Job Hunt Advice
Out of context: Reply #10
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- neue75_bold0
1. “Hello. I was wondering who I should speak with regarding a folio presentation?”
Before we start on the whole email thing, I would strongly recommend that you call ahead first. It may seem considerably more scary than the safety of an impersonal email, but a phone call will get you the contact details of the relevant person. I am amazed how many people are too lazy to do this as it also gets you an opportunity to be remembered, or maybe even to speak with your potential interviewer (any folio show is really an interview).2. “Paul Rand suggested you may be interested in my work.”
As long as you are being honest, drop names. If a respected colleague recommends you, it will bump you up the list considerably.3. “I am a passionate and enthusiastic young designer.”
No kidding. You need to find some point of difference from all the other passionate and enthusiastic young designers, and that means finding a different way to say the obvious, or perhaps not saying it at all.4. “You guys are ace!”
Don’t gush (and don’t use exclamation marks!) If you are writing to an established designer with any sort of rep, they already know they are good. Kissing anybody’s arse is a dangerous undertaking but, if you are going to do it, at least have a point. For example, instead of “I really admire your work,” say “I am looking for an environment where I can hone my typographic skills.”5. “Blah, blah, blah.”
Be concise. Odds are the people you are approaching have very little down-time, and your first contact should be succinct, crafted and attention-grabbing. You will have plenty of time to share your enthralling life story in person (I should be so lucky).6. “Oops, I forgot to attach my resume...”
Oops, I forgot to care.7. “Attached is my 50MB powerpoint digital portfolio.”
See 6.8. “My folio contains extensive advertising experience.”
That’s a pity. We don’t do advertising here. In the google age, there is simply no excuse for a lack of research, and each letter should be tailored to suit the addressee. Talking in an informed way highlights your dedication and resolve.9. “I HAve aN EYE 4 deTail.”
If you don’t know already, email programs are incredibly restrictive in the ways that they display messages (fonts, colours, images etc). The odds are that your beautifully formatted html email will look completely different on another computer, and it is worth sending a couple of test emails to mates first as a precaution. Plain text is worth exploring as an alternative. Though even more constrained than html, what you see is what you get and it provides an opportunity to showcase a designer’s ability to make a silk purse from a sow’s ear.10. “I look forward to hearing from you.”
If I was still a young and naïve design graduate I too would be sufficiently optimistic to write this. The reality is that you probably won’t hear back, particularly not at the first attempt. From experience the reasons for this may include:
A/ Your email was lost amongst the multitude of spam we receive at 3 second intervals.
B/ All of our computers were stolen (this actually happened).
C/ See points 3,4,5,6,7,8 & 9 above.
Or perhaps, I am just too arrogant, grumpy or time-poor (my new favourite corporate-speak word for the week) to get back to you.Of course, if your work is outstanding (or actually not so good), all of the above will probably not really matter.