Day Seventeen: Get a Job!

I love this time of year. All of my little undergrads at SCAD realize they have 20 weeks left before they get to (hopefully) join the work force and start completely freaking out. I get tons of calls from students who are trying to figure out what they should be when they grow up or how to best position themselves for the increasingly challenging job market. Here is how I usually respond.

You should have called me your Freshman year

Everything you do in undergrad from the classes you take to the part time job you work should be building a case for how you will fit into a collaborative team in the future. This means internships, internships, internships!! For me I was lucky enough to go to a school that did sponsored projects, so I was able to work with clients like Coca-cola while I was in school. I also thought that I was not particularly strong at making small talk, so I got a job as a waitress where I would be forced to be engaging and persuasive every day. The skills I learned at TGI Friday’s have seriously been invaluable in my career. You think getting a CEO to fall in love with your business case is hard? Try upselling an Ultimate Mudslide and some Loaded Baked Potato Skins to some old-school southern ladiesIt is hard to read entry level resumes because there isn’t much there. It is your job to help me understand what sets you apart and what skills you bring to the table. You need to figure out how to display your super powers as part of your personal brand. It could mean a perfectly written cover letter, a video resume, or even something crazy like this:

This is a photo (lifted from one of my Facebook friends) of a resume that someone sent to Continuum. Having learned about the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project that Continuum worked on, this girl constructed a cake in the form of the OLPC with her resume as the screen. Brilliant and ridiculous at the same time…but hey I’d call her.

Have you done anything crazy to gain experience or get a job? I would love to hear about it.

Update on Monday, December 19, 2011 at 4:01PM by Beth Werner

Okay so Allison pointed out that this post isn’t super helpful, even if it is funny. So I figured I would share with y’all a little convo I have been having on my SCAD Alumni board. I asked the question: What has been one thing you learned at SCAD that has contributed to your success as a practitioner? And while most of the responses were right on: I learned a level of professionalism that is uncanny for artist, I learned how to market myself, I became the best I could be in my field, etc. There was this one kid who just wouldn’t stop bitching that SCAD didn’t hand him a job the day he graduated. This was my response- keep in mind the tone was a little more stern on purpose-

Now on to getting a job- Your education and your career are all about what you put into them. SCAD is an expensive school, you knew that when you started. But I am not aware of any school who hands you a job the day you graduate…that is just not how the real world works. I graduated undergrad in 2004, worked my tail off and got a full time job in my field in less than 3 months. I have been employed ever sense and have been making progressive career moves…It can be done.

Did you take internships and work on sponsored projects? Have you done pro bono work? Is there anything on your resume that shows that you are capable of working on collaborative teams and solving problems effectively? I mentor a few current students every year and help them find ways to create applicable experience to get their foot in the door for future gigs. So you have another full time job, are you working every other waking minute doing work (for free if you have to) just to get the experience to get in the door? And if you were in a 2D field look into things like self publishing on amazon or blurb or trying cafépress or Etsy…all good ways to makes some cash while getting your art out there.

Have you developed a personal brand? Some of you that are complaining the most about SCAD not giving you a job have incomplete profiles are not connecting your LinkedIn to a portfolio on Behance. Is your website the best that it can be? And if you get an interview are you prepared to rock it?

Are you truly networking? This doesn’t mean just having LinkedIn and Facebook, this means reaching out to people and having actual conversations. It also means asking for advice instead of demanding a job, and putting yourself and your art out there. While I agree that career services could be better in some aspects, I have never met anyone who has quite the same alumni support as a SCAD grad.

Have you considered ways to make your talents more marketable? I am sure every sequential animation major probably wants to draw something comic book like, but I know that the big ID consultancies love hiring sequential artist to do product storyboards (as long as they can also play well and problem solve). Start to look for jobs outside of your field where you can leverage your core strengths, and create an elevator pitch about why you freaking rock!

Side note is it totally obnoxious to quote yourself?

Hope this helps add some meat to my previously quick and easy post.