Creative professional? Get hired when you’re not looking.

By Barry Magennis

Are you an unemployed creative professional? Or maybe just hoping for an amazing opportunity to arise? With so many creative people looking for jobs these days it’s tough to really stand out and get a chance at landing that dream job. However, there are ways to improve your profile without even having to actively engage in searching job listings and sending out applications or your CV daily. By using the things you already interact with every day you can give yourself a much better chance to get noticed by people in the creative industry.

Tweet with the Right People

First of all, with so many people using social media sites, such as Twitter or LinkedIn, the obvious place to begin would be to start using your own profiles as tools to get yourself out there. This doesn’t necessarily mean adding directors of companies and just asking if there are any creative jobs, the idea is to interact; maybe ask questions about the industry, or retweet things they say that you find interesting. The ultimate goal is to get yourself on their radar, so that when you do finally apply for a job in a month or maybe in a year, they recognise who you are and this increases your chances of being called for an interview based on what they’ve already seen. This means that you can use Twitter to showcase some of your creative talent, by tweeting or linking your own work, or showing interest in the industry by retweeting things that may be of interest to yourself and your followers. You want employers to be able to see your talent and be aware of you before you approach them. Or ideally they will approach your with that job you have always wanted.

Utilising LinkedIn

Another way to showcase your skills and experience to the right people is to create a LinkedIn profile. Used by professionals to create profiles that display all their qualifications, they can then network with others in the same industry to increase the chances of getting a job. So someone looking for creative media jobs can link to people in the creative industry, and then engage in discussions within various industry LinkedIn Groups.

Other Online Mediums

The key to all of this is putting your creative talent on display so that it is visible. No potential creative employer is going to see your talent if you don’t post it anywhere. This is where having an online blog can be beneficial, as there are minimal costs (if any) and an easy way to post whatever you want; you have total control of the content. As with Twitter, you want employers to be able to view your blog and find out everything they need to know about you, the more they know the better the chances that they’ll remember you. Whatever your creative field may be, from film to design, there will be some place on the internet where you can show off your talents. You can make use of different platforms for sharing media such as building a portfolio on Photobucket or Flickr, or creating a channel and uploading videos onto Youtube. Any of these are great ways to get you creative projects onto the net and gain some exposure.

Even if you aren’t actively seeking work, there’s nothing to lose by implementing these ideas, just in case that dream creative job pops up. Being creative and getting noticed for it doesn’t have to be difficult, all it takes is giving your everyday online activities a little bit of direction and purpose. •

© 2011 Barry Magennis. All rights reserved.

About the Author
Barry Magennis blogs on social media, creative jobs industry and graphic design careers.

10/26/11