Interview workshop

My notes from the interview workshop. The main things I took away from this workshop were to research the job and company you work for as well as their practices and public identity. This way you can demonstrate your enthusiasm and organisational skills. Also research the market and how it relates to their business such as competitors and trends. prepare fro questions that are likely to come up. Some of the questions in interviews can seem quite odd or designed to stump you but if you prepare it will help. In the practice interview we found that we were all using the STAR method of providing examples of our skills naturally without being prompted and that once we finished we started to think of better examples than the ones that first came to mind. It would be worthwhile making notes of these to refresh before an interview. We also found that we ended up going back to the same events as examples of multiple skills such as team work, leadership and communication that are all related. It would be worth analysing which of them was the best example and only using once to be able to give as many varied examples as possible. 

I am not very good with presentations and group interviews but in one to one or two to one interviews i am relatively comfortable (for me). Having said that I thought the advice about body language was very useful. especially making sure not to fold your arms and sits back. I think a lot of people make this mistake if they feel uncomfortable so its worth remembering, not just for interviews but when networking in general. in fact a lot of the points we covered today are important for pitching work to publishers or just approaching industry professionals for advice. 

Preparing for interviews

Demonstrate understanding of the role applied for
Smile

Lean slightly forwards
Show enthusiasm


Typical opening question
“Tell me a little bit about yourself”
Focus on attainments and interests
Don’t unburden

Demonstrate
Experience
Knowledge of job
Knowledge of organisation and competitors
Prepare questions for interviewer
Questions that demonstrate keenness and aspirations

STAR
Situation and task- brief outline

Action- specifics of what, how and why you took the actions you did
Result- what was the outcome, positives, what did you learn, do differently in future


Strength based interviews- kpmg
Can’t be prepared for easily
Useful for finding staff with little to no experience
think about your strengths
Be prepared to be open and honest
Research companies strengths, think about how you fit them

Typical questions
what are you good at
Descibe a successful day
What do you learn quickly
What things give you energy
What have you achieved that you’re proud of
What’s always on your to do list that’s not finished

CV workshop notes

My notes from this workshop are pretty rough. The main things that I think I took from this workshop were and understanding of what to include in a CV, such as how to use competition briefs and exhibitions. That we should tailor our CV's to whoever we are approaching for a job, with a range of work it is a good idea to refine it to only the most relevant to the job, too many examples on the CV can be overwhelming or reduce the impact of the most important ones. 

Something else that was very useful was learning how to use examples of what we do as illustrators to demonstrate the most wanted skills that employers look for. For example taking part in a number of competition and collaboration briefs demonstrates teamwork and enthusiasm. It is often easy to be stumped by the strange questions you get asked in interviews when asked to justify your qualities. having an idea of what may be asked and preparing yourself for the questions can help to make the interview go more smoothly and if these skills  outlined on your CV they can give you a prompt to begin your answer. 

Cv help

Personalise cv
Research who your cv is aimed at

Cv
Include specialist skills
Referees x 2 - employer, member of staff from illustration, if no previous work include personal referee such as doctor etc
Include contact info and online presence
Personal statement- can be short, extra info can be included in detail in cover lett

Artists cv
Contact details
Website/ online presence
Showcase exhibitions
Showcase awards e.g live briefs

Don’t have to have won to include, show motivation
Residencies
Commissions


Creative
Words and visual integrity
Attention to detail

Links-
Creative skill set.org
Deviant art has online creative cv’s


Demonstrate skills through cv
Use of colour
Combination of text and image
Composition
Skills that employers want
Effective communication

Teamwork

Self promotion
Problem solving
Analytical skills
Flexibility
Self management

Evidence your skills
Give examples
Explain
Be specific

My skills

Time management- balance degree course deadlines with working part time

Adam Higton talk notes

These are my notes from the talk from Adam Higton. The talk was very interesting and provided some great advice. I found it interesting the way he described building momentum and not expecting things to just happen instantly. How you need to make things happen for yourself by creating personal projects, specifically ones that will help build your network or help create exposure. Coming up with collaborative projects like publications with various illustrators work could help to build a network that will be beneficial in the future. You also have to develop a thick skin and not take things personally, sometimes people will not get back to you, work you create will not end up being used. 

Maintaining the network from the course we already have and finding shared workspaces can provide support, advice and help you get work. It forms part of the idea of putting yourself in a place to find work. The more your name and work are circulated, especially in the right circles, the more likely you are to be approached with work. Networking should not be only localised. Your work can come from anywhere in the world and your social media, online presence and work itself should cater to a global audience understanding cultural differences. It was good to see his journey from graduating until now. he portrayed it very honestly and didn't try to gloss over the negatives or struggles to get to where he is. His work also appears to still be changing both in aesthetic and the processes used which is a good lesson for used to be constantly moving forwards and experimenting. I would like to contact Adam to ask him some more questions about his practice...

Advice

Adam Higton

Keep momentum
Find things to work towards
Come up with ideas that will help network
Collective work
Invite artists to collaborate
Be prepared that some jobs won’t work out/go to print
Look at shared spaces to work around other artists
Put yourself in place to get jobs
Ask questions
Be direct, take opportunity’s
People will try and take advantage
Make sure you value your work and get advice when agreeing to do work
Always agree on fees etc first before starting any work
Don’t expect things to happen instantly
Jobs tend to snowball over time
Keep putting the work in and being proactive
Reach out beyond local contacts
Think outside the country
Majority of work may well come from overseas
Don’t take things personally
Be persistent

PP briefing notes

These are the notes from todays briefing. It gave me a well needed kick into action about keeping up with blogging and keeping it in mind in relation to my extended practice work and practice in general. It helped me to set out a number of tasks to complete over the Easter break starting with constructing a plan of action to make sure I am focussed and organised. I need to:

- Identify and research people to invite to Hanbury. I don't need to contact them at this point but should research them. That way i can make sure they are relevant and beneficial to my practice and that the event will be relevant to them. It will also allow me to contact them in a way tailored to their work rather than just appearing as a standard cold call or email. I could send them personalised work to make my correspondence stand out. This would allow me to demonstrate my work without simply sending a folder of images that may not directly appeal to the recipient.

- Look at different content to add to my website. At the moment the site is simple which I think serves its purpose but could be expanded to encourage more interaction with visitors. One option would be to include a blog that is posted into the site. The blog could act as a more personal connection that would demonstrate more of my practice, I could post up works in progress and things that I am interested in. This would leave the main gallery as a place to display finished illustrations. I would also like to add some simple animations to the website to grab visitors to the site's attention and make the pages more appealing. I am just about to start a character design project for the extended practice module that could include gifs and simple animations.

- Start to build my profiles and networks on social media. I have set up a number of profiles but so far have only really been using Instagram to add content regularly. I think I need to have a set day in the week that I spend some time updating linked in, the dots and my website. I want to keep Instagram as my more frequently updated social media as it is easy to update and can be used for single illustrations or works in progress (can work similarly to the blog). I would like to use linked in and the dots for substantial works with detailed descriptions. I will need to set a day to work on this and see how long it takes me so that I can set aside a similar amount of time each week.

- speak to alumni about their experiences since leaving and get advice.

- Don't set plans as if they all end at the deadline or the end of the course. Set plans that go beyond and will help to build a network. create publications and ask other illustrators if they would like to feature in them. In the same way don't just contact industry professionals as a one off, try to maintain communication with them for the future.

- Write down anything that you are not confident about. make a list. This will provide a list of questions that need to be answered. Maybe lead to new contacts. What do I need to do? Who do I need to ask?



Pp briefing

Make the most of Easter
Make a plan/timetable
Blog workshop info

Evolution printers
What do we want
Design
In 130, 10:00
Can work with graphic designers
Book acts as network
Use for both college exhibition and Hanbury
Come up with ideas
Format

Best use of space
Clean design
Take control of design
What best suits students work

Don’t ignore pp over Easter

Blog regularly Self led- not just responses to tasks 

Start blog running with website?
Add videos/animations
Gifs
Look at jays site
Appropriate to practice
Movement grabs attention
Networking - the dots etc

Keep up with all networking sites
Regular updates
Some more often than others
Could use Instagram almost daily
Then set a day of the week to update dots etc
Be proactive

What do I have to offer

GET IN TOUCH WITH PEOPLE

Job for summer
Extending networks
Interviews
Build momentum
Think of briefs to include others

Identify 5+ people to invite to Hanbury
Research them
Why would it be beneficial to invite them
Think of interesting ways to contact them
Story based, comic strips
Personalised
Make then laugh?
Show you know something about their work
Don’t make it seem like a generic cold call
Just ask
Don’t take no replies personally
Always ask, take opportunities
Don’t contact yet
Aim high

PLAN
PLAN
PLAN YOUR TIME FROM NOW UNTIL THE END

daily planning
Bullet point a 3 week plan for Easter
Both pp and extended, how do they link

Plan beyond the course
Make summer activities work for you
Holiday? Draw and write throughout

Website updates?
Start to build wish list to invite
Plan Easter
structure days more clearly
Will benefit when you leave
Time management will become more complicated
Need to allow time for networking, emails, phone calls etc
Leave extra time, assume things will go wrong
Ask advice
Importance of maintaining college network
Support, advice etc

Follow up with contacts
Maintain dialogue




BLOG TODAY


Write down what makes you lack confidence
Find answers to these problems
Where are the answers who can help
What can you do yourself

Make post about both strengths and insecurities