Job tips
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- nb
Tips for landing a new, better job. Post ‘‘em here.
- nb5
Google around to figure out the high end of the salary of the job you’re getting. If an interviewer asks what your last salary was: fucking lie! There’s no way to check and even if you go over, you can tel them it’s ok, you’re willing to take some additional weeks holiday to make up the balance.
- nb3
Cover letters are a complete waste of time! No one is reading them and no one cares. Just leave the form blank. If it’s a required web form field just upload your resume twice. Trust me.
If you have something truly interesting to say, send an email to the hiring manager.
Fucking cover letters. Pfffft
- I never read them. I scan through their CV then I go straight to their portfolio.Chimp
- These are also required less and less.grafician
- If you submit a blank cover letter here you won’t be considered. This is true of any any place that asks for one because they absolutely ARE read.monospaced
- Are you serious? Hope they don’t missing out on all the candidates like menb
- Would you describe your company as a sleepy giant? Behind the times? Says they value innovation but can never innovate? Lulznb
- Yeah in tech nobody asks for that, even CVs are basically a HR formality "we need the CV to add it to your file"grafician
- "Send your cover letter by fax at XXXXXX"grafician
- @nb, no, nope, nope. I actually read the cover letters. All of them. Still do.
:)monospaced - It’s part of how we assess communication (writing) and it does help when we receive so many applicants.monospaced
- tech ... that’s cute. Playing a whole different game over here with the big boys. Bye.monospaced
- After reading a ton of these I can smell a copypasta letter from the first sentence, a nice one, makes much easier to look at the other details of a person.sted
- CVs are a must for HR not some formality, simple doc would do. It has to include specific details and needs to be sent by the candidate.sted
- Details can disappear from social media profiles, websites. But if you sent a document that stays with us with all the fake universities for example :)sted
- If a candidate sends me a cover letter, I read it, of course. It’s respectful. But if a candidate doesn’t send me a cover later, I don’t think twice about it.nb
- People have resumes and portfolios, that’s enough for me to know If I want to talk to themnb
- Chimp4
1. Ask good questions in the interview. One girl we interviewed stood out by asking “what qualities do your current staff have that make them a good fit for their jobs” (or something to that effect)
2. Seek out jobs that will let you grow and advance your skills.
3. Make sure you have the usual boxes ticked. Up to date portfolio, links to social media accounts where you show interesting thoughts on your subject and not dog pictures.
4. Your portfolio should explain how you solved the problem and the value it brought to the client.
5. Side projects that show your passion for your subject.
6. Have interests outside your carear.
- shapesalad-4
A new better job? Quit design, study something grownups do, become an optician or something stable, a career you can grown into instead of grow out of which what most design (especially digital) is like.
- A 60yo ophthalmologist = expert, trusted, respected. A 60yo designer = no longer relevant, slow, stuck in old ways, not fresh, too expensive.shapesalad
- I regret my career choice at aged 16 when you want to do something cool and not something boring.shapesalad
- Have you considered a shift to UI, UX or product design? It’s not as creative but the money is therenb
- I have a close friend who is about my age and has been an optician longer than I’ve been a designer. He makes less than half what I do.nb
- Ophthalmologist is a different career but also it’s very easy to say “if I was a doctor....” when you aren’t facing 9 years of collegenb
- Yeah, UX is a large field and the other designers I know working in this are making good money.Chimp
- I'm pushing 60, still design and the only thing I regret about the industry is how unstable it becomes. I'm not irrelevant or stuck in old ways because...CyBrainX
- I still have a passion for the work I do. I just started a new job last week that has a lot of staff that seem the same, older, still doing great work.CyBrainX
- Yeah I’m in a new job, too. it’s more mature because I went looking for the things that matter to me.nb
- grafician1
If you want to work for an agency, contact the CD and let them know you're interested.
If you want to work for a small (series A, B) startup, contact the CEO and let them know you're interested.
If you want to work for a FAANG type company, contact the Product Managers/Designers and let them know you're interested.
Helps to have:
- a decent folio
- an online presence (twitter, linkedin)
- some interesting side projectsThen, if you got it, just work hard and be nice to people as they say. That's about it.
Good luck.
- All these skip the usual HR mombo jombo, CVs and cover letters and even some rounds of interviews.grafician
- Also following the people (CDs, Managers or other designers) and interacting with them on social helps a lot, when they have an open position, they will ping ugrafician
- Aaand whenever you're looking for a new position, update your status to "Available" on all your pages, social etc. so people can easily know you're open.grafician
- All good advicenb
- < this works if you're 25-35, after that almost any job comes from recommendations or your side projectsgrafician
- SlashPeckham2
Signup for Linkedin Pro. They have some great courses to help craft better answers to even basic interview questions. While your doing that you can up-skill and expand your capabilities about other areas and disciplines in your area of expertise.
- That US $30/month is a bit much though, especially if you're unemployed.CyBrainX
- When I was made redundant I used it and was offered a better job within a month.SlashPeckham
- LinkedIn pro or gold or whatever is amazing. Be sure to cancel as soon as you have an offer. Hehenb
- grafician-2
Oh and re: Linkedin, it's still the main network, sure, but if you want something modern and very expandable (can also be used as a folio), you can try: Read.cv https://read.cv/explore
- sted-2
Land all your jobs with a strong portfolio backed by the old employers and by every hire show more of the details depending on the position you want.
From a simple thing like idolizing a flyers aesthetics to how clients are won, and projects are financed, you will be able to share details. Just make sure you're honest and sharing these with the right person at the right time.
If your cv doesn't shows that you're running from one short-term employment to the other, loyalty and experience is your strongest argument against hiring a young just out of school influencer.
It is a waste of time arguing os or software decisions, and you're digging your grave if you start sharing things like the workplace dynamics of your former employer.
Understand that everybody is a human being. There is nothing wrong that you wouldn't work together with anyone, allow the same thoughts for person sitting in front of you doing the interview, or making a decision after looking at your details or portfolio.
There are various reasons why somebody gets rejected and demanding a detailed answer will decide your destiny forever at that place.
- ArmandoEstrada3
I have been freelancing for over 20 years. I have been lucky that ive been able to maintain a steady flow of income this whole time. But lately, ive gotten grief from close friends about my 'future'. A few of them have moved on from freelance and got full time jobs or joined the union (IATSE). I haven't had a 'real' job since ive started. About 75% of my income comes from coding websites and the rest from video/photography/consulting work.
So im at a crossroads. Do I continue on my merry way, or consider full time work. My problem is I have no experience working for any one employer. My skillset is all over the place. If I were to create a resume, do I just focus on one thing? Code? Video? Photography? Dunno, feeling a bit lost...
- You could see full time employment as more of a risk as all of your eggs are in one basket. What if that company goes under or fires you?Chimp
- If you've been doing this for 20 years, you've no doubt weathered a few recessions. Sounds like you're pretty secure as you are.mort_
- Kind of just saying what Chip said but in another way.mort_
- As an ex-freelancer, I really miss the variety of projects and businesses I used to deal with. But I was shit at selling myself so never really made it work.mort_
- if it still works for you why stop?milfhunter
- I went FT after a long time freelancing. Then under 2 years later made redundant. Wish I had stayed agile and adaptable as a freelancer.shapesalad
- In terms of future, try to build out websites products, services that can become income streams. Build up a network of younger folks to filter jobs out to.shapesalad
- Then you can increase your revenue:time ratio, max out savings accounts, retire earlier.shapesalad
- eg you become more like a producer/manager, taking a cut from the projects and managing the work from a team of junior freelancers.shapesalad
- Like a remote studio. So you have less risk, no office, no HR stuff, just retain your freelancers as 'consultants' rather than employees.shapesalad
- I went FT in a university after freelancing and then failing to run my own studio. That job has now become a part time job that pays the bills and i can pickkingsteven
- and choose freelance jobs (or like now, I just read, paint and help my friends out with their art) all i needed was a degree to get in to an interviewkingsteven
- and then i found that being a jack of all trades is often the idea employee outside the design industry and stability/pension etc. works for me more than $$$kingsteven
- Double down on what you got, especially coding. Development is highly in demand skill. Start side-projects, try to earn passive income from them, retire early.grafician
- Shape has a good point about contracting younger design slaves to help you out and viewing yourself more as a remote agency.Chimp