Having been involved in the creative industries education for over decade now, one of the most common questions students ask in interviews (and parents ask on open days) is about ‘getting a job’ at the end of the course. As if a graduating student can simply go and trade in their degree certificate and swap it for a ‘good job’. If only employment was this easy. 

‘Getting a job’ in the Arts has always been a difficult undertaking; with no boxes to tick it can be a complicated process finding an appropriate vacancy - and so ensues the hellish time of resume writing and job interviews. 

A drastic [most revolutions are] but more appropriate approach to this situation is not to think of ‘getting a job’ as ‘getting’- the mere word suggests a degree of affordance, of being gifted employment - but rather as ‘creating a job’. ’Creating’ is about being pro-active and entrepreneurial; it involves going out, attending events, talking to people, doing internships and apprenticeships – essentially increasing your exposure. After all, how will employers know they need you in their firm if they only see your skills in a nice little list on a sheet of A4? You must make yourself indispensable, and for that you don’t need a resume. You need guts.

More after the break...