Yesterday I received a tweet asking if I knew anyone looking to hire a designer for work. I didn’t know the twitter user but he is not the only person who has contacted me in hopes I could either use his services or connect him with someone needing design assistance. I put together the following options for creative folks that aren’t sure how or where to find work, and these suggestions are based on personal experience. Keep in mind I am an extroverted person so individual mileage will vary.
The path of least resistance
You can look for work on your own through many different websites, the most obvious being Authentic Jobs. To be honest, I haven’t ever used the website so I’ll skip to another obvious choice: craigslist. Most of the listings on craigslist are posted by creative staffing agencies but you quickly learn how they prefer to post jobs. I suggest skipping the agencies’ postings since they only want to pay $20-$30/hour for your services and you are not a bottom-feeder. I’ll get to that in a minute.
Avoid Monster like the plague, you will receive e-mails from recruiters in New Jersey once you publicly post your résumé. The jobs aren’t even in New Jersey necessarily but they all want to know if you’d be interested in 3-month contracts in Baltimore or 6-month engagements in Tucson. And if you aren’t interested in these positions, would you mind terribly forwarding these opportunities to your friends? Let’s not even go there about the e-mails I’ve received for contract jobs that pay $17/hour.
Elance is an interesting model for freelance creatives: bid for work from clients all across the U.S. However, the problem with this model is you are competing with individuals and companies all across the world, and the project bids reach some incredible lows. Reflexively, companies lower their budgets which results you in competing for a corporate identity project with a budget of $500. Do the math and you soon realize that you will need to work around the clock to reach your business goals with these design projects.
LinkedIn is a great resource for finding work in addition to building your networks. The jobs you’ll find on LinkedIn are a mix of contract and full-time positions, and many of the postings are exclusive to the website. You can use your profile page to showcase your work and sell yourself to prospective employers/clients. Join network groups on the site to learn and discuss current industry trends.
I stumbled upon Talent Zoo by complete accident and I find myself using this site almost as much as LinkedIn (if not more). What sets Talent Zoo apart from LinkedIn? The site is made for creative professionals! You can post your résumé, look for jobs, calculate median salaries of job titles in your city, or read articles from people in the industry. You can also follow the CEO of Talent Zoo Rick Myers on Twitter.
There’s also Coroflot.com. You can easily find jobs in a number of fields, view portfolios of site members, and join groups based on a variety of interests. The site has a few bugs in its site flow but it is easy to navigate and use.
I regard Web Designer Wall more as an insightful tool for sharpening design skills than looking for full-time and freelance jobs.
Saving the best website for last, use Indeed. The site is bare bones in its design but you aren’t here because you care about looks. Search by job title, keywords or company then filter your results by salary estimate, title, company, location, and more. I highly recommend using Indeed in combination with Talent Zoo for the most coverage in your search for work.
Bucking an industry trend
I am not a huge fan of creative staffing agencies and I recommend using them only if you need to grow your work experience or if you lack a professional network. These agencies can represent you to businesses and corporations that need designers et al but don’t have time to waste looking for people. You are asked to submit your résumé and portfolio for positions that pay $35/hour, then the agencies add their costs and bill the businesses and corporations up to $85/hour for your services. Do the math and you quickly realize that you are on the bottom of the food chain.
Corporations will work with more than one staffing agency, it’s not uncommon for different agencies to contact you with the same job position. However, the agencies don’t pay the same so you will need to negotiate the hourly rate—or simply go with the agency that will pay you the most.
These same corporations are the bread & butter of the agencies. I’ve been subjected to interviews with one corporation that treated candidates like a cattle call with little regard for respect or comfort. I would contact the agencies immediately following these interviews and express my dissatisfaction for how I was treated by the hiring managers of the corporations. The agencies won’t say or do anything on your behalf. This is clearly not the way to manage and maintain relationships with anyone—especially when you are expected to bring your “A” game on behalf of the agencies.
This isn’t to say that all creative staffing agencies are bad. Simply put: if you connect with one, make sure you are paired with a agent that is dedicated to helping you find work. If you receive calls or e-mails about “last-minute jobs” with 2-3 days’ worth of work, or if you are presented jobs that do not match your skills or job preferences, cease working with that agency and find another one that will respect you as the creative professional you are.
You don’t need to be extroverted, only take yourself less seriously.
Before the recession, I attended networking events and met with a lot of folks that had a great idea for a website but required assistance in bringing their business strategy to market. Nowadays, these events bring out a lot of people looking for work, more than the folks with ideas and startup money. If you’re a designer, you should get to know developers, copywriters, information architects, and project managers. In fact, talk with everyone you meet but make sure you the aforementioned roles in your Rolodex. One of you will hear of a project that requires more than role, and that’s when networking with all the right people will come in handy. Be careful not to fall into the cycle of attending networking events only to spend money you don’t have, you want to make sure you leave every event with names & numbers.
If you’d rather spend your money on something other than bar food & drinks, join your local chapter of AIGA or Graphic Artists Guild. I’m sure there is a Canadian equivalent of these groups but for the love of me I haven’t the foggiest clue what it could be.
If the idea of talking to complete strangers brings on a panic attack, let social networking media work for you. Use hashtags (#) on Twitter to call attention to your field of work, then find other people using similar hashtags or simply search for keywords. Look for groups on MySpace and Facebook in your field; if no such group exists, create one.
Wait, there’s more?
I’m sure I’ve forgotten additional sites or groups—this is where you come in. Tell me what I may have missed, or share what’s worked for you (or what hasn’t).