More Hats, More at Bats

When you are looking for work as a designer there are a lot of options. You can be the self-promoter, the collaborator, the online resume builder and the strictly word-of-mouth breather. All are courageous avenues to trek down in the hunt for the next gig, but some outshine others in terms of surface area distribution.


The Self-Promoter:
Has all of their ducks in a row. Business cards, letter head, website devoted to self-promotion and portfolio work. Mingles at meetup groups and business events around town, pushing the good name of "them". This is not to be confused with the Word-of-Mouth artist, we'll get to them later. 

The Collaborator:
Spends all of their time talking to other artist friends in the business and tries to create a freelance group to help drum up business for themselves as well as the team. Seems like a great person to have around and instills a sense of integrity within the group, but really falls short of design skills as most of their talent is exhausted in getting the others to agree that it's a good idea for them to become a team instead of going out and getting their own business to bring in to that same team. They see themselves the figurehead of a future business adventure where they are the CEO and sitting on the top of "Mount Look What I Did!" They get work sure, but they don't pull their weight fully.

The Online Resume Builder:
They use all available resources at their disposal to craft the perfect email, the perfectly designed resume and are excellent communicators, but they fail to see the need to incorporate some of the other designer types methods in order to really be successful. They sit behind the screen pumping out resume after resume hoping someone would just call already! They lack people skills in a social setting so that makes them anxious about putting themselves out there in crowds or talking about themselves.

The Word-Of-Mouth Breather:
Like the self-promoter they rely on others to bring them business. Unfortunately though, they don't see the need for marketing materials or to join groups. They want to be the ghost everyone talks about with no real evidence they exist other than the merits of others praise. They get business but it is slow and not always steady. We can't all be Huy Fong Foods brand Sriracha now can we?


What these individuals fail to realize is that your best bet for finding work is to employ all of these methods in a combined effort. You NEED to be a self-promotion guru so you can speak about your talents in a way that is not pretentious or simply ego-driven. You need to collaborate with others so that you can build relationships with other artists and industry leaders so that the word-of-mouth spreads like wild fire and when someone comes across your resume on a site like careerbuilder.com or monster.com, your reputation precedes you.

Okay maybe you won't be "famous", to that extent, but it's a goal. When you set goals, you have something to measure your success on. Completion of goals. This will set you apart in the work force as it is a testament to your work ethic and that, my friends, is worth more than any degree or position you've held. Why? Because it's not what's underneath, but what you do, that defines you. Yes, I just quoted Batman Begins. Because it's awesome that's why.

Now there's something very important to note about the Online Resume Builders skills-sets that you should pay especially close attention to. If you've done a job search using online resources sites like careerbuilder.com in the past year or so, you'll notice the landscape has changed drastically, from even three years ago. There are a seemingly infinite stream of job sites taking you to the jobs you seek these days.

There are typically one or two locally created job hunting sites that are meant for local talent only. For me, that's Jobbing.com. Well, it used to be just local anyway. Then there's obviously the big two that started it all, Monster, and CareerBuilder. Everyone knows how to use them, probably HAS used them and every other site is a watered down version of them. They usually come with some stupid gimmick that's only mildly interesting enough to make you want to use them. What I've seen a lot of lately are the sites Indeed.com, ZipRecruiter.com and Beyond.com. These were new players to me as the last time I used online searches for jobs was about eight years ago when I was hired at my most recent employer.

What I'm seeing though (mostly from Beyond.com), is this broker-style set up where they email you a list of potential jobs you might want to apply for according to whatever search terms you put in originally when you signed up for the site and uploaded your resume. What you don't realize until AFTER you click on one of these jobs is that it sends you out to another site that they got that job offer from that is ANOTHER third party system that wants to charge you for sending your resume or quote for the job offer. I've been duped by this many a time and no longer use Beyond.com or jobs2careers.com because of it. It's a scam because these same jobs are posted on other sites that don't charge you to apply. 

ZipRecruiter has been relatively helpful, but their search parameters for what they "think" you'll be interested in can have an extremely wide range of results based off of one word. When you put in "graphic designer", they will definitely send you info on those types of jobs but also anything relating to either of those words. Hello? I'm not an electrical designer. I'm not a Radiologist that looks at "x-ray graphics". I'm not a software designer or developer. Yet I get this garbage in my email daily.

I'm not saying you won't get this from the likes of careerbuilder, I just think I get it way more infrequently. The problem is, you need to market yourself to the new pool of employers out there who might be looking for talent for the first time. This means they are trying to use the newest and coolest sites that they heard about from a third party trying to sell them a service. Lowest bidder wins, right? 

So what do you do? You bite that bullet and put your resume on all of the sites you can, limit your search terms as best you can, and understand the difference between a quality job link and a dud that will take you to a time-wasteland the likes of which haven't been seen since your last click-hole expedition.

I do my searches on careerbuilder.com, monster.com, jobbing.com and indeed.com. I place my info on ziprecruiter.com and beyond but know to only skim their links for quality and recognize how the wording will alert me to if it's going to take me to a third party site or not. If it doesn't take you to the company site itself to apply, you're just passing your info around to more people wanting to create subscriber lists so they can sell you more crap you don't want. It's brilliant marketing in a way, but I HATE marketing that profits from the miss-use of trust in a client. Hopefully you do to. 

Hopefully I've sparked some thought here with regards to self reflection of what type of job hunter you are and given some helpful advice on what job hunting sites to use regularly and which ones to use simply as a means to an end. Good luck!

Shortcuts - Not just for cheaters.

Found some comprehensive lists for key commands for the "big 3" Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign at iampariah.com. Thanks, for putting these together for both Windows and Mac users. 

Windows Users:

Illustrator CC
Photoshop
InDesign

Mac Users:

Illustrator CC
Photoshop
InDesign

Keep this handy for those artist tests where you're forced to use the opposite operating system than you're used to.

Enjoy!

Discouragement

Sometimes we find ourselves second guessing our career path when jobs aren't rolling our way. You have all of the necessaries, so why is your dream job not falling in your lap? You've pumped out hundreds of resumes to companies far and wide that seem suitable for your level of expertise, you set up decent self-marketing materials like an online portfolio, website to bring in freelance work, social media accounts specific to your career and you got paid-up on all of those old association memberships that don't really seem to do anything for seasoned vets as it's mostly newcomers to the game that don't have real world experience under their belt yet. You even put a fresh coat of paint on that LinkedIn profile and maybe even sprung for the upgrade so you can get all of the fancy bells and whistles that comes with that prestigious gold star on your personal social networking skill set. Why? Why? Why isn't it working?

Well, maybe you need to look at yourself in the mirror and decide deep down, "Is this what I'm truly passionate about?". If the answer is yes, then you are on the right track and you know inside your gut that you just can't give up. You have to keep pushing until someone notices you for the skills you have and for the potential standard that they can offer that you can live up to and shine with.

In 2007, I was working for a local newspaper as a production artist. Yes, I said production artist. It was exactly what I described in a previous blog post. (See post here.)
Small-time column x inches black and white design by the hundreds for mom and pop custom furniture, handy man services and pizza chains as far as the eye could see. It was a glamorous life.

Long story short, I took blame for some things that I didn't do, and conveniently couldn't fight, it created tension for me and I decided to leave the company on my own terms and with my integrity intact. I was happy with my decision but I was faced with finding a new job in an unfriendly market for designers in Phoenix. Especially not in the East Valley. I'd moved down the street from this place for the convenience after all. What was I going to do? 

I had a crisis of conscience and thought, "Is this what I am passionate about?" The answer was easily yes. I put my best face forward, did my time, even got desperate and took a delivery job to make ends meet. Wouldn't you know it, an hour before my first shift started, I got a phone call from my most recent employer to let me know I got the job I had interviewed for days earlier. Things worked out. It's not always the case though.

I find myself in this same position 8 years later. I'm in that position again to ask myself, "Is this what I am passionate about?". The answer has changed but not in the way you might think. I feel my skills have improved, my maturity level has grown, my people skills and knowledge of the market I work in has increased ten fold. So although the answer is still a resounding yes, there are caveats. 

 I have changed, but I've realized the work has not. I want that to change. I want a challenge! What good is going to work doing something you love if it's not going to help you grow? This is something I didn't care about last time around. I believe it must have something to do with the maturity factor. I thirst for knowledge, for creativity, for stability with growth. 

It exists out there and I'm worth it, so are you. Keep fighting for what you are worth and you will get it my friends. If you are passionate about this still, then it's okay to struggle to find that perfect fit. It's not a job you're looking for it's a career. It's more than that even, I'd say. It's a lifestyle that comes with ups and downs and pros and cons. You have to determine if the pros and the ups outweigh the negatives.

Stay passionate!