Lecture from Emma, Aquent Recruitment Agency.

This afternoon we had a talk from Emma, who works for Aquent, the biggest creative recruitment agency in the UK. These are the notes I took:

• Aquent has offices in 18 countries & their clients include: Apple, BBC, Honda, Orange etc.
• RESEARCH:
• When looking for a job do LOTS of research; look in Design Week Top 100 Agencies etc.
• You need to find a specialism, where your strengths lie.
• Only 5% of graduates last year got a job in industry, so need to have work of an excellent standard.
• Find out which agency did the work you admire & target them, e.g. who did the branding for Orange.
• The top ten design agencies receive around 200 CV's a week around graduation time, so yours needs to stand out.
• Look for: good use of type, strong layout, relevant work, but the key is HOW it is presented.
• INITIATIVE:
• All successful designers continue to challenge themselves by self initiating projects. e.g. see a crap logo, go away & design it how you would have done it.
• Enter competitions. Major agencies advertise competitions on their website, prize = placement.
• Look on The Arts Council Website - they set live briefs.
• Tell everyone you know what it is you do, find commissions.
• Get down to a printers to find out process.
• Join Linked In - commercial networking site.
• CV PREP:
• Take your time.
• CV layout says a lot about your ability to handle type, space, copy etc.
• Attention to detail, spelling etc.
• Make it concise, two page limit, one page is ideal for a graduate.
• Make it professional, do not mistake quirky with creative.
• Leave out uneccessary details.
• Do keep it simple.
• Don't use funny backgrounds, samples of work etc.
• PDF PORTFOLIO:
• Keep simple.
• Choose key pieces.
• Tailor to your audience.
• The work should be the star - no flashy borders, backgrounds etc.
• Show your thinking - short description.
• PORTFOLIO PREP:
• Get rid of ringbound portfolio - always fall out in interview.
• Go the extra mile - bind it, emboss it, engrave it etc.
• Presentation is key.
• Research the company beforehand, you may have something in common with the person who's interviewing you.
• Think about what key skills you want to get across & how you can demonstrate them.
• What kind of commentary do you have? Every piece should have a story. What client wanted, what you persuaded them to have instead, how you implemented it etc.
• The flow of your portfolio is important. Open with your strongest piece, close with something memorable.
• Practice - present to friends, family, peers, people with experience in recruiting for design. Get them to report back to you on which pieces you sound less confident about etc.
• Take criticism, ask for advice, make changes.
• Take anything you don't love out - they'll pick up on it.
• Should be a flexible portfolio - take work that's relevant to the job you're applying for.
• Take out any work you're unsure about.
• Keep it up to date. No work over 5 years old, unless it won you a D&AD award.
• Take work samples, especially with interesting finishes e.g. foil embossing etc.
• Keep photography / illustration to a maximum of 3 pieces.
• Be clear & concise - it's a representation of how you can present ideas to a client.
• Don't flick through without giving an explanation.
• Logo - show variations of logo, how you got there. Put variations of your thinking in.
• Show scale - photograph it, show how it works.
• Logo - implement it, show how it could be used.
• GET AS MUCH WORK EXPERIENCE AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE.

Although the talk was very useful I found it a bit overwhelming, as the quality of work in the portfolio examples she showed us was unbelievable. After my surge of confidence yesterday after Anna's talk, I felt myself plunging back down in to a black pit of self doubt. At least I now have the tools to make my portfolio amazing, at least in itself if not the quality of work in it :S

I was keen for Emma to have a look at my work so I could gain as much as possible from the day, but so was everybody else. I waited until 5 o clock but I live pretty far out of the way, the last unilinx bus left at 5.10 and I had no money for a yellow bus, so had to leave. Before I left Emma said that I could email her my work so she could give me some feedback & that she's trying to get as many placements as possible for our class, which sounded pretty hopeful. One positive thing I did overhear whilst waiting around was Emma discussing web design with someone after they said that they'd enjoyed doing the design & coding in the SBC2 unit. Emma then said that there is a real lack of / niche for web designers & coders with a good grounding in design, & that they've been desperate to take more of them on at Aquent over the past two years. This filled me with real hope, & made me feel that I've chosen a route for my Professional Project that holds a lot of potential. I suppose only time will tell....