Section 2 The First Steps Towards a Career
Step 1: Point of difference
First things first, make sure you take advantage of every opportunity presented to you while still studying be it - film competition, exhibition, work experience, workshop or a self-directed learning session (The self-directed learning file can be would in the student lab). These experiences will be used to build your C.V/ showreel and portfolio – which you should be doing from day one of study at Freelance (You never know when an opportunity might come knocking so it pays to always be prepared). It’s great if you complete all weekly assignments or school projects and obtain your diploma – but keep in mind your entire class is also doing just that! And they too will be using the same weekly assignments or school projects to create their showreel and portfolios! which means, if your classmates and you apply for the same job you will all appear exactly the same! Stand out by having experience that you classmates do not have! In sales they call this the ‘point of difference’ – what is your point of difference? Why should you be hired over one of your classmates or another applicant?
Step 2: Professionalism and branding
Create a business profile/package/brand for yourself which could include; your own logo, letterhead, business card, website or blog, bio and invoice/quote template. Don’t worry if you can’t get all of this right away but make sure you at least have a business card (these are your contact details to give out to potential clients or employers) and chip away at the rest of the stuff on the list.
Your logo should be a simple and stylised image that accompanies everything that you do and this includes; emails, letters, invoices and your business card. If you get into the habit of this soon you would have created your very own brand! Clients will recognise your brand and come to expect a certain quality of work from it.
Blogging is incredibly easy and free and I recommend it to you (it’s basically like having a website without all the hassle of coding and designing), your blog could contain; works examples, tutorials that you have completed, news and information about yourself. This is basically an online C.V and character reference for yourself, future employers could look through and gain an insight into your work ethic and personality. Keep it professional and make sure that it shows the best of your work and progression as an artist. For examples of what a blog could look like visit: Podgy Panda’s Blog.
Having your own website is a bonus but can take a long time to construct, costing you money, time and sometimes your nerve. Make sure you blog for a couple of years and build up content to transfer over to a website once you can afford one. For an example of a great professional and artistic website visit Tsai Lim’s Website.
Now let’s look at one of the most important things namely writing a C.V here in Section 3
