What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Job search a tough one

  • Thread starter firewired
  • Start date
Well........I've been graduated for a month now, and I still don't have a job. There are positions available in town here but nothing for graphic designers right now. I could get a job at a couple of other places for a while i suppose, but I was really hoping to get a nice graphic design job somewhere. There are some openings in a couple of other towns around, but i don't want to drive an hour and a half every day to and from work. And I also can't afford to wait on a graphic design job much longer. Hopefully soon.........

- Joel
 
Joel,

I understand completely where you are coming from. I have 8 years of IT experience as an analyst, and I can't find a full time position, I have been doing contracts for almost 5 years now. It is a brutal employment environment for guys like us right now.

My suggestion, put a resume up on www.monster.com, seach job sites like www.dice.com DAILY, and don't rely on e-mail for transmitting your resume, by all means use it, but send your resume with a cover letter in PAPER form tot he employer too, even go so far as to show up and fill out an employment application, the more times the hiring manager sees your name, the more likely they are to hire you.

Also, look into getting your resume with employment/consulting groups like TekSystems, Professional Access, and so forth ( those two may not be in your area, but a quick scan of the yellow pages will let you know who is.)

Don't be afraid to take something outside your degree area, If it's a good company that is growing and will have opportunities for you in the future, just get your foot in the door. Trust me, I know it's hard out there, I went from a steady 9 to 5 job to working 12 hour night shifts for the last two years and I earn a lot less than I used to... the market is flooded with skilled employees right now. Good luck. and don't take any jobs I want.
smile.gif
 
In the meantime, take a position, while you are looking, with anything reasonable. Some money is better than no money.
 
Can you move to the job? The more unique the career, the less control you have over its location.
 
Yes, some money is definitely better than none.

I would really rather not move. I have so many friends where I am now, and my family is not far either, so it is a really nice location for me to be in. I like the town quite a bit and would really rather not move. I am confident something will open up for me soon. In the mean time, I'm working on a website to advertise for myself and will see what I can get for freelance work. Thanks guys
smile.gif
 
well, perhaps you can tele-comute?

Sounds like your living in a small town, I live in san antonio TX, (1 million plus residents) and have been willing to move to the Dallas FT Worth area, as well as Houston, Austin, and other large cities in the state, but it comes down to the glut of people on the market, SBC, Enron, Dell, all have laid people off and competition is beyond fierce.
 
Commuting is another option.....there is work in the neighboring city that's about an hour and 20 minutes away. That seems like it would be kind of a tough commute every day. I would basically get home in time to have some supper, hit the gym and go to bed. That seems like it would be kind of rough. But, like it was mentioned before, it would be better than no income at all.

It depends on what you consider a small town. Any town in North Dakota is probably small compared to San Antonio
smile.gif
I live in a town of about 50,000. The town is actually around 40,000, but there is an air base nearby that has over 10,000 people.

I grew up an hour away from here, and went to college here for 4 and half years, so I've met quite a few people here. I grew up here and have really enjoyed the area and would like to stay here. What I would really like to see is the town grow a little bit. It seems like it is kind of at a standstill right now. That seems like it takes quite a bit though to set those wheels in motion.
 
I can tell you from experience that a hour and 20 minute comute every day SUCKS. I used to drive (for about a year) 114 miles a day (to San Marcos) and back, (funny enough I live in a big town and was driving to a small town to work.. lol) the wear and tear on my vehicle plus gas and so on, made the job ALMOST a money pit. I had 10$ left over every month to take my wife to a matinee movie. That was the toughest time in our marrige, we went through that 5 year trouble spot in a few months.

Maybe you could make a job for yourself? Go around to all the small busineses in your town and start building websites for them. handle domain registration and server space leasing on your own thruogh a company like www.godaddy.com, you can get a Gig of space for under 10 bucks a month, most websites don't get very large, say, 100 mb, IF that, charge a service fee for the hosting and what not... help move these small town businesses into the new millenium. If a path ain't there, plow one on your own! turn your small town into an asset.
 
  • #10
I've known too many people who've waited for jobs to come to them and it almost never works.  If you want to do graphic design and can move as little as 1 1/2 hours to get the job you want, it's worth it.  That drive is easy on weekends for visiting friends.  Build your experience and keep an eye on jobs back where you actually want to live.  Competition can be fierce and you shouldn't ignore opportunities.
 
  • #11
I agree, it is tough when you wait around for jobs. But in this case, this is the job that I want, and the art director there has stated that she needs more help, but it's the owners that aren't giving her clearance to hire another designer. She said more than likely in the next couple of months she will be cleared to hire. Also, the other place that I would like to work at in town is moving into a much larger building and more than likely expanding.

I think what I'm going to do is try to get a job in town. I see there is an opening for a driver for NAPA. I am going to try and get that job, and work hard in my free time developing my website, and advertising for some freelance work. If I'm driving around to lots of businesses, I could see if they need a website
biggrin.gif




[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Maybe you could make a job for yourself? Go around to all the small busineses in your town and start building websites for them. handle domain registration and server space leasing on your own thruogh a company like www.godaddy.com, you can get a Gig of space for under 10 bucks a month, most websites don't get very large, say, 100 mb, IF that, charge a service fee for the hosting and what not... help move these small town businesses into the new millenium. If a path ain't there, plow one on your own! turn your small town into an asset.

Well put Ram Puppy. That's a great idea about the domain registration and server space. I hadn't thought about that part of it.

[b said:
Quote[/b] ]If a path ain't there, plow one on your own! turn your small town into an asset.

I like that alot
smile.gif
 
  • #12
One thing about a "fill in" job is that you never know hen it will come in handy later on. The job at the troical fish wholesaler was a fill in job until I got back in my field. I was ther for 4 years before I got back into environmental work. 8 years later, when the environmental industry went belly up, my fish job was waiting for me. At one point I worked for Burns Security as a guard. I left in good standing. Who knows? It may come in handy when I am 80 years old. When I moved to PA i worked as a temp for a laboratory. When I was let go, I was quickly hired at Home Depot. Two months later I was hired by another lab and decided to keep the H.D. job, on Saturdays. It may come in handy down the road. My 18 year old son is going to a community college and is also working for McDonalds. Although he realizes that McDonalds isn't his career, it is helping to pay tuition, rent, and getting him in good standing if he needs to work there again, in a different city. Ya never know about one's "bridges".
 
  • #13
Hi FireWired

I graduated in graphic design last summer and have been exactly where you are. Hopefully my experiences will help you!

Firstly, nobody wants to employ a graphic designer with no experience. You may have a first class degree but companies want someone whose 'oven ready' and don't want to pay wages out to teach someone how to do the job for a couple of months. When I graduated I found myself a company where I worked for no money whatsoever. I ended up working there for four months, an hour there and an hour back each day. But it was worth it. I learnt so much by just being in a working environment and learning how the two guys I worked with dealt with clients.

The way I got my placement was by finding out the addresses of every company in the area and sending out letters and CVs (resumes I think you call them in America) - but more importantly getting companies to look at my website. Here it is: My Webpage
Back then it was much simpler with just my university portfolio on. It was all created with Frontpage Express and Photoshop. I'm no web designer but I know how to design graphics, so everythings just images within the tables you use in Frontpage. This site was made after I completed my placement back in December, the original was just basic black and white based on my old tutor's site:Pete Thompson

My point is just get your portfolio online in whatever form and send out 100 or so flyers / CVs / letters, whatever, to get you a placement (or even better paid work!). Have a look at my CV on my website. There are a couple of tricks I was taught.

1.) Put an image of yourself in the top left. It's more difficult psychologically for an employer to ignore a CV when they can see the person. A page with just text has no association with a living person.

2.) Put a quote at the bottom in italics if you have no referee or reference
e.g. "Alexis is an enthusiastic, talented individual who would be a great asset to any team"
Who said this? You did, but someone looking at your CV won't know that.

Hope this is of some help. I finished my placement on 17th December and only just now are jobs starting to appear again. I've just sent out another 50 or so flyers to companies just to get them to look at my website and found 3 jobs I've applied for on Friday
 
Back
Top