It's coming round to that time of year again when thousands of graduates will be flashing their student card for the last time, packing up their student flat and getting all set to start their 'grown up job'. When I graduated two years ago I thought this would be as easy as sitting down at a computer, firing off a couple of CV's and waiting for the acceptance letters to pour in...because I got a 1st so that means everyone will want to hire me? Sorry, but I learned through experience that that's definitely not the case! Here's how it went for me... A couple of days before my actual graduation ceremony I started an unpaid 3 month internship at the Scottish Youth Theatre working on their new website. Obviously the downside was that it was unpaid, but it was great experience and there wasn't anything else on the horizon (having had a couple of rejection letters from other full-time jobs) so I grabbed at the chance to work at such a well known organisation. After that finished in September, I spent a couple of weeks searching and applying for jobs - pretty much anything in Scotland with 'design' or 'marketing' in the title. I didn't have enough experience (most were looking for about 2-4 years) so this meant that I either received rejection letters or no reply at all. This meant I had to do the inevitable and sign onto Job seekers - Excuse my language, but I have to say this was pretty shit. I'm not going to go on about this (because I could write a book) and maybe not all advisors / centres are the same but they really didn't have a clue about helping someone look for a job actually relevant to their degree, that they've spent 4 years studying for - and were pretty keen on making you apply for any job you could feasibly do. I landed my next job through no help from the Job Centre, my Papa actually spotted an advert in the local paper for the 'South Lanarkshire council Graduate programme' advertising various roles and that's how I ended up on a 9 month Graduate placement as 'Marketing and Media' graduate at Routes to Work South. Once again, not a full time position (but thankfully paid this time) which again was fantastic experience and without it I could no way be in my current role at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games working on social media within the Digital Team. What I'm pretty much saying is, don't be disheartened if you can't get a brilliantly paid, full time job right away...you might need to do a few shorter (possibly unpaid) roles to get the experience and build your skills to help you land a better job in the future. Some tips... Get your CV up to scratch Probably the most obvious but to most potential employers you're a piece of paper, so you need to do your best to present yourself, your skills & experience on 2 sides of an A4! Also work on your covering letter skills and make sure you actually tailor it to each role you apply for. Good advice here.
Populate your Linkedin profile Any potential employer is undoubtedly going to look you up online - so make sure they like what they see! Keep your Linkedin profile up to date with all your relevant information, actually fill in all the available fields and build a network by connecting with students/friends/lecturers... Set up Indeed.co.uk email alerts One of the most useful tools I found when searching for a job was automatic email alerts from Indeed.co.uk. You can input job keywords & locations to receive an email listing new relevant job vacancies, every morning if you like! Go to: Register > My indeed > alerts. (They also have an app now) Check out Creative Scotland Opportunities If you're in the creative industry then check out the Opportunities section of Creative Scotland which lists loads of types of opportunities from jobs to workshops. I found my internship at the Scottish Youth Theatre there! Check out TalentScotland graduate placements Their graduate placements are from 3-12 months and give you a chance to work with an established business or social enterprise - great experience! See what's currently on offer. Get some experience If you need to build up your portfolio, or real-life experience then check out sites like Gumtree where people will advertise jobs they need doing. This could be anything from designing a logo to building a fence. It might not be well paid, or it might be voluntary but if you've got nothing else to do it will help to make you more attractive to an employer! Get some business cards You never know who you might bump into on the street so you should get some Business / contact cards made up. They don't need to be anything majorly fancy - just your relevant contact details and links to your Linkedin, blog, website... Start a blog A good idea to keep your creative juices flowing while you're looking for a job is to start a blog or other type of place online where you can collate your thoughts/showcase your talents. It doesn't matter what industry you're in. If you're in finance you could write a blog about your views on current financial matters. If you're a designer then create Pinterest boards showing off your style. If you're musically inclined get a MySpace page up! (I hear that's cool again?)
Get Networking Meet some like-minded people though:
Networking groups - Glasgow Young Professionals, JCI - Junior Commerce International
Networking events - New Media Breakfast , Communications Breakfast , Be Good Be Social Stay positive! Everyone loves a good Brie, but trying not to be too cheesy - the saying 'whats fir ye wont go buy ye' really does come into play here and just because you've been turned down 100 times, had no replies or can't see any suitable jobs RIGHT NOW doesn't mean ones not going to pop up next time you hit F5. What was your graduate experience like (or currently like)? Comment below!
Thanks for reading! Melissa. If you liked this post, then please feel free to share it - Tweet Follow @_Melissa247
Working in the creative/digital industry in this day and age probably means that you spend quite a lot of your time sitting at a computer, tapping away on a phone or swiping on a tablet - at work and during your free time. Almost gone are the days when you'd get out and about for a meeting at work, or go out for a meal at the weekend without instragramming your macaroni cheese. Nowadays emails, calls, video chats, social networking and instant messaging have taken over. Most people probably find that once they've finished work and have plonked themselves down on the train home they head straight to their personal Facebook/Twitter/MyCatster to check out the latest happenings - I'm definitely guilty of this! While we were at risk of getting 'square eyes' from watching too much TV when we were younger I wonder if we're now as risk of getting '1136-by-640px eyes'...or stylus shaped thumbs - eek! In the office I tend to find it hard sitting in the one place for hours on end, unless I really am 'in the zone' when I don't notice time going by. This harks back to uni days when I could sit on Photoshop for hours working on a project and look up about 4 hours later and think 'Jeesh, is that the time?!' Thinking about the points above, I've been chastising myself recently for spending too much time online and have found myself making rash resolutions to delete my Facebook profile, chuck my laptop out the window and go live in a organic tree village........only to want to want to pronounce my new-found philosophy to the world via a tweet (dangit!) Whilst I might not be changing my name to Sun-Beam Daisy-Love any time soon I've started trying to do a few things to save my retinas and general sanity which you 'digital folks' can do as well to help break up your working day, improve your general 'office health' and even increase your productivity. Some of them might be obvious but a few are definitely useful...
Stay healthy 9 till 5...
Sit up straight - It's the age old piece of advice but it really will make a difference to your back if you sit with your back against the back of your chair with your feet on the ground....not to mention stopping you having a posture akin to Golum in later life. H2OH! - Drink plenty of water throughout the day but if you have a big bottle only fill it up partly as this will give you an excuse to get up, stretch your legs and re-fill. Twinkle toes - Rock your feet back and forth (toe to heel), move up and down as if you're walking to keep your circulation going. Step away from the screen - Sometimes it might be hard but try to take lunch break and get out and about. Even if you eat your lunch at your desk then try to take a 10 minute walk around, or just go for a mosey around your office. Snack time - As well as having a proper breakfast try and have some healthy snacks throughout the day - things like fruit, yoghurt, nuts. Take a break - Try and take time away from screens. On the train home try reading a book or just listening to some music for a while. Turn off your phone an hour or so before bed so you're not lying reading tweets right before getting some shut eye.
Improve productivity...
Get it out the way - If there's something on your mind that you want to do online, like buy THAT pair of shoes, or get tickets to the gig that have just went on sale then you're best to do it in the morning before starting your actual work. This way it gets it off your mind and will allow you to focus your attention on your work. Make lists - I have to say, I love a good list. I normally have a big 'weekly' to do list, and then each morning I split that into things I 'want to do today'. Doing this allows you to have a clear view of what you need to achieve each day and will help you prioritise tasks. It's a good idea to create a list for the week ahead on a Friday before 5pm - meaning you can come in on Monday morning and know what you have to do right away instead of trying to clear away the weekend cobwebs and trying to remember where you left off... Reward yourself - Another good thing about making lists (above) is that you can reward yourself when you complete a task. This can be anything from getting can of juice to listening to a song...all these wee things will make you feel a sense of achievement and a feeling of "Right!, what's next?"
Keep all your ideas - Sometimes ideas for work or other projects can hit you at the most random times - just nodding off, getting your lunch, walking the dog...It's a good idea to have somewhere to keep these ideas which is more substantial than a piece of paper so I usually send myself quick emails with a couple of lines of text. You can also use the 'notes' or 'memo' feature on your phone to jot down thoughts quickly. Do you have any other tips for improving productivity or working tips in general - comment below! Thanks for reading, Melissa x Melissa on Google+
www.croodle.co.uk I thought I'd tell you a little bit about my latest venture 'Croodle'. In essence it's going to be a social networking site for creative industry graduates based in Scotland - to be used by graduates as well as employers. Graduates will be able to create a profile with details about themselves and upload some images of their work. They'll then be able to chat in industry specific forums about portfolio/CV tips/their industries and anything else that takes their fancy....They'll also be able to join and search job 'groups' where admin will post links to the latest jobs (and employers will also be able to post opportunities directly here) As I said before employers will be able to create a profile and post any opportunities or jobs they have in 'groups' relating to their industry (paid/unpaid/voluntary etc). They'll also be able to join in forum conversations and contact any graduates directly who catch their eye. Another main aspect of 'Croodle' is the blog where every week/month (still need to clarify dates!) we'll have a guest blogger which could be an employer giving graduates tips on how to improve their portfolio, or a successful graduate telling us how they landed their dream job. (get in touch if you fancy writing a blog for us). Bloggers can include as many links as they want to their work, online portfolios etc so it's a great way to get noticed!
The idea for 'Croodle' came about in the middle of last year when I was thinking about the time just after I had graduated from Glasgow Caledonian University with a 1st in Applied Graphics Technology...and the trouble I had trying to find a job (which was actually relevant to my course) and how this experience could have been improved. I think one of the main reasons for the my struggle (and I'm sure the struggle of many others) was that there was no place online where graduates could be directly connected to industry employers. I think this is especially true for graduates living in Scotland, as I remember scouring job sites with 1,000+ creative jobs only to be hit with '0 results match your search' when putting in Scotland as the desired location - although I'm sure this isn't the case. It wasn't the problem of not 'looking in the right place', but one of the 'place' not existing! Croodle aims to be a place where graduates can form a community to share their knowledge, experiences and opportunities and also a place where employers can connect directly to the people looking to work with them. I'm hoping to launch Croodle in May/June this year and although there may be a few teething problems I hope people will bear with me! :) If you'd like to hear more about Croodle, would like to write a guest blog (as a graduate or employer) or would like to chat then email hello@croodle.co.uk
Hi everyone! I know it's been ages since my last post, but I've been super busy at my new job with Glasgow 2014 and with a few other 247 Design side projects! I've been thinking about what to post recently, and coincidenlty have seen quite a few articles popping up recently to do with getting a job in social media - which is quite apt as I've just started a new job as 'Social Media Assistant' with Glasgow 2014 - and it was quite an unusual recruitment process! (which I'll tell you about now :) ) #2014lovessocial I was on Twitter one day, and saw a retweeted post from Glasgow 2014, saying they were looking for a new Social Media Assistant with the hashtag #2014lovessocial. I was intrigued so went onto the website to find out more. There I found out that the recruitment process involved tweeting everyday, showing off your creative skills, with a tweet showing the types of ideas you'd have if you had the job - to promote the Glasgow 2014 account. Thinking caps on! and off we went. I completed the 11 days - you can see my tweets here and was then asked to submit my CV, then had a number of preliminary phone interviews, then the main interview and here I am! It was definitley a unique way of recruiting, and allowed the candidates real ideas and creative thinking to shine through! My tweets & ideas!
