Archive for the 'Design' Category

The world is getting smaller! (long over-due post!)

Tuesday, December 4th, 2007

I was at PodCamp Boston 2 back in October, unfortunately only for a short time, but enough to see how far the unconference has come since September 2006! It was held at the very new, and gorgeous,
Boston Convention and Exhibit Center and even though it was gray outside, inside it was bright and buzzing with creative conversation, networking and technological innovation!

CM Access was able to host a session about Job Searching in a 2.0 world, and to hold a forum where concerns, topics and ideas related to technology in career management could be shared.

In many ways, the PodCamp Boston 2 was very much a typical conference or seminar: nametags, t-shirts, PowerPoint presentations, and give-aways from vendors. ‘

But in many more important ways, it was an evolution of the gathering idea, a more inclusive and interactive community-building event. And I have to say, the coolest thing of all (aside from getting to walk around my session room with a wireless mic like Bob Barker) was meeting the guy who designed our blog! Special shout out to Nico from Snowy Day Design. I was commenting on his BarCamp Buenos Aires tshirt, about how that must have been a really cool event, and he introduced himself: “I’m the guy that designed your blog!”

What a small world, it was really a reminder.

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Resource for designers

Wednesday, February 21st, 2007

As testament to the awesome power of networking, I was able to connect to a really talented creative professional today. He was referred by someone in my network, and while I knew very little about him, it shows respect to my contact to give the guy a call. Thank goodness I did!

Ken Thurlbeck is a very accomplished problem solver in the advertising and design world. He has a successful photography side, has created over 1000 television commercials, and can even claim ownership of one of the first successful websites back in the 90s.

I just wanted to share a personal experience of networking success-I simply appreciate that he took the time to listen to what I had to say about CM Access. And even more importantly, he let me know that he recently published a book entitled “Creating the Breakthrough Portfolio” which is a very effective resource for those looking for help in putting together materials for the job search.

You can see sample pages here and you can buy the book here. This guy knows what a successful portfolio should look like.

Let me know what you think! And, as always, if you have a success story–share it!

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Portfolio suggestions

Thursday, December 14th, 2006

I wanted to put some tips and recommendations for those of you looking to prepare portfolios for interviews with clients. This has been something a lot of designers and copywriters ask me about, but as CareerHub’s post says (and I second!), it’s not something that should be exclusive to the more creative professions.

An IT professional can showcase a project status report from a previous project. A financial executive can submit a deal sheet. A human resources executive can offer a benefits vendor analysis report. Operations professionals can develop a list of customer retention strategies and their success rates. Sales executives can prepare a presentation with graphs and charts to identify various metrics associated with business growth.

Basic rules of thumb for a portfolio (using the creative industries as a guide):

  • Be sure the presentation is professional. No three ring binders or manilla folders people! Like I’ve said before, it may cost a little bit of money you might not have, but you have to give to get, right?

    • __________________________________________________________

  • Your portfolio should include things you’ve done and things you’d like to do. If youre on the younger end, still looking to build an effective portfolio, there’s nothing wrong with including school projects you’re particularly proud of. I also recommend including spec projects that you’ve done to challenge your skills, knowledge and creativity. You might not have gotten paid for it, but it’s still part of your work scope.

    • __________________________________________________________

  • Which leads me to suggest, once again, getting involved in organizations in which you have an interest, non-profits, religious, or otherwise. Offer your services at no charge and then everyone wins–you add to your book and they get great pieces!

    • __________________________________________________________

  • Another thing to consider is the position for which you are interviewing. Employers want to see like-for-like. This means a corporate design department isn’t going to want to see your stellar retro-throwback to Rocky Balboa for the amazing ad in HairCutting Quarterly Magazine. They’ll want to see clean lines, logo and corporate compliance, brochures with long-copy, that sort of thing.

    • __________________________________________________________

  • Finally, it’s very important in today’s technology age to have a web presence. You can control how much information is made public, and how people are able to reach you. The spectrum runs from very minimal and passive (like having your resume posted on Monster.com) to more involved (like having pieces of your work (designers) posted on Coroflot or CreativeHotlist) to the most interactive: having a website and a blog and delving into the blogosphere, where you can merge your real-life personality and reputation with the virtual communities. Check out Jeremy Aaron Anderson for one example.

    And don’t forget LinkedIn! I am still gathering additional articles and resources about the value and proper usage of the site for networking and job searching. Stay tuned!

    • Try it out-and as always, ask questions if you have them!

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