How to leave University in the best position for a career
Today I want to talk about the best ways you can prepare for the world post-university. It’s pretty daunting, suddenly trying to persuade new people you can actually do what you promise and try to highlight what you want to build on and develop more.
I’m going to be talking from my own experiences and some of the things I learnt that may save you some time, android some mistakes and hopefully get the best start as possible.
Do personal projects in your spare time
Designers, marketers, you need to be working on personal projects. Highlighting new things you’re trying out, showing off some of your methods of working in sketchbooks and showing a variety of different styles of working. This is the best time to try and learn new techniques and to experiment with new tools.
Do freelance work
It is almost impossible to get that first job, we know that with 3 years of experience as the standard requirement on all jobs you won’t get that corporate or SME role with no experience.
So you need to adapt. Doing freelance work will get you very little money at first, you will need to act like the origins of the word ‘freelance’. Like a mercenary, go between jobs, get as many as possible and with the amount of people who will try and screw you over to not pay you, don’t be afraid to chase better pay.
You will get more experience and by using your own brand you can create the 3 years of experience that will be needed, If you are starting university and reading this — you are doing some amazing planning ahead and you should start now. Finish the degree with the 3 years of freelance experience.
Use your linkedin connections, the world is very much run off networking.
Have your personal portfolio tidy and ready to show off.
Your portfolio will be really helpful when you get to the face to face section of an application. But let’s be honest, employers don’t give two before they see you face to face. Unless you’re one of the lucky few who hit a home run on being discovered and offered an opportunity at a design show or through a competition.
If your freelance gigs don’t have contracts, or if its not detailed in the contract. You can use your designs in your portfolio — charge more if the client does not want their work to be included on your portfolio website.
Generic CV
Have your CV ready, and make as close to a generic cover letter as possible. Job applications are a numbers game and as the saying goes “Quantity has a quality of its own”. You will probably need to apply to several hundred jobs and attend maybe a dozen interviews before you get that first jobs.
Tailor the introduction to your CV for the role you are going for and y9ou can use AI to help create this by asking for it to pickout and use keywords in generic sentences (don’t input your personal data into a LLM like chatgpt).
Use Linkedin
Connect with guest speaker, lecturers and coursemates. University is the greatest place to network at the start of your career. You have university as a point in common with others and this is a great way to to get advice. By being connected with these people you can see what they are interested in at the moment within industry.
Hit the follow button on leading people in industry, it’s a real eye opener into what they are discussing. For example, retail marketing has been a real topic of discussion in many circles I drift in and out off.
Be open minded
Often it’s the case that you should try to grab any role relevant to your area you want to work. Your dream role will often not come up or you won’t have the experience for it.
Research around your subject
Spending the time in university researching as much as possible, it is an incredible opportunity to develop a wide range of knowledge and develop deeper knowledge in specific areas you can specialize in for a career or going into a masters.
One way of doing this is to try and find literature reviews or papers related to things going on in the news. If there is an article on changing shopping habits (UK consumers are choosing cigars over cigarettes being a recent article I read) and if this has been researched before, if so what did they find, was there a similar behavioral change? By asking these questions you boost your attitude towards your field of study and at the same time can have a potentially long list of areas of research that can be open to new insights and potential high grades later on.
In short to conclude, I have gained more by doing work around what I want to do that has helped make my dream goal more realistic. My goal is to become a marketing strategist. I have worked in different design roles for creating marketing collateral, I have taken notes in the meetings that other marketing strategists have been in talks with business owners and project managers. It is the case that no experience is wasted, and it can help later on with getting towards that dream role.
University may be geared more for making money now, but it does not mean you have to yourself abandon the dream of fulfilling academic research and enjoyable learning. All while getting ready to be in the world of work.
