Elias Carlson

1) Don't give up, be persistent. It took me 6 months to find a design job, and over 1 year to work my way in to the place I am now.

2) Don't snub design-related jobs just because it's not your dream job. Any experience you get puts you a few slots higher than a person with none.

3) Know what you want, and be willing to pay the price to get it.

4) Don't be above informational interviews, the more contacts you can develop the more likely someone will remember you when it's time to hire.

Just for fun here's my story...

Right now I'm a Junior level designer with Electric Pen Strategic Graphic Design, which is an 8 person firm in the Northlake area. It is the job of my dreams, a small firm with quality people an excellent work ethic, and great work atmosphere. After I graduated I spent 6 months delivering pizza and desperately searching for a job with little luck.

At the 6 month mark I landed two interviews back to back, one with Electric Pen and another with a t-shirt screen printing company. I knew right away that EP was the place for me after my interview, however I got the call a week later that I was 2nd on the list behind a guy who had more experience. I was told that if business continued to grow I'd be first on the list when it came time to hire. I was encouraged but very disappointed as well.

A couple weeks later I was offered a job at the t-shirt place, which was far from my dream job, but better than pizza. My job was to design graphics for on-site souvenier t-shirts that were sold at children's sporting events. Within a couple weeks I was bored out of my mind, but glad that I was making money and using my degree. A few months later I got a call from EP saying they needed a part-time design assistant to work 6-10 hours a week. At the time I was living in Bothell, my main job was in Bellevue, and EP was in Seattle. I knew that EP was where I wanted to be so I accepted and started working 6-10 hours a week taking out the trash, doing basic HTML updates, and any other menial task that was needed.

After 9 months at the t-shirt place Electric Pen offered me a full-time design-assistant position, which I accepted even though it meant a $4/hour pay cut. I figured it would be worth it because at such a small company I'd have the opportunity to learn quickly. Shortly after I was hired full-time we experienced quite a bit of growth in workload and I was promoted to a salaried Jr. designer position.

Take what you can from my story. I guess the bottom line is don't be discouraged, but be realistic and do whatever you can to get your feet wet. Design can be a tough field to break into, but not impossible.

Travis Wilson

1. Design for the audience
a. Pick 1-2 audiences you’re looking at particularly
b. Organize portfolio collections into appropriate presentations for those audiences
c. Also organize a generic portfolio collection for general use
2. Start networking
a. SPU has soooo may connections in the VCD space now compared to years ago :)
b. If a student knows what they want to design for, there may be some alum in that field already, or we may know someone who knows someone…
3. Visit Filter|Talent
a. Yes, it’s a designer-mill; yes, they take an outrageous cut off the top of your wages; yes, it’s not steady work…
b. … but it’s a great portfolio builder and gives you access to clients you probably wouldn’t know about otherwise (Microsoft, Nintendo, World Vision, etc.)
c. … which, in turn, builds credibility into your portfolio that you can design large-scale, real world solutions and not just personal projects
d. … and it really boosts networking
e. … bonus points if you can bring boutique design to bear in a corporate execution! ;)
4. Design the best leave-behind ever and visit EVERYONE
a. This is kind of like #2, but cold call every possible design/ad agency you can think of and get a visit on the books with someone there (the magic words are “informational interview”) … right now a good strategy would be to look up the latest round of ad agencies in the Puget Sound Business Journal (they usually rank them on business success) and start calling based on that… then at least you have a decent chance at finding a place with some stability in this economy
b. Really take some time to make your leave behind 1) look good, 2) be memorable, 3) be useful for something (sending people to your website, showing people a few examples, etc… but basically give them a reason to keep it around their desk and not just toss it into the inevitable pile of things they get in the mail)

Erin Pierce

Do projects on your own ... a.k.a. if you see something cool or interesting try replicating it, the make something similar of your own ... I find this especially helpful with Flash projects. If I have an idea for something people might find useful, I execute it and then include it in my portfolio as an example of what I am capable of.

Nate Salciccioli

Get them on Designrelated. I’ve met so many art directors on this site, it’s not even funny. Plus, it’s a great way to display your stuff.

Designrelated:  //www.designrelated.com/

My Portfolio (example):  //www.designrelated.com/profile/salsaman2963

BeckyJo Ambroso

To be honest, I'm trying to figure this whole thing out again. I feel like it's important for things to be clean and for your work to really be the focus, but I also feel like there needs to be a hint of your personality in there as well. Maybe it's an accent color or a simple graphic element. That's my only thought... I'm trying to decide what that means for me!

Erica Engberg

With these times you really have to step up your game and set yourself apart from the competition! Also network, network, network!!!

Anna Compton

-Keep your resume and cover letter concise and to the point - keep in mind that yours could be one of hundreds of applications the quicker your reader can scan for information the better

-Don't burn a cd of your work, when a pile of resumes come in we don't have time to pop your cd into the computer, and if you do, make sure you burn the right files - I actually looked at one once and it was filled with our applicant's personal vacation photos - needless to say, she didn't get a call-in

-Don't send a huge over-the-top package, samples are great, but keep them small and don't send too many - a few really good samples are best

-While interviewing give specific answers, don't skirt questions with vague answers, especially when asked to illustrate your answer with a real-life example

Yuna Kim

For me, the interviewing process was the biggest part. I had help from Hannah with two mock interviews. I also spent hours answering all the interview questions available on about.com which helped me to be prepared for any kind of question that could come my way. From my experience, it was helpful to think of my talents and interests beforehand. During my interview, since Smashing Ideas makes video games, they asked me if I play video games myself and what were my favorite games that I've played. They also asked me what areas I would like to consider my expertise or areas that I would like to develop.

Researching the design firm is big. But also researching their clients is huge too. At our studio there are go-to people who just know the client really well. Knowing the client is almost as big as saying you're an expert at illustrations/color/sound/etc. For example, I'm working with Disney right now and it took me months to understand their disney.com website (I still don't fully understand everything they have to offer). But during meetings people are always referring to an older project from the disney.com website and the different areas and groups within the company. Or even the nitpicky things like how things transition in and out, or what sizes the wallpapers that they offer are, or if they have advertisements in channel sites and original movie sites but not on Disney Pictures sites...

Company's also are looking to see if you're a good fit with them. It would be good to research what kind of people work there too. One of the questions people may ask in an interview is something as simple as "what do you like to do?" For me, the human resources person asked me to summarize my entire life story.

As for my portfolio - I had two copies just in case, the website and the printed version. In the end, they only wanted to see the website. Although at the end of the meeting, one of the creative directors mentioned how "cool" the printed version looked (I had the lost luggage case envy portfolio).

When searching for places to work for, it helped to actual search out design firms rather than to check craigslist every day. It helped me to get a bigger picture of what design firms are out there rather than what design firms are actually hiring. Eventually, the design firm that you've found through google and fell in love with will need to hire! Also, try to find a way to get "in". Maybe a friend of yours is cousins with a friend who works there...

And finally - take breaks from all of the cover letters, job hunting, portfolio-redoing...rejection hurts a lot!

Libby Magnuson

1. Create a personal website. It is very easy to market yourself this way and everyone I have contacted about a job asks for my url. It doesn't need to be fancy they just prefer that you have something online instead of a pdf portfolio and lets be honest its attractive to them if you know a little web too.

2. Be versatile in your portfolio. Creates way more options for you!

3. Be prepared to learn ALOT on your own. I would recommend subscribing to places like lynda.com, checking out the fwa.com (for great web design), (AIGA is best for print) but learn learn learn in your free time. You will find job hunting much easier if you are confident in what you know.

4. As you told me, don't not take a job because you may not know how to do it. You will make yourself learn and rely on your resources!

Melissa Nickerson

I'd say networking, AIGA things like Jump Start, informational
interviews where you practice showing your portfolio, confidence in
your work, great design & a neat/clean portfolio! : )