Design Agency Job Hunting Tips
June 1, 2011 by Kevin Michael Gray
This is the tag line of ‘Lemonade‘, a short film that I saw earlier this year about 16 advertising professionals who lost their jobs after the 2008 recession and then ‘found their calling’. Although I didn’t technically get a pink slip, I certainly got a blank page after parting ways with my previous employer.
I was left with 2 weeks to find a new job before being booted back to Australia due to Visa restrictions. I considered my options very carefully and finally decided to stay in NYC as my time was not done here, plus I had a girlfriend here. I set my goal; I had to find a job within 2 weeks.
Below I’ve outlined what I did for the first two weeks and some job hunting tips I learned along the way.
First week without a job (July 13 – July 19)
Researched my Visa options so I could stay in the USA. Saw an immigration attorney.
Blogged, Tweeted and Facebooked about my situation and then replied to the hundreds of messages of support. HUGE, HUGE thank you! Seriously.
Wrote & designed my CV. Updated my LinkedIn profile.
Put together an up-to-date private portfolio. I unfortunately can’t show this publicly due to NDAs.
Researched agencies that I would like to work for.
Prowled job boards for open positions.
Seriously stressed out.
Second week without a job (July 19 – 23)
Wrote cover letters, emailed my CV & portfolio to specific agencies.
Continued researching, prowling job boards & agencies.
Worked on my personal freelance projects.
Attended 5 interviews for 3 separate companies.
Looked for a new apartment to move into with my girlfriend. (Coincidentally, my lease was also up the same time I lost my job.)
Although this doesn’t look like much when listed in dot points, anyone who has tried looking for a job, knows it is a full time job. Add that in with looking for a new apartment and needless to say, things got pretty hectic. Though this craziness was not necessarily a bad thing, as I seriously learned a lot during this time, stuff I didn’t know when I wrote these articles: READ THE FULL ARTICLE
