*Sell yourself
- Started
- Last post
- 52 Responses
- exador10
cheers mimio..
jox's thread here brings back a lot of memories of the mid 90's when i started...
my first interview after graduation was at a place called creativefolio..
i'll never forget it..
the guy looked at my work, (all from college...all projects etc)
made some nice comments about how he liked it, then closed it and asked..
so..
what have you done?uh...wha?
really done..point me to a real magazine ad...a real billboard...something real...
uh...helloooo?
i just graduated..i'm hoping to get my first gig, and this guy is asking where all the real work is...at that point, he walked out of the room to answer the phone..
and never came back..
15 minutes later, i packed up my portfolio, walked out, saw him brush me off with a wave to the door...i'll never forget how humiliating that was...
but it taught me a thing or two..
1) always be prepared for assholes when you're at an interview..
2) don't show your school projects
3) if he asks 'can you do 'x' if you're reasonably sure you can, just say yes...
the rest you can learn on the job
:)
- zeroblade0
" but it taught me a thing or two..
1) always be prepared for assholes when you're at an interview..
2) don't show your school projects
3) if he asks 'can you do 'x' if you're reasonably sure you can, just say yes...
the rest you can learn on the job
:)
exador1
(apr 22 04, 11:32)"r-e-s-p-e-c-t.
i have a hell lot to learn from you guys.
- exador10
:)
all hail Jox!
creator of the sales thread!(bows down and worships the mighty one)
gotta agree with ya's..
threads like this have been gone for awhile..
as much as i like political threads, beating up on neocons, and the ever present 2advanced rips and what have ya..
theads like this are why i first started coming here..
and reading somethng like what jox posted can make a guys day..know what i mean...
or rather..
namean?;)
- ********0
so it's okay to say 'i think that ran in such-and-such mag' and count that as a little white lie?
ha. no way.
dorks.
- jevad0
you have completely missed the point j_red
- jox0
gee, what a dick! yeah, i've had lots of sucky interviews myself (doing both roles), but just waving you off like that.. man, that's low.
Although as a freelancer just starting out, you might wanna be a little bit careful bragging about your skills (exaggerate - okay, total lie - nuh uh), because depending on how good you are, one client can lead you to a new one so making up stuff on the interview and then 2 weeks later you're asked to do just that... well, it can end in disaster and you won't get to do the stuff you *actually* know.
But as always everything is just common sense.
- ********0
apparently, jevad, i did miss the point.
I'm all for having confidence in your abilities in front of the employer, but lying about doing corporate work if you haven't is so transparent and chances are you'll be found out and made to look like a dork.
- jox0
hah, j_red that's not the point. The point is that if you don't have anything to show for yourself, make something even if it means making a fake identity or whatever. If people won't hire people with no experience, we got ourselves an evil circle.
Why don't you tell us a little bit about how you do it?
- ********0
at the end.. seems like you were liquored up jox :o)
good read.
- exador10
no..
never said that..i said it's ok for you to let someone come to that conclusion on their own..and not disuade them from it..
and yeah.
its a little white lie..sorry, but i'm not sure what world you work in..
the one i know (advertising and design)
is 100% built on bullshit and lies...
every ad you ever design, every piece of direct mail you create..
all baloney...im not saying that you tell your CD or AD that you went to freaking oxford or harvard, graduated suma cum laude, and single handedly created the nike swoosh whilist winning the 'one show' award for your first campaign..
christ..
just saying that it's very very hard to break into the world of advertising and design..
so be prepared to do that little extra to get you in the door..
once in, prove to them and yourself that you were good enough for the job..
if you are..no one cares..
if not, you'll be gone soon anyhow..get the idea?
this isn't like ripping someone's portfolio site and claiming it as your own..
this is just about getting work..
it's your own design..sorry if i sounded harsh...
just responding to a critic, and don't like being called a dork;)
- jevad0
jox has the point....
- jox0
j_red, it's not about lying - it's about showing what you can do. As an employer I couldn't care less what type of clients a person worked with, what type of company it is, or if it even exists in real life - if he/she knows what it's all about, I'll hire anyway.
I see what you mean about lying right in their faces, and maybe I wouldn't do that either but doing stuff like that is just a different version of self promotion.
- ********0
i agree that using a familiar logo in your work will help you.
i DON"T think you should try to allude that it's something it's not because any great director will be able to tell.
i DON'T think that lying to make your work look better should be considered a way of getting ahead in this industry.
i'm just clarifying that point.
- ********0
p.s. apologies for calling you dorks. i love you all.
- jevad0
i'm a dork and proud of it mang
- exador10
i got an agency gig years ago, my first one, based on the fact that
a) they like my portfolio
and b) we'd gone to the same college..about a month into the job, the senior designer took me out for a drink..
he says 'ya know...i kind of assumed you knew a hell of a lot more than you really do.oh crap..thats it...im getting canned..
then he says..
but...you work hard..and the stuff you don't know, you seem to be picking up quickly enough..
besides, ... 6 years ago, i was in the same boat...it was his way of giving back to the community so to speak..
each of us crawls up, or gets a hand up when we start out..
in turn..if you're a decent sort..
you do the same in return..
help out the next cat down the rung on the ladder..when you get to be a senior designer, or AD..
don't forget what it was like to be young, inexperienced, and looking for work..
we've all been there...
- jox0
If this thread continues in the same style, a few days from now we'll have a book ready for press :)
Glad I started an interesting discussion.
- DutchBoy0
excellent joxyboy!
- exador10
and just for the record..
i've never dropped a real company's logo on something fake and called it real to get a job..
my former art director did that ages ago..
and it worked..
got him a gig at
Young and Rubicam or Mccan Ericson..i forget which..
but the point was..he didn't lie or anything..
he just did a mock ad, had it professionally printed, and when the AD looked at it, he said...oh..i remember that...didn't that run in Glamour magazine a year ago' or something like that..my AD just said...uh..yeah...you remember it?...
the point was...if they think it's a pro job, that's..like...a good thing...don't disuade them from that ...
i remember when he told me that, all i could think was..
damn...thats brilliant..why didn't i think of that..well..one is, ya need the money to get a really slick print job
and two, ya need the cajones to pull it off..
but when he showed me the actual piece..i knew immediately why it worked.
that mock ad was frickin perfect.
best type design and layout i'd seen in ages, and a brilliant concept..
anyone..and i mean anyone would have thought it was real.and their ya have it folks..
the whole story...
- DutchBoy0
i concur.
it's what i need to do real soon.
i still lack the 'high profile client names' in my folio in order to become Teh Supastar Dezignz0r™!