Job Search Strategies for Designers

The age old question for students about to enter the design industry is “How do I actually go find a good job doing what I love?” So I’ve decided to offer up a few suggestions and resources to help.

Connect with others in the industry
The first and probably one of the most crucial factors in job placement is networking with others in the industry. Many job, internship, and freelance opportunities are first sent to other professionals with hopes that they might “know” someone qualified.

You might be saying, “This is great if I knew other professionals in the industry but I’m still in school and I don’t know anyone.” Well, this is your chance to find reasons to attend events and get involved in activities with other creatives. Believe it or not, the more often they see your face and name, the more it is that likely they’ll remember you. Two great organizations for creatives are AIGA and OAF (Also known as Ad2). And if you are a student at Valencia you are always encouraged to join the Graphic Design Group where you can network with other students as well as real world clients.

Let the search begin
Now, it is likely that at some point you will still have to actually search for a job. I’ve had a few of you in the last year mention that the job search has been a challenging and frustrating experience. So I thought I’d offer up a few resources that you might find useful in your hunt for that perfect job.

Large Scale Job Listing web sites
Large scale web sites such as Monster and Career builder are definitely a great place to start your search. However, from experience I have noticed these types of web sites often gain as many, if not more, unqualified candidates for positions because of how easy it is to submit applications for free from candidates. Now it is notable that these companies do charge a fee to the employer to increase their chances reviewing a large number of qualified candidates. Because of this you need to ensure you make your resume stand out even more because it may get lost in the hundreds of responses a company may receive.

Here are some of the popular web sites that allow you to search for jobs and post your resume via their web site:

• Monster
• Career Builder
• Dice
• Just Orlando Jobs

FREE Job listings
Everyone loves free, right? Well, luckily there are some web sites that offer free job listings. For employers this is more attractive because they do not have to pay for posting an opportunity and it helps those who may not be ready to take the risk to invest in posting a listing in web sites like Monster or Career Builder. Some of these web sites are specialized towards advertising only design, advertising, or web jobs so you may just find your next potential job on one of the following sites:

• Craigslist
• Create Magazine
• 4th Advertising District
• CSS Beauty Job Listings

Specialized Job Listings
Beyond the free specialized listings above we have two other web sites who do charge employers to post listings, however, they post to a very specific audience. Some jobs may be beyond the local area, but expect to a great variety of well known companies in these listings. In the instance of Authentic Jobs, founded by Cameron Moll, your resume, especially if you are a web designer, might just be given added attention to land a position because of Cameron’s reputation in the industry.

• Authentic Jobs
• 37 Signals Job Board

I’ve found a job I want to apply for, what are the next steps?
If you are applying for a design position you’ll need to be sure you prepare a resume, cover letter, and portfolio samples to send on to prospective employers. (That in itself is a completely separate topic!) And if you get a call back for an interview you might be interested in the article “50 Common Interview Q&A” or you could digg other suggestion questions by users of digg.com.

Good luck in your job search! If you know of other Job search strategies I haven’t mentioned we’d love for you to share them with us.