The Life of an Adult (or someone pretending to be)

First of all, I apologize for my lack of blogging over the last month or so.

Moving to a new city and starting a new job all at once has been a little overwhelming so I’ve been focusing on keeping it together and looking poised and professional. Since my job consists of me sitting in front of a computer 8-10 hours a day leaves me with no will or desire to come home and sit in front of a computer and blog. I will be trying to write my blogs a little more frequently though as my job has been teaching me a lot about having a real-life design job.

I’ve been very lucky to land a fantastic job as a Website Designer. This is a great opportunity for a first job and will definitely help me land great positions when I eventually decide to move on in the future. My coworkers and various supervisors have been very welcoming and helpful and the fact that three of my classmates were hired around the same time as me has provided a nifty support group. Starting a new job is always nerve wracking but the experience has been less terrifying simply because of how great the people are.

One of my weaknesses in the past (which has been big regret of mine) is the fact that I have a hard time talking to new people. I’m socially awkward and I always feel strange talking to people I don’t know. This is something I’ve been working on for the past year simply because of how important it is to make new connections and to go out and meet people. However, meeting people is a little easier in college than it is in a brand new city. I’ve made some friends in the office and I hope to keep expanding these friendships.

Another huge problem I’ve had is finding things to DO. I know you’re thinking, “But you’re in the city. There’s so much to do, so many activities!” Well that may be true but how do I find out about these activities? I’ve been keeping an eye out for some design conferences coming up but other than that I haven’t really had the chance to explore the city too  much. I hope I’ll have the opportunity to do so in the next couple of weeks.

So that’s a quick summary of how things are going for me so far. I haven’t decided what I want to blog about now but I will probably be reviewing some articles and maybe highlighting some design freebies (who doesn’t love free things?). If there’s something you want me to blog about then leave a comment/tweet/email me and I’ll see what I can do.

As I said, I will be blogging more frequently in the future and eventually hashing out some kind of schedule. I appreciate all my lovely followers listening to my nonsense design ramblings. :]

Week Ten: Newly Graduated, Newly Employed

Yes, I have very exciting news. I got a job! 

I got an actual design job, at a legitimate company and I could not be more excited. The job offer was very unexpected and came a few days after receiving a rejection email from the same company. This offer also came after I had already made the decision to move to Indy without a job or any other prospects. Sometimes you just have to take that leap of faith. 

So what have we learned? Sometimes, you can do everything right but still be rejected. Sometimes there’s someone better, more qualified, or more experienced. Sometimes things are out of your control but the thing you can control is your presence, your attitude and how much you push yourself to get to that place you want to be. We’re all going to go through rejection and failure in our personal and professional lives. The important thing is how we use that opportunity to learn from our mistakes and move forward. 

• Make use of the wonderful wide world of the internet and do your research before going into an interview. Know the company and know what their mission is. Know why you want to work for them and be prepared to answer tough questions.
• Keep an updated resume and if you haven’t already, get business cards.
• If you’re a designer, keep your online portfolio updated with relevant design work and don’t be afraid to remove work if it doesn’t match the quality of the rest of the portfolio.
• Write either a handwritten note or an email after your interview to thank the interviewer for your time. 
• Dress professionally for an interview (ALWAYS!).
• Keep your dress neat and clean even if the dress code in your office is casual
• Try to keep a positive attitude even if things aren’t looking too bright. No one ever got anywhere with moping.
• Take risks. Try new things and new places. If you have the funds and connections, make that move to a new city. If you’re unhappy with your current situation or job, make a change. 

Always keep pushing and moving forward. Keep on reaching for your dreams and improving yourself and your skills.

I won’t be continuing this series of ‘Newly Graduated’ blogs anymore, but I will keep blogging. Mostly about my inspirations and other professional tips. I hope everyone has enjoyed my turmoil and struggles over the past two months!

Week Nine: Newly Graduated, Depending on Those Around Me

I have made a mostly well thought out plan to move to Indianapolis in the next two weeks. To others it may seem rash and last minute, a plan of desperation if you will. I am moving to a new city with no prospects and no job (not even a temporary one) but one thing I do have is a fantastic support system in the form of my friends and family. This ‘career’ support system has been in place since the first day I started college as a wide-eyed freshman. My slightly over-bearing but well-meaning parents were my first supporters, my biggest fans. They were there to encourage me no matter how rough things got and tried to offer advice in times of need. I can honestly say I would be lost without them. When I first started college, I tried to be independent and act like I didn’t need them but quickly realized this was not the way to go. Family is a fantastic resource to have. You always have somewhere to stay, somewhere to do laundry for free and people who will love you and help you to the best of their ability. Not everyone may have such a great family and I realize I have been very fortunate.

When striking out on our own as young professionals, we may feel the need to distance ourselves slightly from our families. This may come from the sense that we’re finding ourselves and becoming real adults. We don’t need parents. Parents are for children. We are our own people!

This couldn’t be more wrong. Parents (and the rest of the family members) can be valuable connections not only personally but professionally. I’m not saying you should hit up your parents for jobs, but ask them if they can keep an eye and ear out for anything that may come along.

The next best support system is of course friends. Friends are on of the best networking tools to have. Friends like introducing you to their other friends (hopefully). Friends like going out and doing friend things. Friends try to help you out if you need it. The nice thing about college is that it will show you who you can actually rely on. The problem is that a lot of people don’t like to depend on other people. It’s that sense of being independent that I brought up before. Being dependent on someone is thought to show weakness, however you’re never going to get anywhere in life without depending on someone. Eventually you will have to depend on your team, your coworkers or your boss. Depending on someone does not make you weak, it actually makes you stronger. It gives you something to lean on, some time to take a breath and gather yourself again. You can’t do it all by yourself so if you haven’t learned to depend, now is the time.

The reason I’m blogging about my support system is because I will be relying on them a lot in the next couple of months. I’m moving to a city where I already have friends and my parents are about an hour’s drive if an emergency should arise. I will be living with one of my friends until I can find something more permanent. This friend actually offered to let me stay with him because he could see I was reaching that level of desperation. I was trying the tough man act where I would rely on nobody but myself. You can see how that turned out. So for the next couple of months I will be depending. I will be pushing and searching for jobs of course but I will also be depending.

Week Two: Newly Graduated, Sort of Unemployed

This week I re-started my internship at the Liberal Arts Career Development office. Obviously I won’t have as many projects as I had during the school year, but it’s good to have some things to work on during the week. It keeps me motivated and keeps me designing which is always a good thing. I’ve also been applying to part-time jobs around town so that I’ll have some sort of income to keep me going during the summer.

In light of everything changing for me, I wanted to talk a little bit about having patience and not getting discouraged during the job search. Lisa always told the interns that if Plan A goes wrong, there is always 25 other letters in the alphabet. Boy, have I learned how true that statement is. My perfectly laid plans are always changing and not going according to schedule. I’ve had to learn to be patient and flexible with my planning. Everything may not happen in the time I want it to happen, but things will eventually turn out like I want.

For example, I came to college, a lowly freshman with hopes and dreams of being an interior designer. I was confident in my plan, I knew what I wanted (or so I thought). I could never have predicated that I would actually change my plans and double major in Graphic Design and Classical Studies. Never. I had my life planned out but things change and I have to admit, it was the right change for me.

Now looking at my career future, I have no idea where I’ll end up. I know where I want to go, but it’s important that I be flexible in my planning. Having goals in mind is obviously a good thing but always be patient when things don’t go according to plan. It’s easy to get discouraged when Plan A doesn’t work out but keep making those goals and keep making plans! Be open to new opportunities, locations and experiences that you weren’t considering before.

Graphic Design Resumes & Portfolios (Part 1)

I have browsed the internet for portfolio and resume design inspiration many, many times. I have read countless posts showing fun and innovative resumes. I have seen so many crazy, over the top resumes and portfolio designs that I’ve lost track. Why do designers do this? The most important thing I’ve learned in class is from a design professor who absolutely adores crazy and colorful things. His designs are over the top and gorgeous and he’s not afraid to break boundaries. However, when it came time for the class to create their portfolio sites he said something very important to us,

“Let the work speak for itself.”

As designers, we are tempted to throw as much skill and talent as we can manage at potential employers. We want them to notice our work and notice how good we are at it. However, crazy resumes and portfolios are not the way to go. The most beautiful, innovative designs I’ve seen are from designers who use their resources to make their work the most important thing. They realize that potential employers are not there to look at their website but to look at their work. They want to see how you develop ideas and create innovative solutions to design problems.

I’ll break down a couple of examples of good and bad resumes and website designs and explain what works and what does not. In this post I’ll break down some resumes and then move on to portfolio sites in a later post.

Bad Resumes

This is a fantastic design piece, however this is a bad resume. There is so much information on the page that the eye doesn’t know where to look. A resume should have a sense of flow and a sense of hierarchy however this doesn’t highlight any specific points and the information gets lost in the design. I’m not saying that a resume should be thrown together in a word document but it should be clear and easy to understand. Obviously this designer is really good at what she does, however the important information that a potential employer would be looking for is not clear. Resumes are no place for an infographic.

Again with the infographics. Employers will not want to dissect everything on your resume to make sense of the information. It’s too much work, they’ll move on to the next resume. Most recruiters only look at a resume for about 20 seconds. Of course this will vary between job types, but that is a very small amount of time to gather information. How much information about this person will they be able to read in 20 seconds?

Good Resumes

Easy to read does not mean boring. You can make your resume clear to understand but still insert a little bit of personality into it. Take this example, the information is separated into clear columns, The most important information is at the top and there is fantastic use of type throughout the resume. You want to use the type to create hierarchy information and highlight important information. There is a good use of white space throughout the document so nothing is too cramped and there is a good break up of text so that the information is not running together.

Another clear, easy to read resume. Again, just because the resume is clean and easy to understand does not mean it’s boring. This designer has displayed that she understands layout and typography really well and uses color to emphasize certain points of the resume. The only problem I could potentially see with this resume is that the blue might fade out a lot if it gets copied which could make the type hard to read. However, the overall design is very strong.

So the next time you get the temptation to throw all of your design talent onto your resume, stop. Think about what the most important information is and what you want the recruiter or potential employer to get from your resume. You only have a short amount of time to make an impression. Make it count.

Portfolio Website

I’ve been working on my new portfolio website and it’s now up and running! I still have some things to change around and add, but the basics are there and my portfolio can now be viewed.

We had a speaker come in to talk to us in my ‘Professional Practice’ and talk about his experience as a former student in Visual Communications Design and how having a portfolio is really important when looking for a job. My classmates and I all have digital and print portfolios but now is the time to spruce them up!

The link to my portfolio: http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~murrays/

I’ve been getting some great comments on my previous posts so keep them coming!

Research

This semester I am enrolled in a “Professional Practice” class (with one of my favorite professors) which meets once a week and discusses resumes, portfolios and how to get a job after graduation. In our first meeting this past Tuesday, the professor went around the class and asked each of us where we wanted to work after graduation. Many of our answers were vague and generally boiled down to, “Wherever I get a job”. Clearly, as a class of 29 seniors, we are clueless! He showed us that we are completely unprepared for the challenges of the real world. We have gone through college and our design classes completely focused on projects and portfolios but have neglected to do our research on what comes after graduation. Of course we have applied to jobs, updated our resumes and researched for interviews but generally we have not thought about the specifics.

Thankfully this class will be helping us with the process of finding out which companies we want to work for and who works at these companies. Who is the art director? What have they done previously? What kind of work do they do? Knowing these specifics will help us once we get those interviews and are asked questions about why we want to work for the company. Having that knowledge, being prepared and being able to answer those kinds of questions will be far more impressive than having nothing to say or making up something on the fly.

I’m excited to continue my journey towards graduation and even more excited to eventually enter the professional design world!

Personal Branding (Part 1)

In the past few years social media has become more important in the career world and so has personal branding. Personal branding is crucial for companies looking to hire you. You want something about yourself to stick out and be remembered. We are in the day and age when our opinions and activity online are very visible so why don’t we use that to get hired? There are several steps to begin the personal branding process as well as many resources that can help you be more visible online and more attractive to recruiters and companies.

The first step of course is to discover who you are. These seems like a huge task right off the bat. Many people make the mistake of branding themselves simply because they have to or for the sake of doing it. You need to take the time to decide who you are and what your brand should be. What are the most important aspects of your personality? What is your passion in life? This is the time to set goals for yourself and plan out what you want for the future. What drives you in life? You need to make your self impression equal how others perceive you. Your brand is going to represent who you are so make it a good one.

The next step is to create your personal brand. You will be creating a personal branding tool kit. These are the tools to help you build your brand, network and establish how you want others to perceive you.

• Business cards – This is a very important tool. As college students and soon to be graduates this will be on the most effective ways to network and gain those connections. This should contain your preferred contact information, including an online portfolio (if you have one). Keep it simple. This is just a way to keep your information handy. There’s not need to cram a lot of stuff onto such a small space.
• Resume/cover letter – Both of these are very important to have on hand. How else are you going to apply to jobs? Your resume and cover letter should reflect your personal style (but don’t get too crazy) and should involve your most pertinent information such as education, job history and skills. Employers want to see what you’ve done and what you can do. Remember to customize your cover letter to each job you are applying to.
• Portfolio/website – Having a portfolio is a great way to showcase what you’ve done. Showing projects you’ve worked on in the past as this is an effective way to convince potential employers that you can do the same in the future. Having your own domain name for your website is a good way to keep your personal brand in plain view.

Always remember to keep your personal branding the same between the different sections of your tool kit the same. Develop a logo or a theme and keep it the same on your business card, resume and website. This makes you look organized and more professional.

In the next part, I’ll be talking a little more about social media and how you can involve different social media sites in your personal branding.

Source: http://mashable.com/2009/02/05/personal-branding-101/