um...?

blogger.com

and we are neighbors, hello from Boulder.

There are a few of us in the same boat in the Denver Metro area... I will PM you if you want to meet up with out little Creative Bits meetup.

Hi there. This field is extremely hard to get into. The main thing-- the only thing that you need is connections. It took me 1.5 years after graduating to get a job in this field.

The two main reasons I got this job finally? My reference who was a former professor (and I was his absolute top student)... unbeknownst to me, actually worked there way back in the day. He gave me the most awesome of awesome references. Then, they loved that I'm proficient in Spanish-- also on my resume.

I wondered the same things as you. Is it that I'm too quiet? Too unsure of myself? I'm an incredibly shy person... and very modest. I don't know. One thing that I do know is that 50 kids are graduating from the college I went to with the same degree as me. How scary is that? That's not including the other two colleges here. EVERY YEAR.

Doesn't help either. My husband said that they hired a designer at his work today over a different person because he was male... versus the female counterpart who had more experience. Just because the girl may not "fit in as well".

UGH.

See, that just makes me sick! Especially when your husband admitted that to you—you must have felt disgusted? I know I would, but obviously it was a group collaboration among himself and his colleagues. What a shame.

I always wondered if it was my age, too. I was a non-traditional student when I graduated college, and sometimes I always felt my age was a factor while I was at the interview. You see, once they see my graduation date (2005), they probably just assume that I am 22 or 23 years old. Don't get me wrong, people are still considering me somewhat Hip, if you will, but I think they still realize I am a lot older than the average designer who is looking for employment.

What can you do??? Surgery? I guess I will just try to focus on my freelance at-home gig and see what transpires. In the meantime, I will be working at a cookie store part time. Pathetic! So glad I got that degree...

I don't know where anyone who has commented works or lives, but in California, Nevada, Arizona, Denver, Utah, Texas and a few other southwestern states, female graphic designers are a rare breed and are usually hired immediately if they have a spec of talent.

I suspect that the problem you're having when you come right out of school is that you are looking in the wrong places and are expecting the wrong things.

First of all, a "designer" is a middle of the road position. You need to start lowering your expectations. Unless you are "blow your mind" talented, you will NOT be hired as an Art Director at an ad agency having little to no real-world experience.

Start out looking for production artist positions. This is the bottom of the food chain in the ad agency business, but also the easiest way to show off your skills and move up quickly.

Look at design firms where everyone is a designer, and they don't really care how talented you are, just how quickly you can come up with a design that looks decent. It's not a a great career, but a year of working in a design firm will give you enough real-world experience and work for your portfolio that you can move on to an ad agency more easily.

Now lets look at your Web site. Nice colors. What the hell is with the monkey? I don't want to hire a fucking monkey, I want to a hire a talented designer. Lose the silly monkeys.

Next, the "about me" page is written in third person, as though you're some large company and your PR department wrote the bio for you... except in the last paragraph you switch to first person writing. Newsflash: You're not being clever, you're being silly. And I don't want to hire silly people, I want to hire clever talented people. It also shows me that you can't maintain a single writing style beyond 3 paragraphs. Fix the "About Me" page to all first person style writing.

Have I mentioned get rid of the stupid monkeys?

Next, the portfolio page is Under Construction??? WHAT???? Are you freakin kidding me? Do you go on an interview carrying your portfolio and when asked to show it you open it to show blank pages, stating you haven't had time to put anything in it? No? Then fix the damn portfolio page... for the love of god, show me the money, honey!

Get rid of the paintings and sketchbook section, unless that's what you want to do for a living.

Oh, and a nice pair of breasts doesn't hurt either, but even then they're only a tie-breaker, not a deal-maker! ;-)

Best of luck to you.

Wow! You really need to speak your mind a little more, you know that? LOL

All kidding aside, I appreciate the candor. I really do. The ONLY reason I haven't uploaded my portfolio is because I am attempting to learn Dreamweaver (hence the sucky website) and I am trying to design it myself. I thought the monkeys were unique, but apparently not. Not a problem. I'm not offended—it's the nature of this business; to accept constructive criticism without feeling like it's a personal attack.

Just so you know, even though I just graduated a year and a half ago, I have 4+ years experience. I worked for a local magazine while I was still an undergrad, in addition to our local newspaper (which is owned by Gannett), I have done a lot of freelance work, and I was also hired as an in-house designer at a lighting company in Denver (I live in Ft. Collins—60 miles north of Denver). Now, even though I am not qualified to the extent of working as a junior designer at Karsh + Hagan, for example, but I have a little bit more than the average recent graduate.

Now, I am not stupid—I have NEVER applied for a creative director or art director position in my life. Simply because, I know they would laugh at my credentials. I HAVE applied for a production assistant position, I have applied for a jr. designer position, I have applied for it all. And even though my so-called website does not have my portfolio uploaded, I have an ePortfolio that I designed in InDesign and saved as a pdf that I immediately forward to them via e-mail along with my resume & cover letter (if it's a job that I can apply to via e-mail), otherwise I put it all on a disk and mail to them along with a hard copy of my resume.

They do call me, at least a few, but I guess once they see me or hear what I have to say, something about me or my work (or my breasts) turn them off. Whatever! I've learned to not take it so personally. But a part of me is human and it's difficult not to.

You're 100% right about my website, I definitely need to rework it and I'm glad you mentioned that. I've had people tell me (non-designers, of course) that it looks cool. But you know what? I needed someone in the industry to tell me like it is. That's why I subscribed to this blog, so I can hear the truth! I will definitely rewrite my "about me" section because I am nowhere near a large corporation or entity. Just me, and that's it.

Thanks for your suggestions. I appreciate it.
Suzanne

One.. NO LINKS TO PAGES THAT JUST LEAD TO PAGE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION>>> EVERAAAAA

Sorry had to vent. Never ever make a link to a page that has nothing but those words.... web 101.

Second.. Really sale yourself.. Sale your site sale your work... tutorials are not the answer...

Third just nkock on door or call people dont be shy, EVERYone has something they need designed, the're just not looking until the last minute.

Bla bla bla... words take to long to write... Just get better... And tough, read it seen it.. get over it and work on it :D

Thanks. You're right.

Just wondering what you think of elance.com They seem to have gotten a bit complicated over the years but worth a try.
I'm from the old school of advertising paste-up and layout before PC's. (working as a graphics photographer) and with all the great artists I've known that mustve gotten displaced by the computer, I'm thinking your 'too damn much competition' might be closest to truth. Also your idea of working with the PC seems sound because the PC will never ever make your skills obsolete, and I lllllove computer graphics, artificial-plastic though they are. Youll get addicted too.

my 2penny...

dont go on and on about your graduation and how it does not give you a job.
graduation means squat in this business. it might mean that you have a potential. but nobody knows if you will live up to that potential, or that you will have a steady growth. so those 50+ graduates are really not your competition.

an employer is rather looking for an individual that can immediately earn money for him, that knows how to deal with clients, deadlines and costs.
so dont be surprised that a self-taught kid with 6+ years of "street" experience and a healthy portfolio but absolutely no degree whatsoever will take your job before you can say "big tit".

so, forget about the school, if you love this business, focus on your skills and portfolio. first of all eliminate from the portfolio the works that are so-and-so.
only use the best. even if your portfolio will shrink by 90%. cant really decide?
we can help you.

k, now check in which applications are you proficient.
are there any aspects you can improve? fine, buy some video tutorials or a book. try to work on learning that at least two hours EVERY day.

now get any crappy client even with no money and do work like its the best client you'll ever had: come up with a great concept, do a couple of drafts, explain your work to him, get it approved, do a healthy implementation, take care of the details, add it to your portfolio. rewind-repeat. then over 1 year, take a look back and do the math. maybe now its time to knock on a few doors. or maybe you need to rewind-repeat some more.

self-respect and certainty in design come from skill and portfolio.
diplomas, money, huge clients, hip companies, state of the art gear, cool gizmos are really only side-dishes. they come and go.

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always outnumbered, never outgunned

Okay, although I agree with your suggestions on how to handle & set up my portfolio, I must say that I disagree wtih your comment about having a degree is not a big deal. I don't know what neck of the woods you're coming from, but here in Colorado—it's almost a pre-requisite before applying for a job in this field. About 95% of the jobs that I have applied for (whether or not it's a production assistant job or jr. designer), they ALL require a college degree. Not equivalent, a college degree. So it seems that in Colorado, having a degree DOES matter. This is why I worked my tail off in college at my age who is married with a young daughter to graduate in the first place! Because back when I first started college in 1989, things were done by hand—paste-up, typesetting, computers in this capacity didn't exist yet—having a college degree didn't matter, your portfolio spoke for itself. But in today's standards, that is definitely no longer the case. Believe me, I know. With everything being done via e-mail nowadays, they won't even look at you for a personal interview UNLESS you have that degree listed on your resume.

So, please, unless you know how it feels to be out there today, please don't judge. I appreciate your comments. Thanks!

Suzanne Maestri-Walters

Have you considered leaving Colorado? It isn't exactly a hot-bed of design and advertising up there.

Suzanne. Darling. Calm down. And if you don't own sherry glasses, mugs will do. Say when.

Ohhh-kay.

I hear you loud and clear. Do you hear yourself? Do you READ yourself? If you do, you know you have something valuable to trade on that many of those teen-something/twenty-something competitors of yours don't have and probably never will. You can articulate ideas in complete, properly punctuated sentences. You can spell. You have a sense of humor broad enough to include irony. You have monkeys (for another day or two; enjoy them while they last).

Now then, what is it that most companies without in-house design shops need? A twenty-something who does great Lamborghinis in Illustrator, or someone who can scope out a target market, write for it, edit the CEO's dips**t open letter, then design and print the medium that delivers the message? Yes! Someone on staff whose services they can't justify paying for, given the relatively short time it takes to crank out a newsletter? No!

What about someone who offers them "Design On the Go"? DOG! (Just think of the logo possibliities.) Wowie. Their very own art department as needed -- "One-Girl Creative, Your On-Demand Graphics Department!"

Wait a minute: One GIRL!!!???

You're a woman, dear. Don't be afraid to say so. Very few companies are handing out to girls the kind of work you're capable of doing.

How many print shops in your area are getting crappy layouts in Publisher or something from their clients, and are sick of all the extra (probably unbillable) production time they have to give these jobs? That might be a good place to get leads, for starters.

Yours in sisterhood,

Mara

I love that, Mara!!! And thank you so much for noticing my grammar skills, etc.—it is such a pet peeve of mine when people cannot spell or use there, their, or they're correctly—drives me nuts!!!

Anyway, enough of that. The only reason I chose One Girl Creative as my business name was because I wanted something clever, not my name—which is too long, by the way—so since I am one, it seemed appropriate to call it one girl creative. Apparently, there is a woman in town, a writer, who calls herself One Woman....something??? I didn't want it to be that similar or have any misrepresentations, so I chose girl. I seriously doubt people will judge me on the fact that I chose girl instead of woman. One look at me and they'll know I am far from being a girl. LOL

Unfortunately, because I am married with child, I am stuck in this God-forsaken place we call Colorado. I am from the east coast originally and would much rather be in a city like Seattle or Chicago where the field of design is just raging! Believe me, I have been trying for 12 long, relentless years to get my husband to move—to no avail. What can I do on the side of divorce? Nada.

So I am here bitching & moaning on creativebits about how I am unable to get a job. Gotta do something with my time, right?

Oh well...c'est la vie!

Suzanne Maestri-Walters

P.S. Even the name Maestri Design was taken (they're located in Seattle, apparently).

If a woman walked into my studio and handed me a card telling me her business name was "One Girl Something," and she was clearly not a girl, the several possible reasons for the dichotomy would distract me just long enough to miss how nice she was and what a great portfolio she brought. But maybe that's just me.

There are plenty of sole proprietorships out there that don't have "one" in their business names. I don't think you need to stick yourself with that. And anyway, is it true? When you design something for a client, do you also run the film for it? Rack it up on the Heidelberg in your kitchen and print it? If it's a direct mail piece, do you personally maintain all the mailing lists, or can you deal knowledgeably with list brokers? How about the mail house that prepares the mailing for drop shipment? Get what I'm saying?

You offer a service that includes not only the benefit of your talent and maturity, but also your "supply chain," that nice group of folks you've spoken to, if not worked with yet, whose catalogs you have piling up under your desk, or whose businesses you'll be calling on soon (yes?) to let them know what you can do for them as a link in *their* supply chain -- like those printers with the dorky clients I mentioned before. Printers love to have beautifully designed things for their sales reps to show off, so you see, you can offer them something in return for a lead or two. You might even want to find out, while you're there, what kind of job would show off their printing capability to the max, so you can keep that in mind. They might throw in some spot varnish or something to get your relationship rolling; who knows?

Ain't nothing holding you back but you, honey.

Mara

It was nice.

Okay, when did this start becoming a "personal tongue lashing" about the name of my business??? I honestly don't remember mentioning having an issue with my business name, therefore, why do you find it necessary to bash me for a name I have chosen and registered for in the state of Colorado to represent my work? I realize I opened up a can of worms here, but come on people—let's get to what the POINT of my initial blog was about. I am trying to get a job for SOMEBODY ELSE as an employee....not as a contract-to-hire, although that would be nice, too.

Can you HONESTLY tell me that irregardless of someone's talent, personality & portfolio that you would be apprenhensive to hire them because of their business name? What shallow part of the country do you live in? I'd like to know. Perhaps I am in the wrong industry to begin with if someone would not hire me based on my business name.

Enough said. PLEASE!

I hope you don't mind that I've adopted you now. We'll expect you at 2pm Thursday for Thanksgiving Dinner. Just you. The hubster and kiddies will have to fend for themselves for once ;-)

Something that occurs to me about your "One Girl Creative" business name and most of your Web site that could be working against you is that it's all about YOU, as opposed to what you can do for the person whose professional respect you want.

Try examining everything on your Web site (and yes, I did see the new copy -- that's the spirit!) -- with the eye of a corporate executive, or art director. What do you imagine s/he'd want to learn from a visit to your site? Is there anything there that might alienate or puzzle this person? Or just not resonate for some reason? Are there ways you could refocus your material with that in mind?

Here's a fun little drill: What are the three most important things you think this person would want to know about you, after reading your bio or absorbing the info from your site by some other means, before deciding to ask you for a meeting? You've got their attention for maybe twelve seconds, tops. How will you get those three messages across?

Now here's my personal favorite thing to do when I feel like I'm stuck with some kind of disadvantage. Write it on a piece of paper, three or four words, no more. Turn it over and slap your hand down on top of it. Pretend you're some super-annoying interviewer and ask yourself what you think is your greatest asset. Turn the paper over and, with not even a hint of irony in your voice, read our the words you wrote down. Read them with pride and joy. It's very likely, if you're telling yourself the truth, that the thing you most worry about revealing to someone in a job interview will be the best thing you have going for you. Maybe your failure to recognize it could be causing you to project whatever it is that's made them say "no thanks" -- so far.

Mara

Well, well, well—very interesting. You're right. I completely GET what you say. I really do. I guess the hard part is implementing it to my website. Please keep in mind, however, that my Dreamweaver abilities are pretty much crap at this point, so I am trying (VERY hard, I might add) to learn this program as best as I can so I can create not necessarily a kick-ass website (at least not yet), but something that at least looks like a designer designed. You see my dilemma?

I do get what you say, and perhaps my website does need to be a lot more simplified, correct? I hope I'm not misinterpreting your suggestions, of course. Do you recommend that I not go into too much detail about my "about me" page? Maybe make it a bit more succinct? Hmmm...I guess these are things I need to figure out. This web design thing is a lot more difficult than I thought. Bummer!

BTW—can I bring my pug, Pablo, to Thanksgiving dinner??? He's a hungry little fella.

Thanks!
Suzanne

We designers know that the most important thing is our portfolio. It shows our past, present our future, too. It doesn't matter that you are guy or "girl" or a women (or both of them). Nobody care Your exemination or thesis... The ad agencies are looking for Talents, creatives. Your work does matter which include many things about your personality and taste.

That's all.

Sure, why not?

There's nothing wrong with the basic design of your Web site. I like the layout, use of color and line, and so on. It's chic and clean. The problems are more a matter of content, I think, as others have already mentioned. What are the images on the Paintings page saying to a business owner looking at your site to see if s/he might hire you to do a marketing brochure? If Johnny Depp et al. aren't the answer, save them for a different site you'll create for your fine art one of these days. (Most web hosts will give you enough bandwidth for more than one site, so that shouldn't be a problem with your current setup.)

Yes, I do think your "About Me" copy is too long. I'd tighten it up and I'd call it something like: "Why I Can Help You." Include your basic credentials, if you feel that's important, but skip the business about skiing, acrylic paints and passion. If you think the recent vintage of your degree plants you in the wrong age group in a Web visitor's mind, why not say something like, "X-years experience in industry and organizatonal development enriched my study at New York City's famous Parson's School of Design. My success there made me decide to work toward a univeristy degree in Deisgn. When professional opportunities lured me West, I chose Colorado State University, where I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (most CEO's don't know what BFA stands for, so spell it out) degree in 200?. Ever since, I've used my freshly honed design talents and knowledge of marketplace realities to promote small- to mid-sized businesses throughout Colorado. One of the techniques I've developed during this period is to make creative use of typography for cost-effective solutions to the problems my clients face in achieving their marketing goals."

See what I mean about making it be more about the person who's reading? It's still about you, really, but it answers the question, "What can I do for you?"

Mara

Thanks, Mara! You're a genius. That all sounded amazing and very imaginative. I like your writing style and I like how you took the focus away from ME, per se, but about what I can do...fantastic!

Can I quote you? LOL

I think you're getting the idea, kiddo. Good luck!

Mara

regarding school, your're right One GC, it might be a different matter in different places. Usually, where I am, school is compensated by portfolio or work exp.
Its either school or the same amount of years of work exp and folio.
Ofc having both always beats, but its school 2nd. What you have done and can do now matters the most.

If you really want to learn dreamweaver you need to build websites.
And since you dont have clients yet, why not rebuild your website.
I would reccomend you to learn it while doing so.
Its hard to learn only bits and pieces while not heading for a final result.
So, even if you rebuild your website 10 times, its better than waiting for that final something.

i wrote this post in a madness moment :)
http://creativebits.org/node/4033
maybe its useful to you.

i cant think of anything else to help you now.
just post a question and im sure you will get plenty of answers.
as usual.

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always outnumbered, never outgunned

Since you said you were in college the first time in 89 I think we're about the same age (I'm in my mid 30's). Hence, I think I can relate to your situation.

Denver is a large city now, and I'm sure there's plenty of opportunities for design work, it just might not be in the usual arenas. Only large companies at this point can afford to have in-house design departments anymore, and the mid to small companies usually hire and fire their staffs on a regular basis because they can't weather the storm and stick it out through the tough times. I guess that's just business, and it sucks.

I used to live in Arizona (I think CreativeGuy lives there currently) and the market there is not the greatest. I basically had to find that first job that would hire me knowing that I was a "work in progress" but they knew I had a lot to offer. I too speak spanish and learn new things quickly. The salaries are pretty much at the bottom end in AZ so what you lose there you can combat by bringing more skills to the table.

As for schooling, I think it's helped me to have my Spanish Degree (got a DTP certificate only) but it's never been the clincher as far as getting hired. What gets me hired is my solid portfolio of work and my ability to sell myself. When potential employers and clients see my website (which BADLY needs a redesign) they find it easy to navigate and I make their decision to hire me very easy.

Unfortunately, most companies want to hire someone who can laugh at themselves and who can keep their ego out of things. Someone they can get along with for the long term is their first priority. I remember hearing from the design team that interviewed me later on that they liked me and that's the reason I got the job! Make sure you are in between the "ass kisser" and the "stubborn artist type" when you interview. ;)

What keeps you in that seat once you're hired is your ability to do more than what you're being paid for. I find that being just a graphic designer these days is just not enough. I have to do translation, web design, even asp programming! I recommend you start teaching yourself dreamweaver right away and make your first order of business fixing your website.

As a starting point, your home page isn't very good, but your portfolio page header is pretty sweet! Use that as your home page header and get rid of the distracting color pallette. Find websites that are designed well and follow their hierarchy structures. Pentagram.com is a great example.

Lastly, I recommend finding your local chapter of AIGA and go to a few meetings. The organization is a good place to start building your network of designer friends--you need a support group right now to help build your confidence and to keep you going.

Hope this helps!

Natobasso
Web Master/Project Manager
Bass Player

sadly i find this to be a problem these days: employers who just want someone good for everything. if you stay in these type of jobs long enough you end up with a thin portfolio and a lot of wasted time. just imagine that you could actually do design instead of translating documents, digging the asp help or managing their network. while i understand that knowledge is always a plus regardless the domain, if you really want to be a graphic designer, you should focus on that.

these days you need to be highly specialized on a certain thing not just have general knowledge of thousand of things. its like with doctors: the difference between a general practitioner and a brain surgeon.

anyway, my point is, if you are really desperate with money, go for a job like that but keep it short. in between 6months and 1 year.

if you have the opportunity to go to an interview for a kick ass graphic design job, just dont tell them you do other stuff besides design at your present job.
A mixture of graphic, webdesign, illustration, photo adjustments is ok.
A mixture of graphic design, network administration and secretarial is not.

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always outnumbered, never outgunned

Have you ever had a kick ass design job? There aren't many available these days unless you work at an agency in LA or New York, and I live in neither of those places. But thanks for the career advice... ;)

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natobasso

I've found that in the midwest it matters more about who you know than about actual schooling or past experience. I've always felt at a disadvantage. I didn't take my first art class until college. I had no idea what design was about when I took my first design class. Our design program at school was brand new, and didn't even have computers for graphic design students when I started. Luckily we had cooperative studies with the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, but we were always on the outside looking in. We were told about all the great web design jobs which would be available after graduation, but then the dot com bubble burst, and we were all left wondering where to get a job and didn't have any real contacts.

I'm not a career-driven person, and I had no idea where to look. I started with an internship at a local bank while still in school. Decent money at the time, but there was only one designer on staff, one computer with a black & white monitor, and only Quark installed on it. I realized that wasn't a good fit for me. I got a job right after school through a friend, but that didn't last, and that was right before 9/11, which then sank the job market. So 7 months later a friend called and her mother worked at a small printing company and they needed an artist. I got the job, did mindless production for almost two years, learned the business, strengthed my understanding of printing and prepress, and was bored out of my mind. But it got me my contact for my current job, which isn't what I expected, but it's good work. It's a combination of apparel design and branding. Some boring stuff here and there, but I get to put together presentations and the occasional logo design, plus anything else artistically that comes through. There's only two other artists, so we're golden. Nobody understands what we do, so we have a good amount of freedom, and I love it. I like being a big fish in a small pond. I do a few volunteer design projects on the side, and have gotten my first well-paying freelance job with more to come. It's taken 5 years, but I'm happy with where I'm at. I have no idea where I'll go, but I get more contacts every day and have more options than I ever did.

So take what you want out of my experience. My parents never thought there'd be a future in art, so I've come a long way. I'm earning a living drawing pictures on the computer and having fun doing it. So that's my story.

It's great hearing other people's stories, though. It can vary so much from person to person, from place to place. The advice is great. You can take what you want from it. I do like your website, Suzanne, but I have to agree about the monkeys. It'd be nice to see something else that represents you a bit more. And an online portfolio would be nice. I don't think it has to be complicated, just simple to show your work for a start. I don't think the fine art is as important as the portfolio stuff, but I do think it can show range for an artist. I think it shows strength as an artist to conquer as many medium as possible...

Great story Karp! I enjoyed reading about your journey.

Designers are definitely vulnerable to the marketing vs. sales cycle. You know--one side says we spend too much the other and the Marketing/Creative Department can never win this battle because of the subjective nature of our work.

Every creative job I've ever had experienced some type of downsizing because a compnay that hits hard times always views the creative department as expendable; outsourceable; non-revenue-generating.

My ability to multi-task has kept me working, both as freelance and as an employee, but it means I spend a lot less time on 'real' design. However, I've learned asp.net programming, web design and project management along the way. Unfortunately, these things pay better too.

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natobasso

Thank you so much, Karp, for sharing all of your experiences. You're right, in this business—and I think this can be anywhere, as it sure is in Colorado—it's about networking. I joined the AIGA while I was in college and our campus had just started a student AIGA chapter, so it was very disheartening to hear that nowadays, it seems the only way you can get a job in this field is from who you know, etc. Honestly, that's how I got my job as an in-house designer for that company in Denver—my husband's best friend was one of the owners and they just lost their designer. So, it is who you know, unfortunately. It seems that I am constantly sending out my resume and my ePortfolio to no avail. I recently applied to UNC (Univ. of Northern Colorado) for a job as a designer and I just received a "thanks, but no thanks" letter yesterday in the mai and I have no idea why, but all I can figure is they don't like my portfolio, which is fine. It happens because it's a competitive industry and it's all about whether or not you have the right "look & feel" for what they're looking for. I don't necessarily take it personally, but it's frustrating, nonetheless.

I, too, had two internships—one while I was a junior in college at a pretty awesome local design studio, and one right before & after graduation at a local magazine. It was excellent experience and I was always told while I was in school, that if you are not working, then get an internship. Even though you typically don't get paid, you gain massive amounts of experience. Which I did. It was excellent experience and I also worked as the head designer at another local magazine (before graduation) and then at our newspaper as an ad assistant. Which although was pretty mindless (I basically hand drew the ads and somebody else transferred my ideas onto the computer), it also gave me a tremendous amount of experience.

In the meantime, I have been working a lot (if you can believe it) from my clientele on eBay. I know it's cheesy and it's definitely NOT what I want to do, but right now, it gives me a few bucks here and there, and it's building my portfolio. How can that be bad? Plus, I am continually receiving e-mails from previous clients that I've acquired through eBay for MORE design work, so if anything, I'm getting the repeat business, which is also a good thing.

My next stop will most likely be at a local non-profit or something like that so I can design any sort of marketing materials that they need for recognition. That's another thing that my professors always suggested as well. It's worth a shot.

Look, unless you're talented like Sagmeister or Paula Scher, you're not going to get that kick ass job at Karsh + Hagan or Pentagram right out of college, we all have to work at it and start out at the bottom like anybody else. That's what I'm trying to do in the meantime, hoping someday somebody will recognize my talent and hire me—whether it's for a design position or a freelance job. I guess we'll see what happens.

Thanks for the recommendations about my website. I haven't had time to update it and remove the notorious monkeys—although I am planning to. And I am also planning on uploading my portfolio, because I know now that that's key!!! Thanks for sharing your experiences and your advice. I am ALWAYS appreciative of that. That's why I subscribed to creativebits in the first place.

Suzanne Maestri-Walters :: Graphic Designer

Great points, One Girl. Know too that colleges and universities are even harder to break into than the corporate world, mainly because oftentimes each department handles their own design needs rather than the University handling it. Makes for a real challenge, but if you meet one person on the inside, you could get somewhat regular work.

The less you need the work, the more that seems to become available. ;)

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natobasso

That is so right, natobasso. It's Murphy's Law—when you want something badly, you don't find it, but the minute you're looking in the other direction and you don't necessarily want or need it, it's right there in your face! I know it sounds like a cliché, but I honestly think it's the truth. Maybe it just means that we're trying TOO hard, and when our guards our down, it can happen.

All I know is, I'm going to keep up the eBay "business" for as long as I'm making money, because although it isn't my ultimate goal to be selling logo designs on eBay, it gives me a few extra bucks here & there. Hey, the kids need shoes. :)

Suzanne Maestri-Walters :: Graphic Designer

I've had several contacts from this site alone for freelance opportunities. I could join in and complain about not having work or getting a job (I have neither right now and I have no one to fall back on, it's just me) but I find if I'm helpful to those in the community and not too negative, I can make contacts and get work.

Learning how to market yourself online goes a long way in bringing yourself business outside of eBay or having a regular 9-5.

Good luck!

Jen
Pop Stalin Design
http://www.popstalin.com