Following on from my recent contact with an old University lecturer, a student from the Fashion Management with Marketing course has emailed me asking for my top 5 tips for future careers, as part of her research for her project.
Here is what I said:
Top 5 tips:
1. Be nice - appreciate people, be polite, have respect. You want to be recognised as a good person - go back to basics and treat others like you want to be treated. Even when people are rude, unappreciative, negative etc. just bite your tongue, smile, be nice and crack on. No one likes negative people who complain and moan. It's all about positive people who smile even when it's raining.
2. Network - It's good to make as many contacts in the industry as possible. One thing i've learnt is that it really isn't just about what you know, it's also very much about who you know. You want these people to remember you if they ever hear of job opportunities, or need assistance in any way. Guest lecturers, class mates, work colleagues, any other people you meet along the way - get talking, leave them with a good, memorable impression of you, swap email addresses.
3. Read - Read books - don't waste time reading romance novels - get your head into fashion marketing/branding/management books - there are some really good reads out there, ask your tutors for recommendations. Read drapers, retail week, business week. Follow brands and companies on Twitter to keep up-to-date with whats going on in the industry.
4. Take opportunities - To continuously improve, you must allow yourself to always be a student. Trips with Uni, free courses, exhibitions, guest lecturers, fashion events - these are all opportunities for you to absorb more information relevant to helping you improve your knowledge of the industry, and also find your feet, pushing you in the right direction towards your ideal career.
5. Be online - All of the work you do at Uni can be used to show potential employers your skills and capabilities, not just with writing, but also your use of programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator. I know that quite a lot of your work is report based which could be boring for an employer to read through, but why not create a blog/website, positing chapters/paragraphs that you feel are best i.e. your conclusion of Luxury Branding and Social Media, you could also post some of your creative outcomes. It's all very well stating your abilities on your CV but if it is there infront of an employer then they're much more likely to take you seriously.
(One more...)
6. Keep your head - When you finish Uni, life changes drastically - Your next focus is to get a job and find your ideal career. You need to always focus on the positives - even if things don't go to plan i.e. you get rejected, ignored, you're skint, you have to move home for a while, you are bored of your job - you must maintain a positive attitude in order to be successful, admitidly it is a lot easier to be positive if you're successful but at the same time it is much easier to be successful if you're positive. If you're bored of your job and you start slacking then you're going to get a bad reference. If you have to move home to save for a while, that's fine - keep reading, keep building your online portfolio. If you don't get a single response to the 50 emails you sent - ask someone (i.e. a tutor/ work colleague) to read over it and ask for criticism and help to improve your message. Be persistant with out being a pest. People like dedicated, enthusiastic, eager beavers but if they haven't got a position for you then you'll have to accept it and try agin in future.
