Kickstart your career in the creative industry

Here at Fantastic, we pride ourselves on our placement programme. Every year we take on at least two students, for both marketing and creative roles and train them up to be ready for anything the industry is ready to throw at them. But how do you go about landing a job? This article will go over a few of the essential tips and tricks to get your foot through the door and kickstart your career in the creative industry.

How do I land a career in the creative industry?

1. Brand yourself

Create a logo, colour palette and decide on a typeface to use for your media. This won’t only show you understand brand identity, but applying it to business cards and stationery will demonstrate you have the skills and understanding of software. Click here for brand identity inspiration.

2. Craft the perfect CV.

In today’s day and age, a plain text black and white CV just won’t cut it. If you want to make a bold first impression with an employer, design a creative, well laid out CV. It should be able to fit on one page, explain who you are in a snapshot and highlight your skills. Too many people try to fit their entire life stories on there which actually proves to be a detriment. Click here for creative CV inspiration.

We, like most agencies have our staff check through applications on top of our daily jobs so we don’t have much time at all to scan through them. If we like the look of it, we’ll jump onto your website/portfolio and then it’s up to you to make your talent shine.

3. Create a digital portfolio

Having a place for you to upload your work to is invaluable, and there are many different site builders out there to get you started. A few examples include Unifolio (100% Free), Carbonmade, Behance and Dribbble. However, if you really want to stand out we recommend that you build something from scratch. We’re always looking for creative people that understand both design and development. Having some examples of coding will definitely work in your favour in an interview.

4. Blogging and social media

If you’re actively contributing content into the field you’re interested in, agencies will definitely be impressed. Employers don’t want people that simply do their job and go home at the end of the day, they want people that go above and beyond and love what they’re doing at every step along the way. That’s how you provide great service for a client and that above all else, is the most important thing. If you can portray that online through platforms like Linkedin, Dribbble and Behance it’ll make you appear to be an expert in your field.

5. Tailor your creativity

Depending on the role you’re applying for, your application should be slightly different. If you’re applying for an email marketing position, why not design an email that sells yourself as a designer? If it’s for a video role, create something animated that’s relevant to make your skills shine.

6. Application

It amazes me how little creativity is applied when it comes to actually sending through a job application. Email is by far the easiest and most convenient method of applying for a job, but it’s also the easiest to miss. If you want someone to really notice, you have to make things more personal. Call up and ask who’s in charge of recruitment for the role you’re interested in then send them something creative in the post, it’s way more likely your application will make an impression. You probably don’t want to do an Adam, but this at least shows some really creative thinking!

7. Interview

An interview isn’t just to find out if you’re the right person for the job, it’s an opportunity to see if the job is right for you. A large number of applicants don’t bother to ask a single question at the end of an interview. When really, this could be the most exciting part of the whole process. Here are a few things you could ask:

• What’s your favourite thing about working here?
• How do you spend your average working day?
• What does the company get up to out of working hours?
• Are there any big events through the year you’re planning on attending?
• Do you offer any training if I want to develop my skills in a specific area?

And that’s just off the top of my head. Put some thought into it, we always welcome as many questions as possible – it shows you’re genuinely interested. After all, being inquisitive is a great personality trait to have as it usually means you have a strong willingness to learn. And if that’s the case, you’re probably the right fit for a role at Fantastic.

Useful Takeaways

• Design a brand for yourself and apply it to different media.
• Craft a well designed, 1 page CV.
• Put together a digital portfolio/website for your work.
• Be active in the community by blogging.
• Tailor your creativity by designing something that’s relevant to the role you’re applying for.
• Think of other, creative ways of sending in a job application.
• Be inquisitive in an interview!

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How did you get your role in the creative industry? Let us know in the comments below!