Thursday, 16 January 2020

Employability Week - Skills Every Graduate Needs

THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS
  • Learn yourself!!
  • Search for jobs 
  • Apply
  • Writing CV and Sending it
  • Fill out Application Form
  • Showing Portfolio
  • Interview Preparation
  • Interview - After university, you can have about 3 interviews for a Design job. Telephone interview, 1st round, 2nd round, panel interview and/or meet the team
It costs your employer to hire you - salary + pension + bonus scheme? + 13% (national insurance contributions) + recruitment costs + payroll costs + software licenses + electricity + desk + software etc. It's probably about £100k - but this varies greatly.
The point is when you're going to an interview you are going to pitch for a £100k contract, therefore you have to learn everything about your professional self.

Task: Research some jobs, and make a list of the skills they're telling you you need to have.

Internship at Urban Outfitters
  • Must be an undergraduate taking an accredited placement year
  • Must be proficient in Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator)
Digital Designer at Charlotte Tilbury
  • Background in Digital Design - specifically skills in layout, typography and colour
  • A proven track record working on both web and CRM projects.
  • Background working in fast paced environments
  • Strong experience working across multiple projects or campaigns
  • A collaborative nature
  • Strong stakeholder management and communication skills
  • Be a constant source of inspiration by bringing new ideas and concepts to work
  • Additional skills in animation (Photoshop / After effects)
  • Ensuring all projects are executed within time line and schedule
  • Create visual designs that effectively communicate seasonal concepts and brand identity.
Designer at Foolproof
  • A minimum of two years creating information design, interaction design and UI solutions for high profile digital products or services.
  • Expert in industry-standard design visualisation and prototyping software (for example Sketch, Adobe XD, InVision).
  • A solid grounding in graphic design.
  • A good understanding of front-end development principles and execution.
  • Experience of working in cross-disciplinary design and front-end development teams.
  • Experience of interpreting evaluative research as a way of validating and improving your design solutions.
  • Recognised degree-level qualifications in graphic, experience or digital design, and HCI.
  • Package
Graphic Designer at what3words
  • Passion for your craft and the business
  • A good knowledge of digital print processes
  • Solid experience generating digital and social media assets - particularly, online display
  • A positive, professional approach to work, acting as an ambassador for what3words and the design team
  • An ability to work independently
  • An ability to meet project deadlines You will be:
  • Excellent Adobe CC skills - photoshop, illustrator, indesign
  • Excellent production knowledge - delivering artwork for print and web
  • A good feel for motion design and user experience
  • Deeply passionate about design and have a keen eye for detail
  • Hands on and unafraid to get stuck in Extra credit if you:
  • Have knowledge of latest social platforms and trends
  • Have a firm grasp on best mobile practices for Apple and Android
WHERE TO LOOK FOR JOBS
  • LinkedIn
  • Indeed
  • Prospects
  • Reed.co.uk
  • Monster
  • Total
  • Leeds Arts University Job Board
JOBS
  • Graphic Designer
  • Videographer
  • Production Design
  • Motion Graphic Designer
SKILL TYPE 1
  • Photoshop - all of Adobe Suite
  • Multilingual
  • 1-3 Years Work Experience
  • Ability to think across different platforms
  • Web and CRM project
  • Typography
  • Being able to interpret briefs
  • Knowledge of trends
SKILL TYPE 2
  • Attention to detail
  • Leadership skills
  • Organisational skills
  • Communication skills
  • Knowledge of trends
  • Teamwork
Skill Type 1 are Graphic Design skills (more job based skills)
Skill Type 2 are more personality and behavioural based skills (sometimes called soft skills)

On CV, skill type 1 would be more important to focus on. Some of skill type 2 needs to be put in but skill type 1 makes you more different, and more reliable. Skill type 2 is quite generic - recruiters get glazed over by it all. 

+ People who do Live Briefs are infinitely more marketable than others.

Over the next year and a half, it's time to think about what skills you need and what skills you've got. Then you'll know what you haven't got then the next phase is how do you get them.

CAREER AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Example  Skills
Come up with 10-15 things that you have done in your life that have some professional worth
  1. School Work Experience - worked at Gulf News in Abu Dhabi for a week and went to Global Village with the journalists to learn how to collect key information.
  2. Duke of Edinburgh work experience - worked at Abu Dhabi Art Hub when it was starting up so got to help organise community interactive projects and art exhibitions.
  3. Did a double GCSE in Media Studies - developed and established skills in Photoshop and iMovie
etc... 

When applying to jobs, you have to prove all your Skill Type 1's and 2's. E.g give an example of how you proved your communication skills etc. Interviewers will not believe a word you say unless you back it up with evidence and examples. Can create a spreadsheet during your life to keep track of all these.

TASK: Identify 3 skills that you don't have but will need to have by 2021.
  • Motion Graphics and 3D digital design skills - after effects etc
  • Strong portfolio
  • Organisational Skills
How To Get Them
  • Practice
  • Work experience
  • Workshops
  • Research
  • Internships
  • Work placements
  • Live briefs
The most compelling stuff to do/the stuff that's going to really impress and convince an employer to hire you are live briefs, work placements, experience, and internships. What they have in common is that they're real life experience. Your degree is not enough to get you a job - in order to give yourself the best possible chance is real life exp.

Degree & Education 
+ Part time job (better)
+ Internship (even better)
+ Live Briefs (even even better)

Task: Think of apprentice style tasks you could do on the weekend

  • Get a group of friends and create a publication together (zine)
  • Re-brand a local cafe
  • Create a font
  • Create a LinkedIn banner

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