Saturday, January 26, 2008

Welcome to springboard501

(knock. knock.)

"Excuse me. Are you the talented graphic designer Kevin Fullerton? You are? Great. I'm here to offer you a job."

"Thank you. I'll take it."

Sadly, when I graduated college I believed this was how things would play out. After a few months sans job, I came to an eye-opening conclusion: I didn't have a damn clue what I was doing. 

Why wasn't I getting any interest from the "real world?"  I received a great education, lots of hands-on experience and even won several national awards. Surely people would line up to hire me.

Problem one: no one knew I existed.

Problem two: my portfolio was all wrong (even though it contained good material).

Problem three: I was looking in the wrong places.

Problems four through 164: well, let's just say everything I did.

Eventually I started doing things right (quite by accident I assure you). I got my first job – and have changed jobs several times since.

For the last several years, I've been on the other side of the desk. The hiring side. And I'm absolutely amazed that in the (number deleted to protect author's ego) years I've been working in the profession, there has been little progress made in helping students make that jump into the career world.

That's why I created this blog. I want to help college students who are interested in the creative fields (advertising, graphic design, publishing) get a jumpstart on their job search.

I figure you can learn from my mistakes (and there are plenty) and the mistakes I've witnessed while hiring creatives.

Have questions? Please feel free to e-mail me. I'll do my best to answer them on this blog.

Also, check out the links on the right. You'll find them helpful. Know of more I should add? Please send them my way.

And check back often.

Good luck with your search.


5 comments:

Sharri said...

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, for coming and talking to our class at UMKC. It was all very good info for all of us trying to launch.

Unknown said...

I just wanted to thank you again for coming to UMKC
to speak to our class this evening. I really appreciate your invitation to contact you in the future with any questions that we might have, as well as offering to take a look at our resumes and portfolios in the future. Thanks again, I am looking forward to meeting with you to get some feedback on my resume and portfolio.

3rdmartini said...

Look at you with your blog!

This is a great, unique topic to cover. I look forward to reading what you've got to say, and if you need any guest posts, I've got a few nuggets of early career embarrassment to share, I'm sure.

Unknown said...

Kevin,
Welcome to the world of blogging! You're gonna love it out here.

Dispatcher said...

Your site looks really good, and I think the blog is a smart addition. I'm adding it to my RSS reader. Thanks again for everything!

- James Hart