Breaking Into the Industry: Getting Your Foot in the Door

As an inexperienced graphic design graduate, finding a job within the industry proved more difficult than I could have imagined.

Thankfully the amount of resources and information on the World Wide Web has been inspirational enough to motivate me to pursue the almost unbearable journey of rejected job applications and unsuccessful interviews to find 'that needle in the haystack'.

Given the opportunity I would love to be able to give back to the community and share my experiences of getting that first job as a graphic designer.


Image source: supajem / pk2000

No Experience Equals No Job - but No Job Equals No Experience

During my studies I was determined to find a graphic design agency where I could gain some work experience and also the necessary skills to becoming a professional graphic designer.

Image source: wakila

Fortunately for me at the time I had an Uncle who introduced me to a friend who was happy to take me under his wing and let me work full time at his agency for a month, so ‘Bob was my Uncle’ and I found a job with hardly any effort at all.

However there were two mistakes I made at this point:

• Assuming it would be this easy to get a job once graduated
• Assuming it would be the only experience needed to get my foot in the door

My advice is that you can never leave it too late to start looking for work experience, and the more the better. Whether you begin looking straight before college or after graduating from university, the more experience you have, the easier job hunting will become!

Graduating with Honours!

When I graduated in 2007, I believed I had all the tools to start my new design career within a matter of weeks, so I gave up my part time job to focus all of my time and attention in pursuing my dream. Boy was I wrong.

Image source: hhsara

So I began designing my CV, sending out cover letters and compiling a portfolio full of work I had done whilst studying. A few months later with more than a few rejected interviews and not a job in sight, and money running scarce reality started to kick in.

My friends from University were giving up and finding work in areas that were so far from design they needn’t bother graduating!

I could no longer afford to rely on this dream job of mine to come. So it was back to the part time job.

I have always been passionate about design and creativity for as long as I can remember, from playing hours on end with my Lego bricks growing up, to the comics I use to steal from my older brother to spend even more hours admiring and drawing from.

Inspiration – Staying Motivated

I spent almost every evening browsing the internet and looking for sites for inspiration.

Websites like behance.net and freelanceswitch.com among many more played a huge part in helping me keep my motivation and passion in design.

Image source: Behance

Reading about other designer’s experiences and advice was also a great influence to me, and books! Just because you may have graduated already and gone through school, it does not mean that you have finished learning, the amount of knowledge to learn within the design industry is vast, teaching yourself and constantly learning new skills, new technologies and practices is vital for the life of a designer.

Flying Solo – Going Freelance

One of the main reasons that I was constantly told why I was not deemed employable was because of my lack of experience. So much for my month worth of work experience during my studies. But I first need a job to get the experience surely?

Image source: t-florie

A year after graduating, I was still as determined to break into the design field as before. Although I hadn’t yet found my first job I had managed to gain some work experience in a couple of design agencies in London, and was offered a position to freelance for one. I felt freelancing would be an ideal way to gain relevant experience, develop my skills and also bring in some extra cash!

So I set up my studio at home and started small at first, designing logos, business cards, brochures and etc for family and friends. I found that because I was charging very low affordable prices, and also spending hours on ensuring that all work was portfolio worthy I seemed to be getting the majority of my clients through word of mouth.

Although this was great to start with, it undoubtedly began to take the majority of my time and effort without much income at all.

However I would not change a thing about the choices I made as a freelance designer as I have learnt as much about the practices of design, client relationships and the industry over the last year than I did throughout my studies. But that is a whole new article for another day.

New Portfolio = New Designer

With my new portfolio and new experiences and skills as a freelance graphic designer I was more ready than ever before to be in a position to apply for work.

Image source: Creativity is Power

I re-designed both my online and print portfolios (see image above), and started to take on less freelance work just so I had more time to find a job as a graphic designer.

Looking for work is more than a job in itself and deserves as much time as you’re able to give it - designing your CV and portfolio, writing cover letters, constantly searching in magazines, newspapers and recruitment sites for vacancies and also calling agencies ensuring that they have received your application. There is no limit to the time consumed looking for a job.

This time around it hadn’t taken me too many interviews before I finally got my foot in the door as a junior designer at a very respectable design agency that is right up my street!

I just hope that my first guest article is helpful to any aspiring graphic designers out there yet to break into the industry.

Both persistence and determination (and a lot of motivation from friends and family) are more than helpful when pursuing your first job. Be confident about the work you produce and the skills you hone, and believe in it, because if you don’t, in my experience, its hardly likely anyone else will.