puppywuv.com

Many talented and capable graphic designers find their resumes filed in the circular file bin, otherwise known as the trash can or recycling bin.  Why do these educated, talented, and worthy graphic designers get their graphic design resumes tossed out?  Typically, graphic design resumes get tossed due to simple, avoidable mistakes that are made by many beginning graphic designers.

The first mistake that many people make when looking for their first job as a graphic designer that gets their graphic design resumes tossed out is that they try to display their talent within their resume, not through description, but through vivid graphic design.  Graphic design resumes should be simple and professional.  Fancy fonts, graphics, and page borders do not belong in graphic design resumes.  While they will grab the attention of the hiring managers, these graphic design resumes will be promptly laughed at and tossed away.

The second most common mistake that many people make when creating graphic design resumes is that they do not proofread their resume before sending it to prospective employers.  When there are mistakes, or even one obvious mistake, in graphic design resumes, hiring managers automatically assume that the graphic designer lacks attention to detail, and regardless of the qualifications that the graphic designer may possess, these graphic design resumes also end up tossed aside.

The third most common mistake that people make when creating graphic design resumes is that they do not accurately showcase their abilities, skills, and strengths in their graphic design resumes.  Your employment history should not only include dates and job titles, supervisor names and company names and locations, but it should show your duties, accomplishments, and major achievements.  If your employment at a graphic design firm, or your efforts in an internship, resulted in a benefit to the firm, you should include that information in your employment history.

There are many other reasons that graphic design resumes get tossed aside in favor of other, less qualified graphic designers.  Listing employment history that does not qualify you for the position sought is a common mistake.  Listing interests, hobbies, and other personal affiliations that do not have anything to do with graphic design will also get graphic design resumes tossed out.

If you have a college education, belong to professional associations, or have other certifications in graphic design you should list them in your graphic design resumes.  Be sure to include any detailed information that highlights your skills and talents that were exhibited in your educational track.  Graphic design resumes that have little or no experience and do not include this type of information will promptly be tossed out in favor of better qualified candidates.  However, you should not list your high school education on your graphic design resumes unless you have not yet completed your college education, or if you obtained significant skills or awards related to graphic design while in high school.

Finally, make sure that your graphic design resumes do not contain any falsified, fraudulent, or exaggerated information.  Not only might this unethical behavior get graphic design resumes tossed out, it could lead to termination from employment gained through falsified or exaggerated graphic design resumes.

You’ve optimized your web site, tuned up your web page so it’s stellar, and still you want more business for your graphic design studio.  Where do you go?  What do you do?

Go out and meet your potential clients in person!  Many of your potential clients are people oriented.  They want to feel that they have a relationship with the person with whom they do business.  That personal connection is very important so these particular clients would never dream of doing business with someone just because their web site came up on the first page of the search engine.  These are the people who want personal contact, to meet you in person, talk with you on the telephone, and get to know who you are.

It may take some time and effort to build these relationships, but once you do you’ll be very happy you did.  With clients where you’ve built a personal connection, the loyalty factor is much higher.  They’ll stick with you, giving you repeat business over the years.

But, you ask, “How do I meet and attract them to do business with my particular graphic design studio?”

Networking.  Depending on the area of the country where you live, there are numerous ways to meet potential clients in your area.  Larger cities have a lot of different networking groups.  Even smaller towns and communities have clubs and organizations which can be productive networking opportunities.  Below are some of the places you can find networking groups and the types of groups you may find.

Chamber of Commerce - Usually local chambers have networking events - breakfast, lunch or evening cocktail mixers.  You can come as a visitor the first time and sometimes more than one time.  After that they may require you to join — which is not a bad idea, if you want to build credibility for your graphic design studio.  Being able to say you are a member of your local Chamber of Commerce enhances your credibility to people who find you via the web as well.

Business Networking Groups.   These are groups that meet for the express purpose of giving and getting business.  Some of them meet weekly and some meet monthly.  Usually the ones that meet weekly are “exclusive” meaning that if you join as their graphic design studio, no one else in the group will be doing graphic design.  The monthly meetings are often non-exclusive meaning that more than one graphic design studio can join.

Other Networking Opportunities.  The Rotary Clubs, Lions Clubs and other humanitarian organizations provide excellent opportunities to network while contributing something back to your community.  Alumni organizations, political and school organizations also are excellent fields for networking.

Remember though.  Relationships are usually not built overnight.  They take time.  So, don’t expect to show up once and go home with immediate business for your graphic design studio.  It may take several meetings for people get to know you and what you do.  So while it takes some effort on the front end, the clients you’ll get, will stay with you longer, because they know you and see you on a regular basis.

Your goal is to find just the right graphic design studio, so here’s a plan.  Do a search for graphic design studios, and even localizing it for your area, there will the tons of responses. And, in today’s internet world, it’s not necessary for the firm to the local. That only broadens the scope of what’s available to you and increases the difficulty of making a decision.

So, how do you choose?  Look first at what you need and it will be much easier.

Being clear about what you want and need, and able to clearly communicate that, will make it much easier to see which of the graphic design studios is a fit.  Are you looking to focus your marketing efforts on print or the web.  Do you already have a logo or do you need one?  What about CD or DVD production?  Make a clear list of what you want.

Who are your customers?  Perspective graphic design studios will need to know all about your target audience, so be ready to answer the “who”, “what”, “where”, “why”, and “how” questions about them.  Define your potential and current clients in terms of their demographics such as age range, income range, ethnicity, lifestyle, professional focus (if applicable), education, home ownership, and mobility.

What are the reasons they buy your product or services.  What pains or problems do they experience and what solutions does your product or service offer?   What are the inherent benefits to the customer of buying your product or service?

How does your target audience use your product or service?  What were your past marketing efforts?  Why did your past marketing efforts work, and why not?  If you don’t know, that’s okay.  Bring along your past marketing materials and ask your candidates what they think.   This is another way to assess whether or not you want to work with a particular studio.

Knowing your product or service, your market and what it is you want is just half the equation.  The other half is what you are looking for.  Here are some simple questions. You can rank the candidates on each of these on a 1 to 5 scale where 1 is “not at all” and 5 is “Yes, absolutely”.

Do they have access to all the services I need?  You might want to make a list of the services and then rate the graphic design studio on each one.

Does the style of their work meet my taste criteria?
Do they have experience with my product or service?

Do I think I’ll enjoy working with them?  (This may not seem as important until you’re in the middle of a project.  Then it will be crucial.)

Will they give me references?
Are the references happy with the work they received?

Okay, now you are armed and ready to choose from among the bounty of graphic design studios.   Remember the ones that come up first in your search know how to optimize their web sites and if you are working on a web site, this may be important to you.