Lessons

Lesson Info

You Are Ready to Invest in Your Future

Now, the first thing I want to start off is I thought that I'd like to ask you if you were given a book and you started reading it and a couple of pages and you realize that it was a story about your life, would you read it till the end? The thing is, I found that design has been the very vehicle that has allowed me to live in enriching life, and I believe for many people design is that for you as well, but this courses in just for designers or creative it's for anyone that wants to live their dream, and I'm sure that you will find a lot of helpful advice here tio allow you to live that, in a way that's, practical and really punchy and direct. So without further ado, let's, get straight into it. You're here because of one of three things you want to get your foot in the door as unemployed designer, you've had some level of experience designing or creating and want to move on to the next level or you're pursuing a non designer career path but want to learn something new. The overall dil...

emma is that most people simply don't know how to do that some common barriers that I've received from from many of the people that I've consulted with and the students that I've taught I've got my portfolio, but now what where do I begin when applying for jobs? What's the most effective way to get started? What are employers really looking for? Are there any techniques or strategies I can implement to increase my chances of getting a response? I've never received a coal or email back after sending my resume how about this one? I made it to the interview stage many times but just can't get past that last hurdle, I believe in saying things how they are and not worse than they are often times we can easily self sabotage ourselves because of the unknown, and of course it can be a very scary think you've invested a huge part of your time, your money, your effort, your energy, personal growth in this career path, especially for those of you that I've chosen to do three or four year bachelor's degree that's a long time because no one ever gave you a step by step guide on how to get the design job you want in high school, but I'm going to give you every single piece of that puzzle. So moving on for more than a decade, I've devoted my life to finding these answers I've essentially made all the mistakes for you ah large degree off your competition abilities as most of us know are measured by your portfolio in fact, I did in thai workshop just on that but there's more, how do you sell yourself? How do you set yourself apart? How do you create impact? What other areas besides the portfolio matter in getting a job, you will get those answers today and have the ability to number one, find meaning and purpose as a designer number two network and use networking as the most effective job search tool number three. Create a purse, create personal credibility and social value, create a clear, relevant in powerful resume craft the perfect email intro to an employer. Be confident in control before and during an interview, be able to answer any interview question and create impact, respond, negotiate, and accept an offer that considers your best interest and look long term in having a fulfilling and enriching lifestyle as a designer or a creative person. My main goal is to empower you with all these tools that you need to be employed. Who am I? And why am I teaching this? I may be repeating myself here, but for those of you that don't know my background, I'm from place called australia it's ah, down under, and it has twenty four million people with the land mass that's, it's, number six on the largest land, a realist, and for those of you that in america there are three hundred and seventeen million people and america sits at number three on largest land a realist however wasn't born in the philippines actually it has one hundred million people with three times less space in australia so it's it's number seventy one on the largest land aerialist only a third of that country there these are my parents my mother was ah very determined woman that she was the third child off off five siblings she was raised by strong willed mother and a father who for the most part provided from a distance but she was very determined to spite her having only a tape tablespoon of peanut butter often times and a little piece of bread she continue to plow through even though she got sick a lot of the time she was even a a scholarship with both in high school and in university and she has been able to work for some of the world's biggest banks she has even taught as a teacher my father was one of eleven kids and he was actually our three when his father passed away so he had to learn the ropes have provided very quickly carrying bags of rice on his head helping my grandma in the markets and he also was very determined he with a karate champion won many tournaments is a three day in black belt he's finished two degrees actually marine transportation and mechanical engineering and this man told me that success is indeed a decision. This is me when I was a kid uh that is maybe the same thing will be aside I don't condone drinking piney means but when if I could sum up my life as a kid it would be very curious and active you know, I had a very active lifestyle I was running around this likable eating nutella sandwich just running around on trays and jumping off them but I didn't think it was any different to the curiosity of most key kids but it does beg the question how did I get from here? Two they're a designer eating his fifty million hamburger at a mate's thirtieth birthday party who for the most part a zit has grown out of that clearly not it fails to, uh, move on from from that wardrobe collection so it does help me answer though the one of the characteristics of a designer and helps us understand that if we look inwardly and deeply designers negotiate sorry from the shape interrogate, investigate and explore the world visually and conceptually they feel a deep need to understand how communication works at an almost obsessive level they often draw some little they raid experiment and they explore the world they made things, they participate in culture and they observe the work of others. What were the moments and early habits? The nation mired design ability as well this is ah part of it it was a painting that I did when I was eight years old of recycling and it was for a local schools are prize I'd often enter competitions like these because I would often get certificates like these and this one in particular says it was judged by the panel to be off a superior standard of originality, imagination, composition and creativity although shortly after I found that I also stumble across the video of thomas arias who was a twelve year old app developer and there's a few of them actually doing amazing innovative things like this check it out it's a it's a pretty cool video and is well beyond his years so I think the description is more suited to their his generation of kids he is a drawing and even I was four and he's drawing I did when I was fourteen ten years later he's a little assignment I did it would have been about nine years old it's about the health benefits of milk uh you could get milk from camels well his cows have even got monsters endorsing milk they love milk a lot so growing up I received the same reaction you know from family members teaches friends every time I would make something it would always be positively received and I would think to myself is just enduring or collage or a cave made of blankets also known as my bedroom but as I entered high school, I started to form a deeper understanding of what it is to design and create. I realized that it was the moments that I spoke to people without ever making a sound, but it wasn't always blue skies and rain birds. I dropped too many ice creams along the way and had many fellas and disappointments. Fifteen was an interesting idea for me. It was around that time that my mom was sick and she couldn't work for almost two years. It was around that time that I got rejected by nine and on design agencies had to call around for grade ten work experience to find what we were interested in. And it was also at that age that I visited the philippines for the first time. And this is filipino money there. It's I think it's about forty forty of those that make up the u s dollar around about and I actually tipped the waitress the change that was given to me when I was at one of the restaurants, and naturally that's pretty customary to western countries. But I left it with her this bit of towing and throwing, and then I said that I keep you did such a great job showing up crying right in front of me. And I said, why you crying? And she said, well, this is two dollars is what I get for an eight hour day, and I've got three kids, so she was very moved by that, and so was I. After high school, I applied for a scholarship for graphic design, and it was a four part process. The final question I remember very clearly the head of the judging panel said, tell me about your parents and how you grew up, and the answer was very similar to what I've just said to you guys and three days later, I got the job. Sorry, I got the whole ship, but it didn't guarantee me a job. Actually, I had to take a job at a mail room for a million jobs in ogilvy and mather and ah, going through mail. You know, I, uh, thought, you know, at first why am I doing this? You know, I finished the course into a graphic design, but I realized very quickly that it was huge that that I was able to do that it was actually the springboard to my entire career. I met three hundred fifty creatives on my first day. Uh, and it was I would say the moment that really changed. My entire path because now, although at the time I could only afford the dollar tin of tuna and some piece of bread for lunch now I could say avoid for some of the most renowned agencies and design firms including ddb imagination and ah ogilvy off course and many others working for brand such as luton, coke, qantas um nando's whole bunch but then it leads me to this around three years ago I started a bloke called giant thinkit's dot com, which was essentially just to put all my learnings in one spot, and it wasn't for anything other than that just to help people out and then three months since it since exception, it got picked up on how magazine communication arts and american institute, a graphic arts whole bunch of other publications, and it led me to write my book, which is how to get a job as a designer guaranteed, and it was purely out of my frustration for the lack of information out there when you finished or when even you're working a job that you might not have envisioned it to be when you wake up in the morning. So I put on my learnings to a whole lot of other level in that to scratch my own niche. All the seemingly random experiences have included hang gliding in switzerland, learning crab mcgaha, which is a defense system self defense and switching, lifting hamburgers to dumbbells so there's a lot of cool things that I've learned along the way here is a quick video of it's a little pixelated guys sorry about that it's may in interlochen in switzerland ah for those of you online, let me know as you've been hang gliding it's an amazing experience for those who hear anyone raise their hand for yeah, there we go we got one janet you know what every other view after this just sucked, you know, like I went up and I casals and mountains and I was like it's just not like interlocking um the blue was the blue I'd never seen before. The green was a grand I'd never seen before and it was a truly magical experience. I wish I could go into more detail, but that's essentially it tried out if you haven't it's you know what's so crazy about jumping off a cliff via a giant quite weii do crazy things that humans doing. So what? Getting the design job you want ultimately boils down to is being accountable and taking responsibility. The outline of today looks like this how to network and use it as your most effective job search tool building the perfect resume and crafting the perfect intro email preparing and nailing your interview and then what happens after the interview so they're going to be the full classes today let's. First, establish your baseline. Now. I did personal analysis when I'm going to do that today, but I just want you to write down the the's questions. We did personal analysis for the other workshop I did on creating a knockout portfolio. And if you wanted to do that and, you know, guided where you feel free to check that out. But it's important for you to write these questions down and answer them later on if you haven't already. Who are you? What do you want and what's stopping you from getting it? Okay. Who are you? What do you want and what's stopping you from getting it? Then? I want youto right down this question for yourself that you can answer in your own time. Why design? Essentially, I want you to write down answers, alluding to why do you want to become a designer? What vehicle does this being a designer serve in terms ofthe your values? Of course you can replace designer with any job or any career path. But ask yourself, why design? What does your ideal design job look like? I want you to write down that question again. The more time you spend on this outside of this workshop, the more you're going to get out of, uh, your end goals. And reaching them just getting a job isn't specific enough. You must define what job that is. What it looks like, where it is, what is the culture and the organization, like, describe the environment, the working style and the people.