Graphic design career tips

The Graphic Design Career is a fast growing career that is becoming more and more competitive with every passing day. People are realizing how much money is available and how flexible the graphic and web design career really is.

1) Get Experience Doing Graphic Design Work & Working with REAL Clients

In design school, they don’t really focus on how to assess a client’s needs, wants, mood swings, and basic demographic factors. They certainly do not teach you how to learn basic communication principles, how to follow-up correctly with a prospective graphic design client. Academia is a long way away from perfection. That means it’s time for you to educate yourself on how to do REAL graphic design and get the wheels in motion so you can slowly but surely climb the ladders.

2) Choose Between Freelancing & Getting a Graphic Design Job

If you have never freelanced before, I recommend working as a freelancer on a strictly part-time basis to test the waters, while working a graphic design job prior to committing yourself to full-time freelance work or you may be conditioning yourself for disappointment. Get a handle on how to manage a project and a REAL deadline, and then start to learn how to manage a client. Remember, clients are REAL people. That means, real problems. A client may attempt to get you to complete work for free, forget or miss a payment, procrastinate in getting you content so you can complete their website design.

3) Graphic Designers Should Stick to What They Are Great At

If you enjoy working with vector graphics, you could familiarize yourself primarily with Adobe Illustrator, and perhaps specialize in icon-creation or acquire some knowledge of Adobe Flex and design interfaces for cell phones and other mobile devices. If you can’t take your hand off of a lead pencil crayon, it may be a good time to consider doing concept artwork for video games. If find yourself constantly doodling or drawing logos, icons, and enjoy coming up with tag-lines, become a branding and logo design expert.

4) Graphic Design Career – Start Small, Think Big

You are young, talented, and can afford to avoid some mistakes that could be avoided. Now, to a creative person, even the thought of writing an agreement or contract is daunting, so either get it done by a legal professional or suffer the consequences. Focus on what you do best and remember the rule of numbers – the more people you talk to, the more projects you will acquire. Keep going. Go to networking sessions, industry meetups, and other social events. Social media and email are mostly useful for follow-up. Don’t give up, but be smart and avoid setting yourself up for failure.

Five Tips for Young Professionals

When making forecasts about your career future, one thing is sure: it’s going to be buffeted by change. As a young professional, you can take steps to be ready for some likely twists and turns.

Get on a learning curve
Identify what you need to learn in the next http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=13657256six months and create a plan for accomplishing this goal. Continue to set learning agendas for yourself. As the world keeps changing, successful professionals will stay up with new developments.

Be technically knowledgeable
Virtually all work in the future will require technical competence. You don’t have to be a programmer, but you should be competent on basic computer systems and software programs and aware of how technology can be applied.

Improve your personal-interaction skills
More routine work will be automated, leaving employees to do what’s left. Young professionals will stand out if they can interact with and manage people effectively.

Be good at balancing work and life
As work spills over into life, and vice versa, professionals must know when work starts and stops and help other employees to set those boundaries as well.

Take time to look over the horizon
Be a futurist. Cultivate the ability to forecast what’s just around the corner, so you can prepare for it.

6 Tips to Help Young Professionals Fit In

1. Dress well
Even if the company is “business casual” you can’t be that way. You can’t wear the uniform until you’re part of the team. The best rule of thumb is to dress at least one step above whatever everyone else is wearing, and to wear a suit if anyone at the company wears a suit. Don’t just do in with a shirt and tie. Wear the jacket, too. Look professional.

2. Don’t text
Younger generations love to text. Generally speaking, texting at work should be kept to an absolute minimum. Texting while driving is incredibly stupid, illegal, and can get someone killed. Texting while at meals with another person is incredibly rude. The phone/computer should be turned off during any business meetings, any business lunches, or anytime you are supposed to be interacting with real-world people.

3. Work must be produced
We value you for the work you produce, not just for existing. This means you have to actually do something during the work day to get paid and get ahead. Some of you work very hard, and some of you don’t. This is to the ones who don’t. Unemployment is not fun. Neither is living with your parents until you’re 40.

4. Be respectful
You’re not dealing with someone who is a social equal. When you’re interviewing for a job, or working on a job, you’re dealing with someone who is your boss. Even if you have a friendship with him or her outside of the office, while you’re at the office you need to treat this person with the atmost of respect. If you cannot be respectful to your boss, you probably will eventually be looking for another job.

5. Understand life and work are not fair
You may think it would be fair for you to get highly applauded and given time off because you worked 80 hours this week. Life isn’t fair and neither is work. Learn it. Live it. Know it. If you get a “good job” for a job well done, you’re lucky. If you get a “thank you,” you’re even luckier. If your boss gives you time off to go snow-boarding or jump out of a perfectly good airplane, or whatever, you’re very, very lucky. Probably what will happen is you’ll get a nod, and everyone will get back to work. Your accomplishments won’t be celebrated. You aren’t going to get a parade. Live with it. The rest of us have been living with it all of our lives.

6. Manners, manners, manners
Behave yourself and remember your manners. A belch at dinner is not funny anymore. Shoving your way into an elevator before everyone is out is not acceptable. And so on. If you don’t know manners, buy one of the many great business etiquette books on the market.

Top 8 telephone Interview tips

The following 8 quick telephone interview tips will help prepare yourself for a successful call.

1. DO SOME RESEARCH
Try to find out who will be interviewing you. Will there be multiple people on the call? If possible get their names and titles. Become familiar with these before the call and you will have one less thing to worry about during the call.

2. ORGANIZE YOUR THOUGHTS
Make a list of your accomplishments, goals and strengths. On another list write out your weaknesses and what you are doing to overcome them. On a third sheet write down why you are interested in the company.

3. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE
Never forget that a telephone interview is still an interview. Take time to practice interview questions with friends or family. Ask them to provide honest feedback so you can improve your responses. Mock interview questions can easily be found on the internet or the bookstore.

4. DO A SOUND CHECK
During the mock interview, have your friend ask you questions both over the phone and in person. Make sure that he/she listens not only for content, but also tone, rate and clarity of your speech. If possible, record yourself speaking. Are you speaking slowly and clearly? Can you easily be heard?

5. FIND YOUR LOCATION
Stake out a quiet space to occupy during your interview. Ideally, there should be a comfortable place to sit as well as a table to lay out your papers.

6. ORGANIZE YOUR PAPERS
Have a copy of your resume and cover letter close at hand. Take out those lists you made while organizing your thoughts. In addition keep any notes related to the company that you feel may be helpful during the call.

7. GATHER YOUR WRITING TOOLS
Place a notepad and several pens or pencils on the table. These will be helpful in writing down notes, questions and most importantly, your interviewer's names

8. ELIMINATE DISTRACTIONS
As the appointed hour draws near, make sure that the television and the radio are turned off. Exit your email and turn off your computer screen. If possible, disable your call-waiting.