Photo by: SOCIALisBETTER
Some Digital Kitchen buddies and I had a presentation of our workflow at the Art Institute Artimation Festival. I was stunned at how out of date their portfolio class was. Apparently the entire “portfolio” class was structured to help students made a DVD reel and a resume. The students and teachers were asking questions like “What do you look for on a resume?” Are you kidding me?
Here is a note to all the creatives out there looking for a job… We don’t look at your resume! Do not write it and do not worry about it. We only look at your work. If your work isn’t up to our standards, it doesn’t matter how many internships you had or that you were head of the “Poster Screen Printing Club.” And as for making DVD reels, sorry to say we rarely look at those either.
Here is a whole class dedicated to helping get these students a job in the creative field, and they’re filling out resumes? That class should be for getting your work online. It is so much easier for both of us if you can send a link through an email or iChat that leads us to your work rather than physically mail us a DVD and a resume. Your best bet for getting a job? Make it easy for us to see your great work.
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18 Comments
I tried to tell them the same thing when I was in portfolio and they didn’t like my suggestion.
Agreed. At this point it almost seems desperate if you have a DVD. I mean to say, I’ve only hired people based on their websites and the DVD’s that are mailed to me are usually awful. If you want to take initiative, think twice about spending the time to author a DVD and consider marketing yourself online through forums, social networking or good old fashioned email. Or better yet, spend more time working on your craft and people might just find you.
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They want us to author a DVD, but most of us didn’t take the DVD authoring class. They want us to have 2 (TWO!) resumes, a “design” resume (whatever that is) and a FAXABLE resume. FAXABLE. Really? The last time I saw a fax machine, it was being used to prop open a door. If you want to work for a bunch of douches, make all that shit because they’ll want to see it… because they’re douches. If you want to work for cool people that really dig your work… your website and business card are all you need.
Yeah, in the creative field a resume alone will not get you hired… but putting one together in addition to a badass reel won’t hurt your chances.
As a print designer, I have a lot of work that legally can’t be shared on a personal website… In my case, the resume / reputation is all I’ve got until the work can be shown face to face.
That’s strange… our portfolio classes are dedicated to tweaking our work and putting it online. making blogs, and making sure we’re employable and networking properly. If you’re going for a print job, making sure you’ve got bombass paper, etc. etc.
I applied for a job at a few firms in LA and they asked for a resume…especially places that are big companies and need designers but are not digital kitchens per-se…but yeah it’s not as important because “if your work sucks you suck” (not my words, some advice given to me by a guy who does phenomenal work…hard advice but true)…
Barone had a good point. If you are presenting your resume to a potential client or employer, chances are it will be that kind of “job”… Say you get an employer that darts straight to your portfolio then contacts you. I’d say that’s more the route people should be going.
Where’s the class that goes like this: “Preparing my work for art directors 101″
Class 2: “Accepting and Learning from Rejection”
this is by far the worst advice i have ever heard. the purpose of creating a resume is an example of an exercise in design, and also give people bullet points on what you have done in the past. not everyone’s reel reflects what they have in fact done on a project, so they in fact could be misrepresenting themselves
Delete your reels, I heard the best way to get a job is to just make a video of yourself talking about work.
maybe we should all just make blogs
Wow… So many people including myself need to hear this! I think as a creative I’ve forgotten what it means to “show” my work especially at my website. I guess that’s why I am getting back to what matters most, showing my work. Thanks so much for this.
everyone’s got a blog, everyone’s got an opinion. i’ve had millions of views across many flash cartoons, and still have a crap job. it’s not your work, it’s if you can sell it, and not just to an employer, but a client. more sales classes in college. great work doesn’t mean great job, gotta be part salesman.
Agree that the work is of course essential, but would think it is valuable information for an agency to know who you’ve been working for, your exact role, where in the world. Many reels contains work that you’ve been a part of but you haven’t created it all yourself, so the reel may give a false impression of you.
But of course, all that information can come through a chat once you’ve impressed with your online reel.
I totally agree with this.
Post your work online, make it count, spread the word/Url.
For the most part I agree… But, large companies like Sony Pictures get hundreds if not thousands of submissions all the time. They accept “faxable” resumes through online submission (and even fax I think). A computer looks for keywords in the resume that correspond with the requirements of the job posting. The more key words that correspond the higher you get booted up on the list of potential interviewees. So that’s the purpose of a faxible resume. A “design” resume may get kicked out because the text recognition software doesn’t recognize your fancy shmansy designed text. As for DVD reels they do watch them. I know. I was there.
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