Thursday, 5 November 2009

Dave Sedgwick from 999

At the end of October Dave Sedgwick came in to Stockport College to talk to us about his process in getting a job and shared a few tips as to how to become successful in this.

From listening to Dave it started to become clear that it was very important to research as many design agencies as you can whilst still in University, and keep a diary of your progress with each one...and that this diary was to be shown to no-one!

And when it was time to visit each agency with a portfolio, it was really important to take each comment with a pinch of salt, as some designers are going to love it, and some are going to hate it. Dave mentioned that one company even said he 'needed some Yorkshire pudding packaging added'.

This was Ironic as he actually got a placement with this company later on. He outlined the important issue that if you work hard, you will be successful, as that what he did and managed to get jobs with big company's such as LOVE and Dinosaur.

Even when it didn't work out with these places, he gained confidence from the experience and new skills he had learned and eventually through work that he freelanced he managed to gain publicity and build up a client base. He stressed that in the end 'it is all about who you know.'

Dave additionally gave us tips and advice about how to get a job. What I learnt was to not contact a few agencies I liked but to get a list of agencies and call and enquire about who to send CV'S, PDF'S and emails to, and email as many as possible. When you go for an interview he mentioned to perhaps leave a 'leave behind' before you go, which did not occur to me before to do but is a really good idea.

From learning and hearing from designers coming in to talk to us I always noticed how they stressed the point that it is definitally hard work to get a job and Dave even said one post graduate he talked to had 32 interviews before she got a job!

I came away from this talk with the desire to get list after list of contacts and with more determination than ever!

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