Entry 1
To make a good start to my post-graduate job search I have started filling out my LinkedIn profile with more information. I reflected back on a careers fair I attended in September to think of some companies to follow and people to potentially connect with. This fair swayed more towards web design and UX/UI than graphic design or motion graphics, which i’m more interested in, but I took park in a fun ideation exercise with the company BJSS. Through following them on LinkedIn I hope to discover more relevant opportunities and job prospects. I’ve been connecting with fellow Creative Media Technology students as well as students I know on other courses and Leeds universities to expand the range of information I come across. Through this, I reached out to a friend I’d worked with on a group project last year who is working a placement year at the agency Dynamic. She filled me in on what it’s like to work for an agency like this and the wide variety of clients and projects she’s worked on. I followed the agency on LinkedIn to keep up to date with them, and potentially discover similar places in Manchester I could apply for.
Entry 2
This week at the professional portfolio drop in session I had a productive conversation with the guest speaker Becky Gardener, who is the SME engagement manager at Leeds Beckett, about parts of job searching outside of my portfolio. We went through job adverts I had been considering and she advised booking an appointment with a librarian for in depth advice about CV structures, as well as customising my CV and writing a cover letter including the specific words and phrases that the companies use in the advert. She also gave me the advice to call the companies with any clarifying questions I had about the what job entails and the workplace environment. I immediately froze up at this idea because its definitely out of my comfort zone, but discussing I further I do think It’s good to consider. I did have questions about the jobs and work places that I may not have the time or opportunity to ask during an interview. She made a good point as well that, with the amount of people applying who are just as qualified as me, setting myself apart in this way would be great. Making it known that I have an interest in the agency/company and having the confidence to enquire before even applying would hopefully present me as an ideal candidate.
Entry 3
While working on my ‘Short Story’ module I’ve been looking at a lot of motion graphics and animation showreels and portfolios, which has caused me to reflect more on my own portfolio and future work I might make. For the first two modules of this year I spent a lot of time working in AfterEffects, I really enjoyed it and I am quite proud of the work that I produced. Looking at examples of professional and innovative work in these showreels and portfolios is really inspiring to me and is what I’d like to pursue. Although I am happy with most of the work I’ve done for the course, I only have three projects shown on my portfolio at this point in it’s development because I don’t find my other work to be up to a standard worth putting on my portfolio. If I end up spending more time than I’d planned for job hunting I would enjoy practicing more techniques in AfterEffects to add to my portfolio. To add more content to the website and to show the progression of my work, I’m considering adding some first year work.
Entry 4
I sat in on a talk by Dynamic during one of the drop in sessions, and I asked some questions on their preferences about 3D software. I have been looking at motion design jobs, or jobs with other titles that have aspects of motion graphics and animation and a few of them have mentioned cinema 4D or blender. I have been questioning whether to use blender, which is free, for some 3D aspects of my production project module because I was struggling to get a student licence for cinema 4D, the software I’m used to. I asked about what software they use at Dynamic, and they said that although cinema 4D is the standard, and they provide a licence, some newer hires use blender and since its free there’s no issue. Because of this perspective, I decided to go ahead with learning blender. Although I would be set back and have to learn from scratch, I would be able to continue using blender for free after I graduate.
Entry 5
I have looked in a few different places for jobs, like Handshake, Dribbble, Indeed, and LinkedIn. Each website shares a few job adverts, but I found it worthwhile to check as many places as possible because there are a couple of new adverts hidden on each website. The job advert I chose for my mock interview is a motion design position I found on LinkedIn for a communications agency called Open partners. I chose this advert because it is focused on motion graphics and video editing, while some other positions I’ve found have expected the candidate to more of a jack of all trades.
Eleanor Lee 