ALL ABOUT YOU
It's not easy to begin to know ourselves, and it's even more difficult to share that information with others. It often takes a lifetime to understand what motivates us individually. As we develop and change, our needs and interests change as well. Begin to pay attention to job-related interests that you can start to identify. Think about yourself as a "worker" and about the tasks you may be doing in the next forty years. Sound like a long time? That's often the amount of time a person spends at work during a lifetime. You should make this time an exciting adventure by gathering as much information about yourself and the fashion industry as you can.
It is indeed a discovery to start identifying real interests, skills, and abilities by taking stock of yourself. An inventory of what you like to do, what you can do well, and what you want to do in the future is the first step in the right direction. Matching your strong points with those required by certain careers will allow you to blend your best qualities with an employer's requirements and will provide for optimum job satisfaction. This process also can enable you to explore, as well as eliminate, job alternatives before you make your final choices.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS, SKILLS, AND INTERESTS
Think about your accomplishments. It may be difficult at the start, but it is an important part of helping you to understand your likes and dislikes, your skills, and the things that you value. It is helpful to put this inventory in writing. Take the time to think seriously about times that may have provided you with good learning experiences and include anything you feel you have done well in school, work, or leisure situations. For example:
Choose five factors that are important to you and list them on a separate sheet of paper. Which segments of the fashion industry best correspond to your personal values? Patternmakers and retail fashion buyers, for example, often will have very different values and skills.
Now review your list of skills and interests and look for those that appear most often. As you have more and more experiences, your list of accomplishments and activities will grow. This gives you more information to work with in evaluating potential jobs.
Keep in mind the items you have identified as meaningful to you. As you learn more about various segments of the fashion industry, you also will discover a variety of job factors that accompany each position. It will be important for you to constantly re-evaluate these areas of importance as the information you collect about the fashion industry grows. You may change your ideas about what is important to you as a result of new information and more life experience. Look into all the career opportunities that seem to be in keeping with your educational goals, skills, interests, values, and life-style.
In addition to enabling you to make wise career choices, understanding yourself will allow you to present the best side of yourself to an employer. Unless you have real knowledge of your own strong points, it is difficult to convey your strengths to an employer. Concentrate on what you have to offer. Keep in mind that we all have limitations and areas of weakness. These weaker areas may change as you grow, and need not be viewed as permanent limitations. In fact, the ability to identify a weak spot may enable you to develop it, if you feel it is important for your overall career development. An earlier weak spot may turn out to be a selling point you can offer to an employer in years to come.
Now let's consider some simple tools that are essential for preparing for a job interview: the cover letter, resume, portfolio, and thank-you note.
THE COVER LETTER
The cover letter performs the task of convincing the reader (generally the employer or the interviewer) to review your enclosed resume and to consider you for an interview. It should be brief and to the point. The person reading your cover letter will learn of your interest in applying for a particular position and will hopefully be persuaded to read your resume for more details about you.
Each resume you mail to an employer should be sent with a neatly typed cover letter requesting an appointment for an interview. If you know who is responsible for hiring in a particular firm, check for the correct title and spelling of the name, and address your letter to that person. If you are not able to get this information, address your letter to the personnel director. Your letter should never exceed one typewritten page.
THE RESUME
A thoughtfully planned and well-written resume may not get you a job, but it could succeed in getting you the all-important interview! The resume is a concise but complete outline of your education and work history, with some necessary personal details. It acquaints the reader with your goals, interests, qualifications, and experiences. It can be written in a very standard manner or in an individualized, imaginative style.
There are many ways of presenting information about yourself. As a beginner in industry, you will find that most employers or interviewers expect to have some written statement that describes you. In fact, many think of a resume as a means of "selling yourself on paper. By carefully describing your accomplishments and highlighting your best points, you are creating an advertisement for yourself, which is an individualized picture of you for the reader. This can be a most helpful selling tool in your job-hunting campaign.
Don't underestimate the power of a neatly organized and perfectly typed resume. It can bring interest and attention to you and persuade the employer to grant you an interview. A well-designed resume is an "interview getter." Here are a few resume-writing tips:
- Make use of sample resumes and guide books, and be aware of different resume styles.
- Spend as much time as you need to clearly organize all your information.
- Revise your draft as many times as necessary until you are satisfied that you have covered all areas that may be important to share with the reader of your resume.
- Never misrepresent your experience or work history. Focus on your best features that are appropriate for the job. Be truthful and emphasize your strong points.
- Describe what you have accomplished, what abilities you have that will be of interest to the firm, and what you would like to be doing in the future.
- There is no need to include age, sex, marital status, race, or religion. You will be hired because of your qualifications, not because of these irrelevant factors.
- Do not type the word resume at the top of the page.
- As a beginner, your resume should not be longer than one typewritten page. It may be typed, or you may want to consider obtaining a good photo-offset copy of a typed original. Handwritten resumes are thought of as unprofessional. Messy resumes or those with typing, spelling, or factual errors are unacceptable.
- Always be sure to bring an extra copy of your resume to the interview.
- You can decide on the layout and spacing of your own resume. Be concerned with how appealing the information about you looks on paper. Remember, your resume is your advertisement for yourself!
Name and Address: Your name, street address, city, state, zip code, and telephone number should appear at the center of the page or at the upper corner. It will identify the resume and indicate where an employer can contact you.
Goal: Always indicate your occupational goal and make sure it is in keeping with the job for which you are applying. It is never helpful to have a very broad goal such as "any entry job within the fashion world." Try to be more specific.
Education: List your most recent education first. It is not necessary for college graduates to list high school unless it was a specialized school. Indicate school name, dates of attendance, the degree received, and any school honors or scholarships. List courses or special programs that may relate to the job or industry. Include extracurricular activities such as clubs, student newspaper, or student government.
Work Experience: You may have some work experience as a result of summer and part-time employment. Briefly list it and describe your responsibilities and accomplishments. Be sure to list any industry-related exposure you may have had. As you gain professional work experience in the industry, you can then delete incidental jobs from your resume. List most recent jobs first and indicate duties you performed or promotions you received. Employers often are interested in knowing that students have held part-time jobs and maintained good school records, as well as appreciating the experience the jobs provided.
Unpaid Experience: Don't be modest about describing unpaid activities. Volunteer work is often very impressive to employers. This may include experiences in community groups, civic agencies, your church or synagogue, local hospitals, and so forth. Describe this area just as you would a paid position.
Special Skills and Interests: This part of the resume provides an opportunity to present interesting or unusual aptitudes and talents to the employer. Do you speak more than one language? Have you a unique hobby; are you a sports enthusiast, a skilled musician? A line or two about such abilities may be of interest to the reader and generally helps to present your personality in a more individualized way.
The easiest type of resume for a beginning job hunter to compose is referred to as a chronological resume. You begin by listing your most recent schooling and work experiences and continue to describe the rest in inverse order. It is easy to establish a simple outline of your experiences in this manner. Although beginners may not have extensive work records to refer to, keep in mind that employers are as interested in where you are going in the future as in what you have done in the past.
Research: Wherever possible, learn as much as you can about the firm. Talk to your placement counselor, teachers, or people you know who are working in the company. Very large firms may have annual reports or other descriptive material on file in your school or local library. If the firm you are researching manufactures a product, you can telephone the sales office and ask where the product is sold in your area. A trip to your local store can familiarize you with the manufacturer's price range and current line and give you an advantage over others who have no knowledge of the firm's product or service.
Take notes on the information you discover about each firm. You can review your notes before the interview and feel more knowledgeable when talking to the interviewer. This information also can provide you with material you may wish to discuss or question during the course of the interview.
Application Forms: Some companies, usually the larger ones that have a personnel or human resources department, will ask you to complete an employment application form. Be sure to bring a pen to the interview for this reason. Fill out the form as clearly and as neatly as possible. A messy or illegible application suggests that you are a messy and careless worker. Answer all questions so that the form is complete when you turn it in. If you cannot easily remember dates of part-time or summer jobs or other employment-related information, use your notepad to list all such details before the interview, and refer to it while completing the application form.
How You Look: Your appearance will be an important factor for all jobs in the fashion area. The clothes you choose to wear to the interview can give an employer an idea of your fashion sense and your level of taste. Although more casual clothing may be very acceptable once you are working, dress in a businesslike manner for the interview, and avoid extremes and faddish clothing or sunglasses.
Don't arrive with your arms filled with packages, bundles, or school-books. Leave all your gear outside with the receptionist, or better still, don't bring anything unnecessary along with you. Of course, never bring pared a thoughtful and letter-perfect resume and cover letter. If the jobs you are seeking require a portfolio, let's also assume that it is well put together and ready to be shown. The next step is preparing for the job interview.
The purpose of the all-important job interview is to allow the employer or the interviewer, as well as you, to make an informal decision about employment with a particular company. Employers can get a great deal of information about you from your resume, your portfolio, your image or style, the manner in which you respond to questions during the interview, and whatever else you can communicate in the twenty or thirty minutes spent in the interviewing session.
This is where advance planning can really work for you. Use the time you may have with each interviewer to communicate the best about yourself. It is your chance to convince the employer that you are really the best-qualified person to fill the job. Unfortunately, many job seekers do not do the proper homework necessary to present them-selves in the best possible way for this important event. Consider the fact that a beginning job-gained as a result of a successful interview-may pave the way to an exciting and challenging career. Once you have specific information regarding an upcoming employment interview, try to keep the following in mind.
Time and Place: Be sure of the exact date, time, and place of the interview. If possible, get the name of the person who will interview you. Know how to pronounce the interviewer's name if it is a difficult one. Details concerning the interview should be written in a small notepad that you keep with you. Do not rely on your memory!
Allow enough time to travel to the interview so that you arrive ten to fifteen minutes earlier than your appointment time. Remember, traffic jams and other delays are unpredictable. Showing up late for an interview is never acceptable. Arriving a bit early gives you the opportunity to relax and to meet the interviewer in a more leisurely manner. Nothing is more upsetting than dashing into the interview, out of breath and out of sorts!
Employers naturally expect to see the very best artwork you can present to them. Neatness is critical! Messy, smudged sketches or poorly mounted work is a clue that you may be a sloppy worker. Clients will not accept less than perfect work, and employers consequently expect perfection from every artist they hire. So keep the following in mind:
- For many fashion jobs, a current and professional looking portfolio is required. Spend enough time on yours so that you can compete for the positions that do require one. Consult with and take advantage of the suggestions of your art teachers, placement counselors, and any working artists you know in assembling work that is suitable for you to show. It should reflect the most creative side of you to a prospective employer, demonstrating your design and creative abilities.
- Be aware of the kind of artwork each job opening requires, so that you can show an employer work that reflects what he or she may be seeking rather than unrelated items. What is suitable for one position may not be acceptable for the next job interview.
- It is not important to show your artwork in a fancy or expensive binder. Any folder that will protect your designs and help make a neat presentation is acceptable. All work should be the same size. Smaller designs can be mounted to be uniform with bigger pieces. Make sure each item of your artwork has your name on it for easy identification if you should lose or mislay it.
- It is not recommended that you leave your portfolio with an employer. If you are asked to do so, arrange to return at another time with your artwork, so that others in the firm may view it or so the employers can evaluate it for a second time.
- Never borrow designs from another artist and present them as your own work. You will be hired based on your creative abilities. Show only your own work in your portfolio.
