Jun 12th, 2013

Finding a placement is always a troublesome task, and, like many students I began this process with only a vague understanding of what a ‘successful process’ was. Now it’s that time of year again I thought I’d share my experience with those currently embarking on their search, and hopefully offer some insight into the route that I took.

At the beginning of my second year of study I was given a list of design agencies — kindly provided by my tutor — and began Googling each one. After thoroughly looking through their portfolios and location, and trying to understand their size, I was only left with two that actually inspired me.

I still wasn’t entirely sure of what I wanted to gain from the work experience, so I decided to widen my selection and typed numerous search queries into Google such as “design agencies in…” and appended them with as many different countries as I could possibly think of. Financial implications weren’t taken into consideration at this point and I found myself thinking long and hard about the opportunity of working in places such as New York or Vancouver. I was so excited my mind had already rented out a studio apartment.

Then reality kicked in. It’s nice to dream… but financial implications underlined that this wasn’t an option for me. I began using competition websites such as D&AD to see which companies had actively set briefs and looked to encourage students throughout the previous years. I then looked up various UK-based design gatherings and, slowly but surely, my self-generated list became bigger and faintly more achievable. Looking back, I probably should have engaged more in the likes of LinkedIn and Twitter.

After sending out numerous emails to agencies I still wasn’t getting anywhere. It was rare I’d even get a response, and quite a few on my list asked for me to compete in a long process against other candidates by submitting work in response to a brief — something that I was always too late find out. Following a few nights worrying what my next year would entail I received two emails from my tutor referring to potential openings at companies based in Leeds.

This seriously narrowed down my search. I browsed through their work and decided to apply for both.

“What do I send?”

I read up on how some students had applied for their placements in a creative way. Some made cakes with their CVs on top, decorated in icing, others customised teapots printed with the same idea — the list was endless (and pretty impressive).

Looking back at my application, there are a lot of things I’d do completely differently given a second shot. The first would be really assessing and understanding how a potential employer would want to look at my work. The idea of sending an attachment isn’t the best idea, a better solution would have been to have all my work hosted on a website for ease of access.

If you don’t have a website already and aren’t comfortable designing and building your own, the following services make it easy to get your work online:

http://cargocollective.com/
http://www.behance.net/
http://www.squarespace.com/

Company directors are busy, so make it as easy for them as possible to see your work and learn who you are.

The interview process

I was lucky enough to be invited for interview at both places that I applied to, but I didn’t let that give me too much confidence… I was fully aware of how much more work I needed to do to solidify an opportunity.

I took it upon myself to really understand my work, my inspiration and also what messages I was trying to convey. I also looked into the history of the companies, the projects they’d completed and also, what roles were available within the company (though this information is not always easy to get — Twitter is your friend on this one).

The first was a two-tier interview that began by discussing the work I’d done throughout my second year. It went exceptionally well and they invited me down for a secondary interview. This tier was about presenting who I was, what I wanted to achieve and also, what inspired me.

The next interview was more informal, consisting of the two directors asking a series of questions similar to the first. One highlight of this was a miniature debate on design that occurred when asked why I’d designed something a particular way. I felt the challenge and mentality behind their design ethos instantly and this really won me over.

But, which one?

I’m happy to say I was offered a job at both agencies, but before I made that final decision I broke down exactly what the next year might bring:

Considering the agencies were based in Leeds and I was living in Liverpool I knew travel costs were going to be high. Long commuting times (a stunning 2.5 hours every morning) meant I needed to be insanely committed to my chosen company.

There were other things to consider too, such as how I’d afford my phone contracts, social outgoings etc. Strangely, my luck didn’t end there and I was offered a fair wage, which helped drastically.

Sink or swim

I quickly learnt that just securing a placement wasn’t the hardest part of this process, not by a long shot. It was merely the beginning.

I wasn’t really expecting a drastic lifestyle change; my expectation was a more gradual approach to making that big step into the real world. The reality was, no more late nights, last minute deadlines or ‘free time’ during the week — I blame only myself for that false expectation.

More often than not, my commutes to work included completing some overdue tasks I couldn’t get done the previous day. My efficiency gained a reality check and I slowly felt more and more out of my depth. I became more of an anchor to the team than an additional sail, and I needed to be faster, quicker and more efficient.

I needed to learn more. I grabbed as many books as I could and used a large portion of my free time learning more of everything. I slowly began to build my knowledge and pieces of the puzzle began fitting comfortably together. Simplifying every task made them more manageable and achievable. Burnouts became less rare and my speed began to increase — slowly, of course.

To finally understand the boundaries of my skillsets was something that motivated and enthused me. I craved more. There was always room for improvement and embracing that feeling and wanting to better my practice actually made the job seem more of a hobby.

I found rewards in the smallest things — completing each stage in the design process, getting sign off on visuals I had created, and setting up a stylesheet at the beginning of the development phase. The biggest reward for me was when everything came to life for the very first time; how it all moved and worked the way it was intended. That, and the bonus of a client being completely happy with the final outcome of what we’d designed and built is the greatest memory any designer should have.

Since making that transition into full time employment I’ve learnt and incredible amount about this industry and more importantly, an awful lot about myself. The biggest credit I can give is the life lesson and maturity I’ve inherited by being around some of the brightest and most creative people I’ve ever met, day-in and day-out. It’s been great, and I wish for many more years of embarking on new journeys, overcoming new challenges, and breaking more boundaries.

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By Adam Murray