative - the university graduates were even worse.

Good luck

PS, remember get your butt out there and don't stop hassling people until you get threatened with an injunction!

All great advice.

PS The LinkedIn group is called Designed In Sheffield...I should know; it was my idea in the first place (but you will always get a few pretentious people in any LinkedIn group)

Lauren, here's an absolutely fantastic bit of advice that hopefully you and lots of graphic designers will follow.

When someone asks you a question, or when you post on a thread, be sure to follow it up regularly as they're probably asking a question for a reason. I hire a huge amount of graphic design and art work per year and I am definitely on the lookout for more local artists.

However, when you log on and then fail to reply, well, I'm going to look elsewhere (which I will in this case as I want to see dedication and enthusiasm and not someone who really isn't putting themselves forward). This is doubly bad in this case as you asked for advice, received it, and then ignored it. Sure, you may have been too busy, drunk, or just overlooked this post, but if you're looking for help and asking for advice you really should be diligent in following up on that advice (hiring companies are looking to see if you've been online and if you've passed up a chance to reply...).

Sadly, I meet way Way WAY too many unprofessional or (far more common) unreliable artists, so commissioning companies are always looking for any reason to not pursue a lead as most of them simply waste way too much of my time.

There are some fantastic points in this thread. If you really want to work in the industry, you should follow them religiously.

Wow. Thank you all so much for the amazing advice...

I have joined the recommended group on linkdin (so hope to meet some of you there) and following up a few of the other sites.

Kris - I did, and I am incredibly sorry that I did not post yesterday.

Tony, JC02 thank you for the great insight and I will definitely widen my search and apply in a wider field... I already network online but think that social events are the way forward. Face to a name is always better.

Until next time.

Thanks again

x

Hey Tony. (I tried to PM you, it deleted it and it would appear that I need to post more to do it, anyway this is kind of what I wrote!)

Thanks for the great response. Linkedin really is an untapped resource of connections and organisations. Im already on it and met some great people.

Thanks about the heads up about networking events. It is definitely one of those modern skills that every person needs. Ive met people in night clubs and got a lead on a job... the business card in king!

Any tips on networking skills? Ive internet searched it and seem to get alot of blogs with what seems like common sense advice on. I suppose it must be as easy as that!

I'm trying to think of a suitable domain name seeing as every realistic variation of my name seems to be already taken - overpopulation of the internet!

Again, thanks for the lengthy post.

Lauren