I’ve been applying for some graphic design positions, and although I may not have samples of what they are looking for because I don’t know what they are looking for. As one position a few weeks ago whereas the person hiring didn’t even know what they were looking for in a graphic designer but told me I was not the right candidate (I’m a politician<sarcasm>)
Here is a Position that I probably won’t apply for but a list of what they are seeking.
• Have 2-3 years of graphic design experience and an outstanding portfolio of work (please provide online portfolio with application, approx. 8-10 samples)
• Have a Diploma in Graphic Design, Website Design or Advertising Design <= They all seem say that
• Understand how to design for all leading web technologies (XHTML, CSS, WordPress, JQuery, Javascript, etc.)
Is this a Graphic Design position for Content Management, Web Page Design (CSS), jQuery or Design, Design or a broad range of all of the above ???
I’ve even gone as far as asking “what are you looking for” but you’d think a simple email reply in brief or some samples could answer this question but no reply leads me to wonder if some scribbles are acceptable !
I can’t answer your question, but it reminds me of this post I saw some weeks or months ago. It seems like a very reasonable approach, but I bet that unfortunately a lot of employers want to take a boring corporate approach to hiring employees and so therefore may be missing out on the better ones out there.
Good Article. Explains both sides of the coin and it also explains something I had a discussion with someone recently. Which was that anyone can create a resume and make it look nice, almost anywhere nowadays has a computer to do just that. A resume to most employers means nothing as it’s cliche, but while one job may over look a resume to a portfolio and that being a online portfolio, another job will over look your physical appearance over your resume, while some jobs will strictly look at your resume.
I find the physical appearance resume is what most employers in alot of fields look at. You may be hired because your good looking or you may not be hired because you are good looking, honestly I’ve had the first a few times, I’m not making myself out to be a “Hunk” but I know that I do have physically attractive features that I feel do hinder and infact there has been a book written on the subject so this is not something out of my imagination.
I think it’d be a good idea to update your skill-set. It was established in a similar thread you made a while ago (regarding getting a job) that your skill-set is obsolete, not up-to-date, hence there’s little reason why an employer seeking a professional graphic/motion designer would want to pick you over others. Remember that this is a competitive field.
I very much doubt it is your good looks that’s prevented you from getting jobs. If you’re good and can convince a potential boss of your graphic design skills, there’s a chance that you will be hired. If you don’t invest into educating yourself and remain stagnant, then you’re actively throwing yourself out of the job market, at least in this highly competitive field.
I’d say roll up your sleeves and get to working, and working hard instead of worrying about your good looks and other excuses as to why you think employers won’t hire you. Hard work always pays out. Always.
Yeah, I really think it’s a bit laughable that you think employers make good looks a priority when it comes to employing people who’ll be working with computers.
Maleika’s advice above is very good. I’d start there.
I very much doubt it is your good looks that’s prevented you from getting jobs. If you’re good and can convince a potential boss of your graphic design skills, there’s a chance that you will be hired. If you don’t invest into educating yourself and remain stagnant, then you’re actively throwing yourself out of the job market, at least in this highly competitive field.
I never said that looks is preventing me and I did mention that there will be fields that will make looks priority over the resume. I understand about the whole ‘working hard’ in the sense in polishing your skills, although I don’t agree in the same sense to other careers.
I’d say roll up your sleeves and get to working, and working hard instead of worrying about your good looks and other excuses as to why you think employers won’t hire you. Hard work always pays out. Always.
No, you said your good looks have in the past prevented employers from hiring you.
The fact remains that you will likely not find a paying job in the design area without learning the trade and having something to offer that makes a potential employer want to hire you.
You could start taking some professional courses in the fields of your interest, e.g. animation and motion graphics/design.
No, you said your good looks have in the past prevented employers from hiring you.
I did say that but it wasn’t linked to the field of Design…
…but while one job may over look a resume to a portfolio and that being a online portfolio, another job will over look your physical appearance over your resume, while some jobs will strictly look at your resume.
You’re taking it out context. How can you honestly know that someone didn’t get hired over their looks, have you heard a hiring manager say “I didn’t hire her/him because of their look” they can’t say that because that would be prejudice.
If your good looks weren’t a hindrance in the field of graphic design, then something else was. Would you exclude the possibility that the reason you don’t get graphic/web design related jobs are the result of having insufficient qualifications in either of those fields?
If the answer is no, have you considered doing something about it, e.g. like learning the trade, even going back to school for it, so as to make the prospect of having you in a design team more attractive?
If the answer is yes, what other reasons do you feel there could be why employers don’t hire you? And what can you actively do to better that situation?
With no resume, no portfolio, no qualifications, no expertise, you’re asking people to buy the pig in a poke. The risk would be way too high for any potential employer.
I never specifically said that in the field of Design that physical looks will or won’t get you a Job. I said there are Jobs out there in whatever other field where looks will qualify it may not be prominent but it does happen, if it didn’t happen then can you explain that tomorrow an attractive women will walk into a office for a Job Interview and land the position ? Case-in-Point.
Geesh, SiberianHuskey, please read what I wrote! I said if it didn’t have to do with looks then it will have to do with something else!
It’s also interesting that you won’t address the points that have been made in this very thread that would actually answer your main question, namely what employers are looking for!
I can completely back you up on that point, where my issue stands is where you say something like “I didn’t get the job because I was too good looking”. Sure, you can jump all over the non-design field later on in the posts but you were specifically talking about design jobs in this thread.
Does being good looking help you to get hired, sure it does. Look at the field of pharmaceutical sales for the perfect example.
Does being good looking stop you from getting hired, very rarely, if ever.
If I had to venture a guess as to the real reason why you are not being hired for jobs I would put it down to lack of skills and a poor attitude (but that is just based on my reading of your posts on here).
Companies have their pick of people for positions at the moment and if you’re not perfect or close to then you can forget about getting a job. Heck, this is going to be my worst year in ten years as a consultant and I am qualified and willing to kiss the proper asses.
