Sandstorm
Student Center: The Graphic Design Job
The graphic design job search. Yuck. Because
there are tons of books, articles, newsletters and publications
out there for "how to find a graphic design job," I've
decided to post the "do not's" which are real world mistakes
that
designers have made in their job search. There
is no one
way
to get a job in graphic or web design.
Industries
are
always
changing,
demands change, qualifications change, life changes.
This is my list of what NOT to do when you find your dream
design job or dream design firm. A few
simple rules may prevent your resume from going straight
into
a file, or worse, immediately into the trash. The follow
DO NOT's really do happen...
What NOT TO DO when looking for a design
job:
DO NOT email attachments of your
design work if you are not asked to. This means
NO list of 10+ jpegs
of your work, no multipage pdf files of your work,
and no attachments that are close to 1 meg or more. I
got
5 MB worth of attachments from a student designer,
and he sent it twice to make sure I got them all. What
a job search mistake!
DO NOT email your resume every week. If
a company or design firm is interested and has a design
job available, they will call you. Sending your resume
every week for a month
or two will
not help
you
ever.
DO NOT email your resume to every
email address you find listed on the company web site. This
isn't a lottery. If a company is interested in accepting
resumes or has a design job open, they will generally
have an email set aside for it.
DO NOT email your resume without a note or cover
letter in the message portion of the email. I
won't ever open an attachment if I am not expecting one,
let alone one from a random designer who didn't take
the time to write me a personal message or tell me anything
about themselves.
DO NOT call without having an
idea what you want to say. We understand you
are nervous, and it is tough to make the call, but practice
first. You need to sound professional, this is our first
impression of you. Also, don't demand a call back, if
you leave a message, leave a time when YOU will call
back. Most companies don't have time to call back designers,
let alone take down your phone number, and your name,
etc...
DO NOT email a resume that is
1 MB or more. You'll clog up mailboxes. Better
yet, your resume should be 250K or so... bonus points
if it's smaller.
DO NOT call and just leave your
name and phone number. You won't fool most of
us into calling you back, and even if you did, we wouldn't
trust you anymore anyway!
DO NOT give up. Your
dream design job may only be a resume away.
More do not's your graphic design job search to
come!
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