Your Homework Assignment

Homework? Yes. It's for your own good – well your career's good. You'll thank me.

Read: Hey Whipple, Squeeze This by creative sage Luke Sullivan.

Listen: American Copywriter. Educational, entertaining and a good example of the kind of people you need to work with.

Subscribe: CMYK Magazine. A magazine featuring student creative work and articles on starting your career.

Ignore: College career counselors. Every damn thing I tell someone to remove from their resume was recommended by a career counselor. They make you add a bunch of irrelevant crap to your resume that just gets in the way of what creative directors are after.

There are your assignments. Now get to it.

Know Who, or What, You Are

"I can be a designer. Or a writer. Or I'd even be willing to start as an account executive."

"Thank you. We'll let you know."

You know you're not going to hear back from them, right? At least nothing more than the we'll-keep-your-resume-on-file letter.

Given the choice between hiring someone who is passionate about being a designer (or writer) and someone who is willing to be a designer (or writer), who do you think the creative director is going to hire? We want someone who can't even imagine doing anything else.

Don't get me wrong, we're after someone well-rounded. When I graduated, I was a designer who worked as a photographer and did a bit of writing. But design was my passion. I knew what I wanted. But I also brought extra skills to the table.

Be focused, but well-rounded. Know what you want to do, while still dabbling in everything you can. Be a person who is passionate about what you do, but don't limit yourself to one interest.

Contradictory? Maybe. But it's what we want. It's what will get you the job.

Never Stop Looking

"Man, I nailed that interview. The job is mine. I don't need to keep applying for jobs."

Not only wrong, but #*$%ing wrong.

While on the job hunt never, ever and I mean EVER halt the process while waiting to hear from that job you just know you're going to get.

It could be held up for budget reasons, unrelated business reasons, a change in the position requirements, or, believe it or not, because they found someone who is a better fit for the job. And while you wait, your job search takes a big step backwards.

The killer is, you may miss out on applying for the job that could have been yours.

Never allow yourself to kick back to wait for that sure offer. Because there is no such thing.

Do not stop the process until you've signed an offer letter and started your job.

Time to Start Looking

Graduation is around the corner. "When should I start applying for a job?"

Now.

But first things first. You're not applying for a job (you apply at McDonalds), you're searching for a job. And it's a process. So the proper question is "How do I start my job search?"

Research. Get to know the industry. Find out who is doing the kind of work you want to do. Learn about their areas of expertise, their competitors and where they are headed. Start this as early as possible.

Network. Find ways to meet people in the industry. Go to industry events. Talk to speakers afterwards. Keep in contact with friends who have graduated and are in the industry (the most overlooked contacts). Do this throughout your schooling.

Informational Interviews. Once you make contacts, see if you can set up informational interviews. It doesn't need to be with the owner or creative director. It can be with anyone who can give you insight into their company, the industry and the job market. Plus, if you make a good impression, you've just created an ally within that company.

And now to the part of the process that most people focus on:

Asking to be Considered for a Position. Most creative shops are always looking for people -- even when they're not hiring. The good creative directors are always looking for their next hires before they need them. That's why it's never too early to start. You want to get on their radar so that when a position opens, they think of you. OR, if you're really good, they'll consider adding the position before they need it (so they don't miss out on the right person).

Something to keep in mind: if you're applying for a job you saw online, that means they have an immediate opening and want to fill it as fast as they can. They're not likely to wait for three months for you to graduate. Interview anyway. They may have another opening by the time you're ready and you could be at the top of the list.

Keep in mind, you are beginning a process. Start as early as you can. 

The Job Search Basic Five

This weekend I ran into Angie, a student at UMKC who heard me speak earlier in the week. She thanked me for the advice I had given. When I asked what helped the most, she simply answered "the basics."

Seems a good place to start. When starting your job search, these are the five essentials:

A Portfolio That Shows Off Your Skills. Your portfolio should consist of 12-15 of your best pieces. Keep in mind, I'm going to judge you by the worst piece in there. After all, nothing else you've ever done is as good – or it would be in there instead. Also, mix up the pieces. Don't show all the ads, then all the logos, etc. Keep the reviewer interested.

A Relevant Resume. I never hired anyone because they worked at Wal-mart while in college. And I damn sure never hired anyone because they were the rush chair for their sorority. Only cover the relevant, such as ad club, the school paper, internships, related jobs, even your ad campaigns class. Those things tell me about you as a creative. If you make me wade through the other crap, I may not see the things that matter to me.

Take Care of the Details. If you don't take care with your own resume and portfolio, what's to make me think you'll take care with my clients? Details matter. Details win or lose the job. Take care of them – spelling, production of your samples, the right name (and spelling) on the cover letter. Don't lose your dream job because you didn't take a few minutes to read everything over one last time.

Professionalism. If you come off as a student (by your dress, answers or demeanor) I'm not going to hire you. You need to come across as a professional. Dress right for the interview. Be prepared. Be polite. Be humble. Send a thank you note immediately after the interview. Act like a professional and I'll see you that way.

Make Me Remember You. If I don't remember you, I won't hire you. Do or show something that makes you stand out. We're interviewing lots of people and, I hate to admit it, sometimes people start to blend together. Be memorable.

There's your basic five needs. We'll address each of them in more detail.

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.