So, you're about to graduate and can't wait to find that first job? Digital designer Mark Murphy has some help at hand and compiles advice from his agency Precedent’s collective creative talent
The transition from the fluffy, technicolour, dream world of university to the thousand yard stare of the real world is as much daunting as it is exciting for the young design graduate. The fact that graduates are emerging into the most difficult economic light in recent memory has only increased competition in a smaller creative jobs market. Depressed? Don’t be!
Remember you’re looking for work in the most creative, technology and innovation driven industry on the planet. The web is going to be one of the crucial factors in the creation of new jobs, niches and markets that drive economic recovery. A career full of as yet unknown opportunities to devise, design or develop. Optimistic? You should be!
Of course, optimism is something you and every other graduate have in spades, but how do you embark on those first tentative steps with success? There is no cheat sheet to finding your first creative job, but a tight game plan certainly helps.
1. How to get that interview
There are a multitude of channels to search on and offline for creative work. Leverage the tools and networks creatives already use to your advantage: search the creative ‘scene’ in the location you want to work. Forums, meetups and socials are fantastic places to network without the pressure of an interview situation.
Even when you do leave, many universities have an in house recruitment service that will continue to support graduates up to three years after graduation. It’s in their best interest to find you work as a graduate of their institution. Build up a relationship with your point of contact, think of every interview as a pitch. It’s all good practice which will help you eventually bag your first graduate role. Established agencies such as Precedent have a dedicated Twitter channel for available and upcoming positions
2. Into wilderness and the golden window
Most universities do a startlingly poor job at preparing you for the transition from the ending of your student life to the beginning of your professional one. They cover the basics but getting that CV up to scratch and building your portfolio online is only half the battle. You’ll need to hit the ground running to make the most of your ‘golden window’ – the first year after you graduate.
In this first year you still have the ace card that reads ‘just graduated’. Use it to its full effect; don’t waste this year working your old bar job just to tide you over. Do something relevant – freelance, explore personal projects anything that will keep you focused creatively while you find your first job.
Misspend this ‘golden window’ and you’ll not only find an additional fresh batch of rival graduates next year but also potential employers asking probing question about your unexplained extra year out of industry.
Tip by Mark Baillie, senior designer, Precedent Edinburgh Personal projects can be whipped up in a few hours and are great for mates and exposure
3. Be your own worst critic
You’ll never have as much time or support to develop your portfolio and creative process as you do at university. Capitalise on that before you leave this valuable network or peers and tutors. It’s difficult to comprehend now, but when the uni bubble finally bursts you’ll realise just how much support you had!
It’s important to be objective and self critical about your work. Don’t settle with filler in your portfolio; showcase only your strongest work. It’s always quality over quantity – you’ll be able to present and defend your most confident work robustly and effectively at interview. Don’t be over precious – If your showcase end of year project shreds at interview use that criticism constructively and positively. Industy isn’t as polite or accommodating as your favorite tutor so get used to being critiqued and learn to roll with the punches.
Tip by Emma Lawton, designer, Precedent London Precedents Ed Richard uses his portfolio as an outlet for both his professional and personal work
4. Does your face fit?
Remember in an interview situation, it’s not just your portfolio that is being assessed. Every agency has its own personality, process and objectives. The team at Precedent is critical to its success. Your interviewer will be looking to see what makes you tick, if you share the same ideals, passion and enthusiasm needed to work within the team. Ask the right questions, research the nature of the agency beforehand and be positive, engaged and listen. The right attitude can make all the difference even if you don’t have the most appropriate portfolio.
Tip by Andrew Lang, designer, Precedent Perth, Australia Make a list of your favourite agencies and and check their vacancies daily
5. Work fast, work smart
Time is money and efficiency will help make you competitive. Know the tools of your trade. Master shortcuts, maximise efficiency in your workflow when using software. I’ve known friends to land their first junior job on the strength of their portfolio only to fail the probation period because their workflow just wasn’t fast enough. You’ll need to be able to produce creative work with not only speed but also precision. This will give you a noticeable edge in the workplace, and don’t worry if you’re no Photoshop ninja yet. It will come with time, and the pressure of real deadlines! Learn keyboard shortcuts and time saving techniques and level up to a photoshop ninja
6. Money isn’t important
At least not initially. You don’t have a family, house or anything really to bankroll or lose just yet. For now you should priorities experience over financial reward. You might be working waiting tables but in your spare time build that portfolio. Take on worthwhile projects that have little or even no financial reward, it’s all exercise that will keep your creative skills sharp and you engaged. After all we do this because it’s our passion. Do not go into an interview expecting a generous basic first salary. Agencies hire graduates because they’re cheap, enthusiastic and, most importantly, brimming with potential. With experience and progression will come remuneration. Earn it by producing work that excites you, build your profile and portfolio. In time your confidence and credibility will afford you opportunities to advance within the industry.
Tip by Tom Nurse, designer, Precedent London
7. No surrender!
Persevere. Looking for a job is your full time job. Be proactive, positive and creative and you will eventually be noticed. Tailor your application, CV and portfolio to each specific agency. Never send a dispassionate generic resume. Do your research, and don’t feel afraid to develop your own novel approach. We’ve all heard about the guy who created a Google ad words campaign that targeted the names of six leading creative directors. If you have an idea that will get you noticed by the right people, ensure it’s innovative and delivered effectively.
Tip by Luke Smith, designer, Precedent London ‘Why didn’t I think of that!’ Why don’t you? Sit down and crunch some ideas… There you have it. Use these pointers to develop your post uni plan of attack. The web will continue to innovate and expand, with technology reaching ever deeper into people’s lives. The future is going to be devised, designed and developed by people like you. Excited? You should be
If you’re a graduate looking to get started in the digital world, take Mark’s advice and get in touch with Precedent. If you think you’d fit and you’re creative, we’d love to hear from you. Contact Keith on recruitment@precedent.co.uk.
Job seekers are increasingly being told that networking and professional contacts are essential for progressing your career. But what does an effective network look like?
Many people are turned off by the topic of networking. They think it's slimy, inauthentic. Picture the consummate networker: a high-energy fast talker who collects as many business cards as he can and attends mixers sporting slicked-back hair. Or the overambitious college kid who frantically emails alumni, schmoozes with the board of trustees, and adds anyone he's ever met as an online friend.
Luckily, building your network doesn't have to be like that. Old-school networkers are transactional. They pursue relationships thinking solely about what other people can do for them. Relationship builders, on the other hand, try to help others first. They don't keep score. And they prioritise high-quality relationships over a large number of connections.
Building a genuine relationship with another person depends on at least two abilities. The first is seeing the world from another person's perspective. No one knows that better than the skilled entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs succeed when they make stuff people will pay money for - and that means understanding what's going on in the heads of customers. Likewise, in relationships it's only when you put yourself in the other person's shoes that you begin to develop an honest connection.
The second ability is being able to think about how you can collaborate with and help the other person rather than thinking about what you can get. We're not suggesting that you be so saintly that a self-interested thought never crosses your mind. What we're saying is that your first move should always be to help. A study on negotiation found that a key difference between skilled and average negotiators was the time spent searching for shared interests and asking questions of the other person.
Follow that model. Start with a friendly gesture and genuinely mean it. Dale Carnegie's classic book on relationships, despite all its wisdom, has the unfortunate title How to Win Friends and Influence People. This makes Carnegie widely misunderstood. You don't "win" a friend. A friend is not an asset you own; a friend is an ally, a collaborator. When you can tell that someone is attempting sincerity, it leaves you cold. It is like the feeling you have when someone calls you by your first name repeatedly in conversation. Novelist Jonathan Franzen gets it right when he says inauthentic people are obsessed with authenticity. Strengthen your alliances
The best way to engage with new people is not by cold calling or by 'networking' with strangers at cocktail parties, but by working with the people you already know. Of the many types of professional relationships, among the most important are your close allies. Most professionals maintain five to 10 active alliances. What makes a relationship an alliance? First, an ally is someone you consult regularly for advice. Second, you proactively share and collaborate on opportunities together. You keep your antennae attuned to an ally's interests, and when it makes sense to pursue something jointly, you do. Third, you talk up an ally. You promote his or her brand. Finally, when an ally runs into conflict, you defend him and stand up for his reputation, and he does the same for you.
An alliance is when a co-worker needs last-minute help on Sunday night preparing for a Monday morning presentation, and even though you're busy, you agree to go over to his house and help. You cooperate and sacrifice because you want to help a friend in need but also because you figure you'll be able to call on him in the future when you are the one in a bind. That isn't being selfish; it's being human. The diversity of weak ties
Allies, by the nature of the bond, are few in number. By contrast, there are potentially hundreds or thousands of looser connections that also play a role in your professional life. These are the folks you meet at conferences, old classmates, co-workers, or just interesting people. Sociologists refer to these contacts as 'weak ties': people with whom you have spent low amounts of low-intensity time but with whom you're still friendly.
Weak ties in a career context were formally researched in 1973, when sociologist Mark Granovetter asked a random sample of professionals how they had found their new job. It turns out that 82% of them found their position through a contact they saw only occasionally or rarely. In other words, the contacts who referred jobs were weak ties. Granovetter accounts for this result by explaining that your good friends tend to be from the same industry, neighborhood, religious group, and so on. Consequently, their information is similar to yours - a job a good friend knows about, you probably already know about too.
Weak ties, however, usually sit outside the inner circle. Thus, there's a greater likelihood that a weak tie will be exposed to new information or a new job opportunity you'd otherwise miss. To be sure, weak ties are uniquely helpful so long as they hail from a different social circle or industry niche and therefore bring new information and opportunities. A weak-tie acquaintance whose job and background is identical to yours is unlikely to offer unique network intelligence. So when connecting with acquaintances, prioritise diversity in order to broaden the overall reach of your network. The best network: wide and (selectively) deep Several years ago sociologist Brian Uzzi did a study of why certain Broadway musicals made between 1945 and 1989 were successful and others flopped. The explanation he arrived at had to do with the people behind the productions. For failed productions, one of two extremes was common. The first was a collaboration between creative artists and producers who tended to all know one another. When there were mostly strong ties, the production lacked the fresh, creative insights that come from diverse experience. The other type of failed production was one in which none of the artists had experience working together. When the group was made up of mostly weak ties, teamwork and group cohesion suffered.
In contrast, the social networks of the people behind successful productions had a healthy balance: there were some strong ties, some weak ties. There was some established trust, but also enough new blood in the system to generate new ideas. Think of your network of relationships in the same way: the best professional network is both narrow/deep (allies with whom you collaborate regularly) and wide/ shallow (weak-tie acquaintances who offer fresh information and ideas). http://careers.guardian.co.uk/careers-blog/how-to-network
Six months into his job on Sky's marketing graduate scheme, Alan Firmin reflects on what he's learned, and shares tips for the next wave of candidates nervously waiting for their interviews
Unbelievably, it has already been six months since I upped sticks to London and started on Sky's marketing graduate scheme. In many ways the time has flown by. It only seems like yesterday that I was sitting nervously in the Sky reception area, about to undertake a career-changing assessment process. I now go through that same reception area every day.
That said, in many other ways I feel like I have been working here for a long time. I think this is because of the huge amount I have learned about the company, and the extent to which I already feel a valuable part of Sky's workforce. It stands as a testament to how welcome I have been made to feel by everyone here, particularly those in my present team (Brand Media).
The feeling that time has gone quickly really hit home when I saw this year's marketing graduate applicants sat in the same seats I had sat in just a year ago. The new marketing graduate intake will be starting in August this year and my main piece of advice to them, and anyone else starting a graduate scheme soon, would be don't worry, be happy. Don't worry because while starting on a graduate scheme can be stressful, and you can often feel under pressure to impress immediately, it is important to remember that graduates are hired mainly for their potential so you are not going to be expected to run the company just yet. Be happy, because the first few weeks are when your colleagues will be forming lasting opinions of you, so it is important that you come across as positive and enthusiastic.
I'd also recommend that the new recruits use the first couple of months to learn as much possible and acclimatise to the new surroundings. Speaking to as many people as possible is a great way to learn (one thing I have learned is that people love talking about what they do) and you soon begin to understand how the company works and where you fit in.
The best part of my first placement has been the work I've done around augmented reality (AR) – a technology that allows users with a free app on their smartphones or tablet to scan a symbol on the poster and see the trailer for the programme. In particular, getting AR incorporated into the marketing campaign for Treasure Island on Sky 1 – the first Sky campaign to use this technology.
My job as a media planner is very varied and can differ day to day, however I would say my core responsibility is to understand, critique and improve media plans throughout their various stages (brief through to post-campaign analysis). On a day-to-day basis this involves constant communication between me, our media agencies and the campaign owners, to understand the status of the campaign. It also involves considering and feeding back the best and most efficient use of media to achieve a set of objectives.
I am just about to undertake my rotation and move into a new team. While my new placement will still be within the marketing department, it almost feels like I am starting a new job. As much as I will miss the team and role I'm currently in, I'm also excited about moving into a new role. I'm due to find out shortly which team I'll be joining but I know whatever the new role is, it will provide me with a completely different experience and a whole new set of skills. This is precisely the reason why I wanted to join a graduate scheme.
