How To Land Your First Full-Time Creative Role - PROGRESSING YOUR CREATIVE CAREER
How Do I Land My First Full-Time Creative Role?
Similar to what I said about landing your first freelance job, landing your first full-time creative role can also be very difficult and, in most cases, even harder. The number one reason why you will get turned away is because of your lack of experience, however, you can counteract this in several ways.
1. Fill your portfolio with work from your internship.
This is where your internship comes in very handy. You may not have gotten paid for your time, but what you did get was valuable professional work experience and, hopefully, industry professionals as references for you and your work. You’ve also spent some time in a business setting, so, if you are lucky enough to get through to the interview process, you won’t come across like a fish out of water.
In terms of your portfolio, there is a big difference between your personal projects and work that you completed within your internship. Essentially what you are showing with your portfolio is that you can take a brief within a business setting and create a final product that communicates the original intended message. The movie that you shot with your high school friends is not the same as a Facebook Ad that you created at your internship. Although they are both videos and both showcase your video editing skills, the core reasoning behind each project is different. Within your portfolio, you want to make it crystal clear how you can benefit the company that you are applying for.
2. Tailor your portfolio to the job you are applying for.
It’s not enough to make people read between the lines. If a company job description says that they want someone that can create and edit Facebook Ads, you better put an example of this in your portfolio, not the movie that you edited with your high school friends. Every job application will have a set of required skills and the more that you can cover and show examples of in your portfolio, the better chance you will have of progressing through the job application process.
3. Take advantage of low-hanging fruit.
Now, you need to be realistic about where you think you're going to get hired. If you think your first full-time creative job is going to be in a big established company downtown… Well, you might want to manage your expectations. That’s not to say it can’t or won’t happen; what I am saying is that being open to smaller, newer companies that are further out of the city will greatly increase your chances of getting your first full-time creative job. In my experience companies like these are more likely to take a chance on someone who is fresh to the industry.
