Good morning, everyone.
This is Eden Weinberg from Bell and Ivy.
She is the Creative Marketing Manager.
And she's come here today to talk to us about expectations
for students who are looking to get into graphic in terms
of what their resume should look like
and what their portfolio should look like,
so that we can have a good idea of how to get access
to these opportunities.
And they also always are hiring at [INAUDIBLE]..
So, thank you so much for coming.
Thank you so much for having me, everyone.
So, you know, Ann Marie told me that we we're
going to be talking about best practices
when it comes to your resume and portfolio
as a graphic designer.
And so I wanted to start off my presentation with a Dr. Seuss
quote, and just kind of hammering
the point that visuals and graphic design and design
in general are really crucial.
You see a picture before you read anything.
And so if a graphic designer doesn't really
understand why the work that they're doing is important,
then it's almost useless.
So I think that's where I wanted to start off
because I think that at the end of the day,
if the work that you're doing is important
and if you can't understand why and also be able to explain
to someone why it's important, then
you kind of need to go back to the drawing board
and figure it out.
So it's a little Dr. Seuss quote to start off the morning.
So, resumes and portfolios, there's a difference.
But they're both almost equally important.
For graphic designers, portfolios
are in addition to your resume.
It's like your head shot if you're an actor.
A math student might have certain case studies
or projects that they've worked on.
A graphic designer has their portfolio.
So the difference between a resume and a portfolio,
the resume is where you tell and the portfolio
is where you show.
So you want to make sure to choose what you're including
in both very strategically.
A big point that I'm going to make this morning
is about relevance, not just including things
that are relevant, but also being
relevant as an applicant in this crazy job world where everyone
is fighting for a spot.
So we want to make sure, also, that we're
utilizing the space in a careful and mindful way.
First impressions are super important, as everyone knows.
And also, the space and time that you have
is very limited when you're applying to a job.
So I'm going to touch on some more specifics about what
to include, what not to include on your resume and portfolio.
But at the end of the day, these are
some of the key things that we want to see in your resume
and portfolio.
So you want to see a range in skills.
But you also want to see that people
are able to adopt their skills to a specific field or project
and client, if that's what's going to happen in their job.
So really honing in on very specific skills
and showing your range of work, and that you're versatile.
So with networking, it's really important
to branch out and try new things.
And if it's not a fit, then you move on to the next.
But you're not going to know if you're good at something
or if you enjoy doing something unless you try it.
So my big thing that I always recommend to people
is just getting involved.
Because there's so many resources and there's
so many opportunities in college.
And also you're in LA, I mean there are internships
everywhere.
There's nonprofit work that you can
be doing that you can get design experience.
There's so many different ways that you can actually
learn that might not seem obvious at first.
But it's worthwhile.
And if you hate it, it's not a big deal.
This is why you have these four years in college or two years,
even.
However long you're in college, use that time
to your advantage.
And take advantage of all the opportunities and resources
that you have.
That's why the Career Services Center is so crucial.
And they have these resources readily available
and all you have to do is ask.
So getting involved is super important,
and trying different things.
Finding a mentor is also super, super helpful.
I think that having a mentor and someone who's
been through what you've been through, even if it's not
exactly what you are trying to go into in terms of a career,
having that experience and that knowledge and wisdom
that they can help guide you through this kind of journey
that it is to find a job and enter into the real world
after college is really helpful.
I was lucky enough to find a mentor through my internship.
And I actually work with her.
So I'm going to touch on some ways
to find mentors, but obviously, through the Career Services
Center.
I'm sure that maybe this is something
that you guys have talked about but having a mentor,
obviously, it like your career counselor is unbelievably
helpful, but having a mentor in this specific field
is also useful.
So making sure that you're asking questions, also.
Because it kind of ties back into getting involved
and trying different things.
But if you're not going to ask a question,
nobody is going to give you the answer.
It may seem obvious again.
But don't be afraid to ask questions and ask for help too.
Because this is all new to everyone
who's looking for a job.
It was for me.
And I'm sure it was for everybody else.
So attending events also is a really great way to network,
meet new people, maybe find a mentor.
There are events going on constantly even
if you don't know about them.
Check Facebook.
Check LinkedIn.
Check with you guys.
Check with the Career Service Center.
There are so many events and ways
to get into these networking events
that there's no reason that you shouldn't be attending it.
So when it comes to LinkedIn, LinkedIn is super, super great.
I love LinkedIn.
It's always exciting when someone connects with you.
Sometimes you'll get super random people
connecting with you who have no idea who you actually are.
And they're just trying to meet people.
Honestly, don't do that.
But don't be afraid to reach out to people
if you have done your research.
That's the main thing is that you should always
research who you're connecting with before you connect
with them.
If you're looking to connect with someone
from a specific company, go for it.
But keep in mind some of these key things.
If you've met someone already, always connect with them
immediately after meeting.
People only stay in your memory for a very short time,
especially today when people are so
busy on their iPhones and their tablets and all the technology
that we have at our fingertips.
It's easy to be forgotten.
So we want to figure out how to stay in people's memory
before they forget us.
So another thing is that I like to call
a friend of a friend policy.
So a friend of a friend policy, so on LinkedIn,
when you look up someone--
maybe you're trying to connect with someone
who works at Nike, for example.
You've done your research.
You've looked across LinkedIn.
And you're looking through the different titles
of people who claim that they work at Nike on LinkedIn.
And you see, oh, I have a second connection, a first connection,
or a third connection.
Stay away from the third connections
because it's too far gone.
But if you have a second connection,
like feel free to mention that in your message
when you're connecting to someone.
Mention the fact that you know someone that they know.
It always makes it more personal.
It makes them feel more comfortable responding
to your message and opening your request to connect.
And then, also finding a common ground which is similar,
but if you can figure something out
about them that you have in common with them when you're
connecting with them on LinkedIn.
And this also goes for Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram
honestly.
It's interesting because everybody
has their different platform that they love
and that they are most active on.
So if it's a hiring manager, realistically, they're
going to be most active on LinkedIn.
But you know, they may also be active on Twitter personally.
And you can comment on one of them--
don't be afraid to comment on one of their posts
and be like I love what you just shared.
I would love to grab a coffee with you.
It's really important to kind of be comfortable
and confident enough to break out of your comfort zone
and reach out to people because that sets you apart.
That's part of what sets you apart
and what people will remember.
So those reasons, those are some best practices
when it comes to LinkedIn.
But at the end of the day, across all social media
platforms, feel free to connect.
And if you don't get a response, it's not the end of the world.
That's why you do these things beforehand
to make sure that you have a better chance of them
connecting with you after.
So we already touched on what the purpose of your resume is.
And what it comes down to is really
highlighting your best attributes and the best things
about yourself and the best experiences
that you've had that have taught you the most.
So when I talk about relevance, on your resume
you should first include, obviously, your experience.
So work, job, internship experience.
And it might not seem relevant if you've babysat.
That might not seem applicable to graphic design.
But if you can frame it in a way that
tells the interviewer that you learned something that
can apply to graphic design in your babysitting experience,
they're going to like that.
It shows that versatility.
But I will say, don't include it if it's not relevant.
If you can figure out a way to explain why it's relevant,
then absolutely put it on there.
The other thing is hierarchies.
So we want to make sure that we're
using reverse chronological order in terms
of our experience.
And always include the date, include the job, the company
title, and also just a couple-- like one to two sentences--
describing the work that you were doing there.
And then in that description, we want
to always use active voice.
Because you don't want to use pronouns.
You don't want to say I did this.
You want to say, worked on this or built
this team, created these templates for this project,
so and so.
So if you're not sure if it should be on there,
just don't put it on.
It's not worth it.
You should be confident about each item
that you're listing on your resume.
And it should show your best self.
So what not to include on a resume
is just as important as what to include.
So I think one of the--
sorry.
What should be included in a resume.
I apologise.
So this is essentially some of the same things
that's repeated.
But relevant activities is great.
And also if you've been in any extracurricular activities.
For example, when I was in college,
I didn't even know what editorial design was.
But I was approached by a friend who
was looking for a photographer for a student run magazine.
So do you guys have any at SMC?
Are there any similar activities?
OK.
Tell all the students that they need to join all of these.
Like join as many-- when I was a freshman,
I was this little, eager, bubbly person with all this light.
And I still have that light.
But I wanted to try everything.
And I think that that really did a huge service to me
for me as a person and also for me
as someone who was entering the work fields.
So include your education.
Include your skills.
And you can include hobbies.
It's nice to include a couple of hobbies.
If you like to travel, if you love food blogging,
or something like that, it's always
nice to include a couple of those.
But don't include too many.
It's good to keep that minimal.
So your professional portfolio, I'm
going to get to that in a bit.
But this should always be on your resume as well as
your contact information, of course.
And I will say that it's always best to have a domain.
Even if it costs $20 a year, it's worth it.
And I'm going to touch on that when
we talk about some specific portfolio and website building
tools.
But that's super crucial.
And then last is your logo.
Every graphic designer should have a logo.
They need a logo.
They need a logo.
So if they don't have a logo, they can make one.
And your logo is really a place to kind of tell
a story about yourself, show your personal style,
share your personal design style also.
Because everyone has a distinct style
when it comes to design and just in their entire lives.
So that's super important.
Some specifics, make sure your resume is one page.
That might seem obvious.
But I've seen resumes with one line
over one page, one line on the second page, and it's horrible.
I'm going to throw that out, to be completely honest.
So make sure to use easy to read font.
These graphic designers, if they're
applying for a graphic design job or internship,
their resume should look beautiful.
It should look really carefully thought out.
And it should not be busy.
It should not be using weird fonts that are hard to read
or loud colors that are distracting unless it's
done in a tasteful way.
Colors are OK in a resume.
And I have a few examples that I'm going to show you.
And I'll explain why, when, and how colors
can work on a resume.
So proofreading is probably the most important thing
that I can hammer in today.
Because I promise you that even if you don't think that there
are any typos in your resume or in anything
that you're writing, there probably are.
So always have someone else look at your resume.
Send it to your professor.
Send it to your parents.
Send it to someone that you trust
and it's your mentor if you have one.
Having a second set of eyes on it,
they're going to be the people who
catch those typos that you just don't catch.
It's human error.
And it happens to everybody.
So don't be so proud that you can't send it to someone
and get their second opinion because that really
makes a difference at the end of the day.
So now we're at what not to include
on the resume, which is, as I said, it's just as important.
So when I talked about relevant experience,
I want to kind of clarify what I mean when I say,
don't include experience that isn't relevant.
That is true unless you can explain and justify
why a certain experience was relevant
even if it may not seem obvious.
For example, my mom's boyfriend was telling me the other day,
when he was applying for his first job in animation
as a business development person,
he listed his job at Copacabana, like caring for little kids
during the day in Florida.
And his interviewer asked why is that relevant.
And he said, well, I spent an entire day,
every single day with children.
And I was learning about what they like
and what entertains them.
And that's exactly what we're selling with these shows
here at this company.
So if you can come up with a way to explain
why something is relevant, they're
going to be impressed by that.
So large chunks of text are terrible.
Limit to one or two sentences.
It's already a small space so one to two sentences
will look long.
And if it's any longer than that, nobody's going to care.
Nobody's going to read it.
So with photos, I have to tell you I cannot stand when I see
a photo on a resume.
I think it's totally tacky.
I really do.
And I think that a lot of people would agree with that.
If you're including a photo in your resume,
it should only be if you're a model or an actor
or maybe if you're a hostess or a server at a restaurant.
Because otherwise, it just looks a little bit tasteless.
So avoid that.
There's no need.
Instead, use your personal logo.
That's what hiring managers are going
to care about when they're looking
at your resume for a graphic design position, not
your photo.
So important, unprofessional email addresses.
If you're a student at SMC, you can use your SMC email address.
I'm assuming they have SMC email addresses.
So use your SMC email address.
Use a Gmail.
My old email is littlelove.eden, don't use anything like that.
Don't put that anywhere.
So that's important.
We talked about the personal pronouns.
You always want to be using the active voice when
you're writing your resume.
I built this team of 10 people who were responsible for this.
Not, I worked on this project.
That's a no no.
So with the distracting and loud colors,
we already kind of went over this.
And I'll explain why it's important.
And then typos.
Also, one other thing is the soft skills.
So with soft skills, save that for your interviews.
We don't need to know that you're hardworking and diligent
in your resume.
We'll ask you those questions in your interview
and that's when you can tell us what your strengths are.
So that's important.
So here are some examples.
So I chose each of these resumes for a specific reason.
So the first one is the example that I was referring
to before about color.
So there are certain ways to work with color
and to get color to work for you.
If you are a graphic design student,
some people really love to see color.
And some people love using color also in their design.
So here we've got this nice use of color.
We've got the symbols in the contact information.
And she's using her space pretty well.
It could be a little bit less chunky
and there could be a little bit more distinction
between each of these education and experience categories.
So the second example, I chose this example
because I wanted to showcase the way
that he utilizes space, and also the clean structure.
I love what he did at the bottom with his little bullets
and bubbles.
It shows a little bit of his design personality.
And he also added a little pop of color
without it being distracting.
The third one I chose solely because of the logo.
The rest of it is good.
It's fine.
The descriptions are a bit long and it
doesn't leave room for a lot of other items
that might be relevant.
However, she has a logo.
It's not the greatest logo, but she has a logo.
And that's really important.
And I just I want to make that point super clear,
every graphic designer needs a logo.
Even if they don't think they do, they need one.
So here are some really, really terrible resumes.
And these may seem super obvious,
but I also chose them for specific reasons.
So here, she's got her photo.
Immediately, someone will throw this out.
In addition to that, she's using really random fonts and colors
that are all over the place.
And she's got two full pages.
And nobody is going to read through this.
It's not even legible.
That's the thing.
So on the other hand, I chose Jahtara's resume because--
also, these are hypothetical people.
They're not actually.
But so I chose Jahtara's resume
because there are a lot of things
that we may think are obvious when it comes to putting
your resumes together and what to include
and what not to include.
But it's not obvious to everyone.
It's not obvious to students.
They may have never been told what is important
and what not to do on a resume.
And that's obviously why you guys are so important
and why this is hopefully helpful to you guys.
But he's using casual language.
He is not explaining anything about experience
that he's done that's relevant.
And it's just very, very-- it's actually too short.
That's another thing.
Sometimes your resume can be too short.
So make sure it's one page but make sure that page is filled.
So now we're going to touch on the website building tools.
So I'm going to start off by saying,
don't tell your students to use Wix.
Wix maybe came before Squarespace
but it's not better.
I know it's slightly less expensive.
And for people who are on a budget and they might not
have as much money to spend on their web sites,
I promise you it is worth the extra $5 a month
or the $20 a year to have a domain.
Now I'm going to talk about Squarespace and Behance
and the differences and what they're used for that's
different from the other.
So I will always recommend Squarespace
over any other portfolio builder or website builder
just because it's created for creatives.
And it's meant to showcase a portfolio.
So with Behance, what Behance really is,
it's just a portfolio, at the end of the day.
It's just a portfolio.
There's the plus side where you're
able to get your portfolio in front
of a large community of Adobe community creatives
and people are seeing your work.
But it's not a professional site.
It's not the same.
And as someone who's trying to get a job out of college,
the field is super competitive.
If you don't have a fully developed website,
I don't think that you're doing it right, to be frank.
So having a fully developed website is super important.
You want your bio up there.
That's where you can put a photo of yourself is on your website
and your About page.
Having your portfolio on your site categorized and broken out
in a specific way to highlight what your strengths are
and also show your versatility, that's
what you need to do on your website.
You can include some personal quirks.
I have a quote on my website that I
have tattooed on my shoulder.
So stuff like that that kind of gives the interviewer
or the hiring manager a sense of who you are but also showcases
your skills and your talents and your strengths.
So when it comes to portfolio categories,
I wanted to kind of touch on the fact that a lot of students
might not know about all the different kind of departments
of design that are available and that exist in the world.
And so that's kind of where I wanted to tie this back into,
trying new things and also developing your skill
set with versatility, but also finding your strengths
and honing in on those.
So it's kind of a tricky thing because we
want to see a balance and we want to see the breadth,
but we also want to see where your strengths lie.
So these are some categories of just some different types
of design that are available and that people are hiring for.
So editorial design, marketing design, logo design,
branding design, packaging, and product design.
These are things that you can actually
showcase for in your portfolio in different categories.
When it comes to fine art illustration--
photography, for example-- if you have experience in those,
those should 100% be on your portfolio.
Because, as we were talking about before, having
an eye for design and also composition,
it might not seem like illustration or painting
is the same as graphic design, but at the bare essentials,
it is the same thing.
You need to know how to compose a canvas.
And you need to know where the eye is going to, where
you're drawing the eye to.
And all of the design principles and art principles
are the same across the board-- illustration, painting,
like all of the fine art categories, sculpture even.
So if you have any experience in that,
that's something also that will set you apart
from all the other graphic design students who just know
graphic design and they don't have experience in typography,
for example.
Are there any type typography classes offered here?
Amazing.
So do they create specimens?
Perfect.
OK.
Put your type specimen up on your portfolio, 100%.
Social media poster design, also great areas that you
can showcase your skills in.
So with your portfolio, there are certain details
that should always be included or that you should
be thinking about when it comes to putting
your portfolio together.
So your breadth of work, as I said before.
Specific projects that you've worked
on showing your processes is really, really important.
And every hiring manager for graphic design
wants to see that, especially if they're creative themselves.
And so, that kind of means, for example,
if you're designing a logo design, start from your sketch
to your final project and show every step of the way.
And you can have it look nice too.
Just because you're showing a scanned in sketch of yours,
it doesn't have to be perfect and beautiful.
It doesn't matter if you are able to be
a sketch artist if you can show the start to finish process.
That's important.
And that might also be a question
that your interviewer is going to ask you.
And if you can answer that with clear,
thought out responses, that's going
to really make a difference.
So with the categories, including that breadth,
is going to demonstrate your skill range.
And another thing that's sometimes really useful
is to show your growth.
You don't want to put really terrible designs from when
you were 13 years old.
But if you have something from your freshman year of college
that you've created in a class, put the date on it
so they see this was something that was done in 2015.
And now it's 2019, and this is where you've come.
This is how far you've come.
That's how far you can grow even further.
So bare minimum, as a graphic designer, you should be fluent.
So if you're applying for an internship
as a graphic designer, you should at least
know the basics in Adobe Creative Suite,
primarily Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop.
If you don't know at least the basics,
nobody wants to teach you the basics.
They can teach you beyond the basics.
But they're not teaching the basics.
When it comes to a full time job after college
that you're applying to, you need
to be fluent in those three programs.
That doesn't mean that you're going to still take tutorials
on YouTube every once in a while or have a specific image
in mind that you want to create on Illustrator as a vector.
You're going to maybe trace it.
But what I mean by fluent is that you feel confident enough
that you can get an assignment to create a project
and you can go and do it, and maybe you take a tutorial,
and that's fine, and you don't tell anyone.
But that's what I mean by fluent.
So typography I already touched on that,
but topography is really important.
I'm sure in the typography class here at SMC,
there are projects where you have
to utilize type to create a design, put
that in your portfolio, 100%.
Because when it comes to, for example,
stuff that we do at Bell and Ivy, a lot of the time I'm
working just with type for a social media design
or for a specific campaign.
It's just graphic and type imagery.
So that's always really important
and something that I always look for, personally,
and that other hiring managers are absolutely looking
for as well.
Now we're going to talk about setting yourself apart.
So everyone is competing against each other.
And it's fostering not the greatest
energy among people who are starting
to enter the workplace.
But what I will say is there's a misunderstanding,
in my opinion.
A lot of students and a lot of people in general
think that in order to get this job, this dream job at Vogue
or wherever they're applying, they
need to be the same as everyone else.
In fact, it's the opposite.
If there is something different about you
that you know already, like hone in on that.
Showcase that and use it to your advantage.
Because if you can show a hiring manager or an interviewer
that you have something that sets yourself apart
and something that makes you different that you're really
good at that other people aren't as good at,
that's what gets you hired at the end of the day.
All of the different things that we've talked about this morning
really go to show why it's important to set yourself
apart.
That's why you're going to these events.
You're trying to stand out.
You're trying to meet people who may
be important in your network in the future in your career.
And so having a distinct personal style
is super crucial.
You want to be able to showcase your style.
So an example, a good example, one of the students
that we interviewed, Michael, he had a very, very distinct
personal style.
And it was beautiful, absolutely beautiful.
But what I did notice was that he did not
have much experience in any other types of styles.
So that's why I mentioned that you
need to be able to balance your style with the style
of the specific client, project, company that you're working at.
It's all about being adaptive but also knowing who you are
and knowing what you're good at and kind of tweaking it.
You can make tweaks to fit the specific project
or the specific field that you're designing for.
When I was talking about the portfolio categories
and also about trying different things
and signing up to work in the magazine that's student run
or signing up to be in the advertising club
or whatever it is, figure out what your strengths
are and then build on that.
And also, at the same time, try and polish up
your other skills.
But showing what you're really strong at, that helps hiring
managers place you properly.
You might be interviewing at a pretty large company
and they have specific departments.
If you have a specific skill that you're
going after in that job, let them know.
Tell them, I'm best in editorial design, something like that.
And then, just to reiterate, don't
be afraid to have something that sets you apart
and to be a little bit different.
If you're good at that thing that makes you different,
people will respond to that in a really positive way.
And they'll be impressed with you.
And that's memorable.
So that's important.
So what now?
You've submitted your application.
You've polished up your resume and your portfolio.
They look beautiful.
And now you're getting callbacks for interviews.
So just a few things to keep in mind
when it comes to interviews.
You want to be prepared.
You want to have done your research on the company
that you're interviewing at.
You want to know who you're interviewing with.
You can look them up on LinkedIn,
look them up on Facebook, look them up on Google.
Find them somehow and learn a little bit about them.
This is going to help you connect
with them on a personal level and get
to know them a little bit better and also help
you stick out in the whole bunch of people who are interviewing.
Your body language is super important.
You want to make sure that they know that you're comfortable
and that you're confident.
Everything else will follow.
If you feel confident and you feel like you look good,
that's with the dress code, you want
to make sure that you're sticking with the dress code
if they've provided one.
If not, just think appropriately.
Obviously it might seem more obvious
than it is but you want to make sure
that there's nothing distracting going on in your outfit.
I mean, you can show some of your personal style.
You know, you're a designer.
You want to kind of tell them a little bit about who you are.
But it doesn't have to be loud like those colors
in that really terrible resume.
And then come prepared with questions.
They're going to ask you a bunch of questions.
But you should also be asking them questions.
Know specific campaigns that they've
run, if you're applying to an ad agency
where you're going to be, potentially,
a graphic designer.
Choose a specific campaign that they've done that you loved.
And you tell them, I loved this that you guys did.
This was awesome.
Having very specific examples is super helpful.
And then, I also wanted to just touch on following up
on some tips there.
So in your interview--
it went great, I'm sure--
and there was something that you and the interviewer
laughed about, for example.
Maybe you guys shared a joke or you both grew up in the town
next to each other in Massachusetts.
So remember that.
Keep that in your head and use that when
you're following up with them.
Like, it was so great to meet you.
Love that we both grew up like in the town next to each other.
Can't believe it took us this long--
you don't need to go into that much detail
but just using some little factor to remind them
who you are is going to give them a better
chance of getting back to you and remembering exactly who you
are.
And then, connecting on a personal level,
it's very similar.
If you can remember something about them that you can--
maybe they were going on vacation that weekend.
Wait until after they get back from vacation and say,
hey, hope you had such a great vacation.
Welcome back.
I just wanted to follow up and see
the status of my application.
So patience versus complacency, it's
kind of a tricky balance to figure out.
You're eager.
All these students are going to be super eager when they're
applying for their first job.
I was.
So make sure that you find that balance between complacency
and patience.
So if you send--
so send a handwritten note first.
That's the first step.
I always recommend sending a handwritten note.
My dad taught me this.
I think it's just so classy.
And it really helps set you apart also.
It's another way to set yourself apart.
No one's going to send a handwritten letter.
But if you do, that makes a difference.
So you're going to send your handwritten note.
You're going to send an email a couple of days
later if you haven't heard from them.
And then, check in with them, see if they got your note,
hope you got my note, hope all is well.
And then also, make sure to give them some time
to follow back up with you.
If you haven't heard back in a week,
if you haven't heard back by Friday
and you send an email on Monday, I
would recommend sending that email first thing Monday
morning.
It's going to be one of the first things they
open in their inbox when they get into work on Monday.
And they'll most likely get to see it.
So those are some good tips.
And then just, in general, finding little ways always
to be memorable is the way that these hiring managers are going
to remember you and going to--
it's going to give you a better chance of getting hired.
So everything that we've kind of gone through today.
I wanted to leave you guys with a funny joke.
It might not be funny to you guys.
But it's a graphic design joke.
Do you guys know what kerning is?
Kerning is the spacing between letters.
Yeah.
So graphic designers will understand this
and, you know, Ann Marie gets it.
Now you guys get it.
Now you guys get it.
But yeah, so I wanted to ask you guys if you
had any questions for me.
And that's my presentation.
But feel free to ask any questions if you have one.
[APPLAUSE]
I have a question.
On one of those resumes, there was this big orange circle
of a lot of words.
What was in that?
So I believe that that was a quote about her as a person.
So I want to remind you guys, I chose
those resumes for specific reasons.
They're not all perfect.
I don't think that either of them are perfect.
And yes, I would agree.
That large circle, it's too hard to read.
Nobody is going to read it.
And it's too much text.
But if you want to include a little quote, like if you have
the space and you've utilize your space well,
and you have that room, there's no reason
that you can't include like a tiny little one.
I have another question.
You know how when they use those dots
as a scale of their expertise?
Hos did they choose which ones to put on there?
Sometimes students find something
and they just kind go through this random list and rate
themselves.
You wouldn't even want to send one where you're less than a
three out of a five or a four out of five.
Right?
Absolutely.
Yeah.
So how do they choose which ones to put on there
and that that's a good use of their limited space?
Totally.
That's a great question.
So it was probably too small to read for you guys,
but the skills that they were listing there
with that little scale, that bubble scale,
those were like Adobe Creative Suite programs, other programs,
video editing software.
So if you're applying for a graphic design job
and you have some skills with Adobe Premiere Pro
or After Effects, include that.
And you don't need to necessarily use that scale.
I would actually recommend just using the bubbles
as kind of an indicator and a little design element.
You don't need to use it as a scale necessarily.
But the reason that those bubbles
were like three out of five or four out of five
is because they were for his video editing software
skills, which didn't directly relate to the job.
I would not put that scale in.
I would just use it as a design element.
Because if you can tell a job interviewer
that you have skills in Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects,
that's going to also set you apart
because not every graphic designer knows
how to use those tools.
So it's the same that goes with if you
have any coding experience, like HTML, CSS, JavaScript,
any of those.
Put those up there.
You can tell them in your interview
that those are not your strengths
but you do have experience.
I just want to compliment you because this translates
so well to every industry.
Your ideas in here, less than everybody needing a portfolio,
of course, but everything you said really
works on resumes in general--
keeping it simple, keeping it easy to read,
neat, your thank you letter handwritten, all of that
is just so applicable to students
wanting information on how to write a resume.
Thank you.
I really appreciate that.
I hope this was helpful.
I really do.
I was very excited when you guys invited me here.
I have questions.
I have actually three questions.
But if other people have questions,
I won't ask long ones.
You mentioned for students to get
involved in networking events, being in the industry,
and being that you're located in Santa Monica,
are there specific like associations or groups
that host networking events that you
would recommend that the students look specifically for?
Because I know a lot of times they'll go to meet ups,
but that's just a bunch of people looking for jobs.
It's still good to build your network.
However, are there more industry recommended ones?
Totally.
So I would just honestly recommend searching
on Facebook and LinkedIn.
There are Facebook and LinkedIn groups
where people are posting event invitations all the time.
I get invitations from DoLA.
And they have some really cool events that are going on.
A lot of these events are in West Hollywood and downtown.
But there are a lot that go on in Santa Monica.
And the other thing that I think is really important to keep
in mind is that yes, maybe you're
not a member of a graphic design networking club or something.
But if you hear of an event through Facebook
or through any social media platform or anybody
that you know, even if it's not--
it goes back to that relevance thing.
There are people who are attending
these events for tech companies that may be relevant to you.
You may end up applying to a job at a tech company,
like my friend I was telling you guys
about who works at the in-house creative agency at a tech
company.
I would definitely say that Facebook and LinkedIn
are the best place to find those types of groups.
And people are constantly posting them.
I'm going to send you a list of a few
and you can include that in your follow up.
All right.
So, my next question is, so you mentioned as you're networking
and as you're building these contacts in industry
and with hiring managers to reach out to them,
to connect with them on LinkedIn,
to connect with them in whatever way.
I think a lot of our students have questions
in terms of like a quantity, like you yourself
are a hiring manager.
So if somebody reaches out to you and makes that connection,
finds that point of commonality which they can reach out
to you with as mentorship request or just
a general connection, what is a guideline
in terms of quantity of times to contact you?
Like at what point is it too much?
Like I think that's a question that they come up with.
Definitely.
So I guess there's two sides to that question
that I can answer, I think.
One is how many times do you follow up with them
and they're not responding before you just say OK, they
don't want to talk to me.
The other side is once you've already kind of made contact.
So I would say after three times of reaching out,
I would not bother them anymore.
They have whatever's going on with them that's going on.
So after three times, three times maximum,
I really would just not.
And in your third time, you can say
I totally understand that you're super busy
and I appreciate your time up until now, or something
like that.
With the other side, once you've already made contact,
establish that from the beginning
once you've already connected with them.
If you're worried that you don't want
to take up too much of their time,
they've also got a life of their own,
establish some boundaries before.
If they want to take you on as a mentee, that's great.
And a lot of people do.
That's why I suggest like looking for mentorship
groups on LinkedIn.
Those exist.
Those are out there.
And so if you can establish some kind of ground rules,
it helps and it kind of avoids the whole awkward discussion
down the line where your mentor needs to tell you,
like I have no time for you.
You're taking up too much of my time.
If you can kind of come to an agreement with them,
look, we meet once every two weeks
and you send me your work once a week
if you need some notes or feedback, that's great.
If it's less, you take what you can get.
They also have a life and you have your own life too.
So you can have two mentors if one
is only available once a month or something like that.
So that would be my answer.
My last question would be, you mentioned
in terms of the portfolio and we know,
we hear time and time again that process
is so important to include.
So you include the sketches.
You include your inspirational photos.
You include a couple of versions that you didn't end up with
and then you include your final version.
So, how do I turn this into a question?
Do you recommend or how do you recommend
highlighting the solution aspect to their creative process?
Like how important is including this--
it's tricky to call it a problem.
But I used red then I thought about how red makes you feel,
and is it too bold and is too angry.
Is Did I want something cleaner that was easier to digest,
like to couch that as problem and solution.
Right.
So one way that you can do that, on your first version--
if you were going to show your process,
I would start with the sketch for sure.
Then I would put Version One.
And then I would put Final Version.
I wouldn't go into a second or third version
before the final version.
You can just show the first version to the final version.
That's plenty.
And on the first version, what you can actually do
is you can mark it up.
You can mark it up with your notes
that you either receive from your professor
or that you gave yourself that helped
you get to that final version.
And that's how someone who's looking at it
can actually see the difference and what
solutions that you came to to solve those problems that you
marked up.
So a blank space here, circle it and mark it up.
Blank space, what to put here or need to fill,
something like that.
For sure.
When you send a handwritten note,
you're sending it in the mail?
Yeah.
OK.
And so I once ended up getting a position
but then found out months later they
had just found my thank you note.
And that kind of scares me a bit.
You know, you don't know how quick people are hiring
and how quick they're going to get it.
So that's a great point, honestly.
You don't really have much power over that.
You can hand deliver it if you are close by
and it's not too inconvenient for you.
Sometimes people are applying in a different city
so you can't really go and hand deliver it unless you are there
the next morning after your interview
and have the chance to go back to the office or something.
If you do have the opportunity, do it.
It saves you a $0.70 or however much the postage cost anyway.
So do that for sure if you can.
If not, send it in the mail.
And pay extra for the overnight delivery
so that they get it faster and so that you
can track the delivery.
Also, don't be afraid to, if you haven't heard back
from them like in a week or so, you can send an email
and say, hi, I hope you guys received my thank you card.
You can let them know.
Because maybe they didn't receive it.
And if they did, then you can remind them that you did that.
Go for it.
I just had one question about the logos.
Do logos have to be trademarked?
I mean, is it OK for them their own little group.
They don't have to be trademarked?
I don't believe they have to be trademarked.
I don't think so.
If it's for a brand, it has to be trademarked.
But just a personal logo, yeah.
That's a great question.
You might want to tell the students who aren't there,
just create something.
What did I say?
OK, this might be an obvious question,
but sometimes a student gets an interview
and I know the portfolio can be online.
But do they bring a hard copy?
And the question then becomes, what presentation style
should that come in?
So personally, I think it should be on your laptop.
I think it should be.
I think have your resume printed on nice paper, definitely.
Bring that with you.
Bring a couple of copies because you
don't know how many people you are potentially
going to be interviewing with.
Always have at least three.
Honestly, I'm going to say four.
Have four with you.
You might as well.
And then with your portfolio, bring your laptop
and make sure that you've closed out all your other programs.
Don't get any notifications from your boyfriend or anything
like, you know, we all have iMessage on our laptop
these days.
So I have it ready to go in presentation style.
And just check it over a few times
before you're going in to make sure that everything's in line,
it's properly aligned.
Go back to those design principles
and make sure everything looks great.
And you can have it on your laptop.
Because to be honest, I think it actually
is better on a laptop than printed.
It's also expensive to print your portfolio.
And there's really no need if you have a laptop.
Even if you have the Air, that's fine.
Like if it's a smaller screen, it's totally fine.
Do you think-- this is my final question.
I mean, it's sort of to piggy back on Esmerelda's question.
In the application process, I've seen some design students send
their resume and then like an abbreviated like a project that
might be a standout project or favorite project from
their portfolio as the PDF, as an additional supplemental,
just like because if you're not automatically--
if you have a stack of 200 candidates and you just have
their resumes, does that additional supplemental file--
So your interviewer will most likely kind of
guide, walk through the portfolio with you
and ask you to show them.
If you it broken out in this specific--
But prior to an interview, just in the application process.
Oh, in the application process if they're
asking for your portfolio?
Well, they will ask for your portfolio.
They will ask for your portfolio.
And we usually do it as a link on the resume.
But does it buy anything if you have an opportunity
to have an additional attachment just to highlight one project?
I wouldn't do that unless they ask for it.
It can come across a little bit pushy.
And so what I would do instead is make sure
that you are putting your best projects
in the front on your portfolio, on your website that you're
going to have.
Because everyone's going to have a website.
Not just a Behance profile.
And also with Squarespace, I think a lot of people
get wary about recommending Squarespace
or just because it does cost a little bit more.
But I promise you--
I know I already said this-- it's worth it.
And it's $20 a year for your own domain.
For your own domain, $20 a year.
And you can get that on GoDaddy but don't even go on GoDaddy.
It's not worth it.
Just pay that $20 a year for a Squarespace domain
and have edenweinberg.com, annmarieleahy.com And that looks great.
Like I don't want to see a dot squarespace.
I really would prefer not to see a dot squarespace.
I don't want to see a dot Wix account.
And I don't want to see a Behance.
I just want to see you and your personal, professional website.
Sometimes students are asking questions about the future
since they're just like new in the industry.
And they want to know how things are evolving.
So do you have a favorite blog that you follow or like
a favorite web site that you would
recommend students to see, like you should read this.
They do a lot of really good articles
related to the industry.
That's a really good question.
So for me, I follow Ad Week, AD Age.
Those are probably my two favorites
for seeing what's new in the ad space.
I'm going to kind of twist your question
just a little bit because I do want
to recommend a specific web site that's
not for necessarily new advertisements that are
out there or new design trends.
But it's the best inspiration website that I've ever used.
It's called designspiration.net.
Sounds super cheesy.
It's amazing.
And the designs on there are beautiful.
That's my first place that I go to when I'm starting
a new design, 100% of the time.
I get all of my mood board photos off
of design inspiration on that.
It's beautiful.
It's professional.
It's like artistic.
It's absolutely stunning.
All their content is awesome.
Any other questions?
OK.
Thank you guys so much.
Thank you so much, Eden for coming and talking to us.
We're so happy to have you.
And we're so happy to have a partnership with Bell and Ivy
so we can send our amazing design students over to you.
Yes.
Send over your resumes.
It's amazing to have a hiring manager at a local company
to just come out here and give us this education
and to share it with our students and everything.
So thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
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