How To Get A Job In The Creative Industry
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Finding an art job that suits you
It’s been said before that finding work within the creative industry is as much of a task than the potential job itself. With all the competition, hidden roles and required experience necessary, it can sometimes feel impossible to climb onto that career ladder. Luckily, we spoke to founder of I LIKE NETWORKING, Isabel Sachs to uncover all the key tips to securing your first creative position.
I LIKE NETWORKING
As part of our growing video library, we had the opportunity to sit down and listen to Isabel Sachs, founder of the helpful career website and social media community. The platform was initially a mentoring and networking programme for women and non-binary individuals, but has expanded over the years to reach creatives from every walk of life.
Speaking from experience, Isabel touched upon her previous work roles, explaining how she moved to London from Brazil and created her own business. But although that sounds impressive, she likes to note that finding yourself in a new country with limited connections wasn’t easy, as she was starting from scratch.
Following this introduction, the I LIKE NETWORKING founder gets started with some beginning exercises that you could be doing when you’re thinking about finding a new job.
3 things to ask yourself before you start your job search:
1. What does your ideal day look like?
Consider what your ideal day looks like in terms of a work schedule. Are you at home or in a busy London office? What time does work start? Do you work alone or with people? Once you have an understanding of how you want your day to operate, you can refine your work search and end up in a role that actually suits you and your lifestyle.
2. When considering your goals, ask why?
Sachs usefully points out that your career goals should support your life goals and not the other way around. So to get to the bottom of your desires, ask yourself why you want something multiple times. This one exercise can help to understand your own values and ideals – an important part of finding any new opportunities.
3. What are your must-haves in a job?
After the first two steps, you should have a rough idea of the must-haves to look for when job hunting. Isabel uses the example of flexible working hours – is that something that you could live without or is it an absolute must-have in terms of you reaching your goals? Any job that doesn’t include your must-haves can be sidelined.
Finding your strengths
During this next part, Sachs happened to recognise the difficulty some people face when trying to express their strengths. Unfortunately, this difficulty can be a hard obstacle to get over in terms of applying to jobs. Of course, it’s useful to recognise where you could improve, but employers want to know what you can bring to their workplace and business, and ultimately whether to hire you or not.
Therefore, Sachs suggests looking at it from the perspective of the people around you. For example, how would your colleagues describe you? What would they say are your best qualities? If you’re new to your career journey, think about how your school or university peers would describe you instead. You are always going to have strengths, you just need to pull them out and showcase them to a potential company.
Starting Your Search
Amongst other things like salary, responsibilities and hours, Sachs provides some basic questions we should be asking ourselves when investigating if a job is right for us. Most of these answers can be found when you really search the company through their website, instagram, Google reviews and existing employees on LinkedIn.
⃝ What elements of the company appeals to me?
⃝ What resonates with me?
⃝ What experiences from my background would be an advantage to them?
⃝ What are their challenges?
Where to find creative jobs:
Jobs are sometimes hidden and only found through word of mouth, hence the importance of networking and expanding your circle. However, Sachs did provide us with a handy list of places you can begin your search for a creative job, including I LIKE NETWORKING themselves.
– I LIKE NETWORKING
– The Dots
– Creative Access
– If You Could Jobs
– Mediabeans.io
– Eric App
– Creative Lives In Progress
– Creative Recruiters
The Takeaway
Whilst everyone’s career looks different, there are some simple methods and tips we can all put into action when trying to find creative jobs.
Make sure you’re asking yourself the right questions, consider what you’re looking for in light of your goals and connect with others around you. It does take hard work given the competitive landscape we find ourselves in, but stick with it and you might just end up with your dream creative job.
WHERE TO FIND ISABEL SACHS AND ILIKENETWORKING
Instagram: @ilikenetworking
Website: ilikenetworking.uk
To watch the ILikeNetworking talk and experience our conversations with artists like Kelly Frank and small business owners like Abi Haywood with Big Jugs, join Dark Yellow Dot’s Art Club. If you take anything from Isabel’s talk, let it be that the creative journey is a difficult one to face on your own, so join us and be part of a creative community.
Don’t forget you can always share your art with us! Become the next Artist of The Month or tag us on Instagram @darkyellowdot.
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