Art in the Professions Week
Introduction
Okay, so you've been honing your art skills for years now - you've mastered shading nostrils with chalk and photographing subtle light on trees and vectoring nine thousand different typefaces of the letter "Q". Awesome!
You will soon be Khal of the Great Dollar-Bill Sea.
LOOK AT MY POLE.
Well, good news: Your artistic skills might help you get a job. They might even help expand your job role, or help you move up or sideways later. So dust off your resume, add a line about how you've been a "Freelance ______ist/_____er" since year X, and find some unsuspecting HR manager targets while you read the rest of this article!
Do not actually say the above. You'll not get hired. You'll probably get removed from the place of business. By force.
Why Your Skills Might Be Useful, and Why You Probably Didn't Think Of It Yet
Protip: Businesses, small businesses in particular, like having staff members who are very multi-purpose. When I hire an assistant for myself they need basic knowledge of - at the very least - financial accounting/bookkeeping, social media/online ad metrics, "hard" marketing and/or HR. Like, pick three minimum I might hire you and make you have to do more of my workload in those fields while I focus largely on the one thing you can't help with. That's your job. You're now my generalist who lets me do only the things I like doing and the things I need final sign-off on.
Gif is largely unrelated and does not represent a desirable skill in the workplace.
But, if you can save me from having to outsource ad design and copywriting to Thailand while also doing simple bookkeeping and analyzing costs? You're my new favourite. Even if you know nothing about marketing or HR I'll order you duck for lunch every day and let you buy liquor with company money.
If you can do the above: I'll hire you. Period. Doesn't matter if you're a blind, deaf, dyscalculic mute with a frontal lobotomy and no arms.
This is because if I hire someone, I'm already paying them. It's good business sense for me to get as much use of them as possible. Kind of like if you own a farm and buy a donkey - dammit, you're going to use that donkey. You're also going to feed it, brush it, all those nice things, but in the end that donkey is an investment of money so it needs to plough your land and pull your wood and offer rides to local children or you're not getting your money back out of it and it might become dinner. But if it can function as both a donkey and a sheepdog? Then I don't need to buy a sheepdog, so the donkey is worth, like, the price of a donkey plus the price of a sheepdog in terms of how much return I'll see from it. Applying it back to people, the more positions you can fill in a 40-hour work week, the fewer positions I'll have to hire contractors (or other staff, in the worst case) to fill - and the more money I have to give you. Yes, it sounds like slavery, but you also get actual cash money and can quit at any time and I'm not horrible to work for and you have dental insurance now, so.
I should say this every time you come to work.
This isn't as true for larger businesses - like, for example, DeviantArt has several departments (UI/UX, content, creative, product, marketing, advertising, even customer service and legal if you're thinking way too creatively) where graphic design abilities or writing abilities might be useful, but the skills aren't going to get you "side work" from those departments if you're their newest janitor or payroll grunt. The more departments, and more staff, in larger companies mean people are expected to specialize in one or two things and absolutely rock at those but not overreach into other departments. You can even get into turf wars if you offer unsolicited advice too much. I've started many a turf war when I've worked even as a consultant for larger companies; no, remote tech person from Kerala, India, you have no goddamn right to advise me on how much treasury stock to retain for Series C, you're supposed to code me a thing to make the things do a thing. Do you even know how many cents are in a US dollar?
Larger businesses, however, tend to have more opportunities for vertical and lateral promotion; like, if you become the office coffee machine scrubber but you have some skills in design and flirt (not literally, probably) with the creative director or ad sales people you might find yourself designing ads in a year when a spot comes open. Or if you're a randomly great writer but started as HR grunt, and later the company decides to start an editorial department? Again, bat the right eyelashes and remind everyone how overqualified you are. Or usurp the positions away from people and consolidate them all into a new position, Director of All The Things.
O my Jesus forgive us our sins save us from the fires of hell and lead all souls to heaven but especially this idiot who just told me how to do my job and who I am about to stab in the face Amen.
Larger businesses, however, tend to have more opportunities for vertical and lateral promotion; like, if you become the office coffee machine scrubber but you have some skills in design and flirt (not literally, probably) with the creative director or ad sales people you might find yourself designing ads in a year when a spot comes open. Or if you're a randomly great writer but started as HR grunt, and later the company decides to start an editorial department? Again, bat the right eyelashes and remind everyone how overqualified you are. Or usurp the positions away from people and consolidate them all into a new position, Director of All The Things.
It is not advisable to kill someone to free up a spot, though.
And even if you're a new graphic design graduate getting an art-related job - let's say ad design for a sports shop - but apart from your design expertise you also have a secret passion for photography and know how to shoot perfect packshots? There. Wham, bam, you just saved them from having to license stock or contract out the photography. Maybe that means you can get a Christmas bonus and afford a real turkey.
Eat it in one sitting, you multi-talented grunt, you!
Eat it in one sitting, you multi-talented grunt, you!
Some jobs now pretty much require that you have some discernible art-related talent, even if the job seems ludicrously unrelated. Realtor? Better know how to shoot the inside of a house with a camera and good lighting. Secretary or executive assistant? You're gonna want to be a boss when it comes to writing social media posts, and capturing or creating a good voice for the company/executive/whatever. Even most novelists can't get the whole "voice" thing down. Nurse to a plastic surgeon? Portrait photography! Grindr customer support? Draw really amusing penises using only a phone stylus!
Say this on your first day of work, as soon as you open your emails or POS or whatever. I legitimately replaced an accountant at a job once and when I took over her email account, her signature was in Papyrus. I called foul and filled out her record of employment as "dismissed due to gross indecency".
Say this on your first day of work, as soon as you open your emails or POS or whatever. I legitimately replaced an accountant at a job once and when I took over her email account, her signature was in Papyrus. I called foul and filled out her record of employment as "dismissed due to gross indecency".
But - wait. Wait up. Where does one even tell hiring managers they have skills? Well, that's what your cover letter is for! Please tell me you know what a cover letter is. Yes? No? Yes? No!? Okay. So, next topic:
People who are idealistic and looking for their first job tend to think that the human resources manager is the one who makes all hiring calls. No. The human resources manager might conduct interviews, do onboarding, collect and screen resumes, and help create a job description, but you're also going to be dealing with your direct superiors, department heads, maybe even the CEO during the hiring process if the company has all of that - and at a small business you're dealing with an owner and maybe a department head who are going to go all HR on you in their own, non-HR-manager-y way.
This is Corporate America's HR department - the assistant bringing the therapy cranes around to make everyone happy, the director questioning whether the therapy cranes are in fact appropriate and not a sexual harassment concern. This is what actual HR specialists do. Every mid-size business with two HR people has one who brings the therapy cranes around and one who questions whether they're okay to bring around.
Promoting Yourself to the Hiring Manager
People who are idealistic and looking for their first job tend to think that the human resources manager is the one who makes all hiring calls. No. The human resources manager might conduct interviews, do onboarding, collect and screen resumes, and help create a job description, but you're also going to be dealing with your direct superiors, department heads, maybe even the CEO during the hiring process if the company has all of that - and at a small business you're dealing with an owner and maybe a department head who are going to go all HR on you in their own, non-HR-manager-y way.
This is Corporate America's HR department - the assistant bringing the therapy cranes around to make everyone happy, the director questioning whether the therapy cranes are in fact appropriate and not a sexual harassment concern. This is what actual HR specialists do. Every mid-size business with two HR people has one who brings the therapy cranes around and one who questions whether they're okay to bring around.
The upside of having these direct superiors in the hiring process is they know what they need in the position they're filling, but also know what they want - which extra skills could be useful, even ones they hadn't thought of until they read your resume. So if they've been suffering to find someone who can run their instagram account or edit business cards for printing and you incidentally have that skill while also being the lead (or even middle) candidate for their IT support person you might get an edge over the competition or even a higher pay grade.
Money? In my paycheck?
Money? In my paycheck?
So you want to list your skills, and you're looking at the pieces of the job application package - the written application (if there is one), the resume and the cover letter. Where do they best fit? It depends. Never an easy answer! If the written application has a box about specifically extra skills that might make you a good fit, throw it in there. Or if it's specific program proficiencies, and you have a "Skills" profile on your resume, list the program - ninja Adobe Creative Suite in right between your proficiencies in Microsoft Access and that programming language that's about a snake and subtly tell them you can design them a thing without having to sound too braggy.
Ninja it proudly.
Ninja it proudly.
Now, really, you only want to list the things relevant to the job - and tailoring a resume for every single application can be a bit of a bitch, so the easier route is to put it in your cover letter. That forceful little half page where you tell them why they can't afford to hire you. The letter that a ludicrous number of people don't even bother sending anymore, which pisses me off when I'm hiring staff. I want to get a feel for your personality before I meet you, and the cover letter does that much better than the resume can.
How the average job hunter feels about personalised cover letters.
The cover letter lets you be a bit pushier, lets you show you've done some research into the company and the job position, and gives you an opportunity to express both your personality and the skills that didn't quite fit in your resume. Don't sandwich skills in there if they're not relevant to the position, or at least the company, and don't let it run on forever because if it's longer than a half page I'm not reading it. But use the cover letter as your number one self-marketing tool and make it count.
What I say when I interview someone who just gave me an amazing cover letter.
How the average job hunter feels about personalised cover letters.
The cover letter lets you be a bit pushier, lets you show you've done some research into the company and the job position, and gives you an opportunity to express both your personality and the skills that didn't quite fit in your resume. Don't sandwich skills in there if they're not relevant to the position, or at least the company, and don't let it run on forever because if it's longer than a half page I'm not reading it. But use the cover letter as your number one self-marketing tool and make it count.
What I say when I interview someone who just gave me an amazing cover letter.
Now - you might be of the less diligent resume-writing type. Maybe you're using a Microsoft Office template. Maybe this template has "Hobbies" or "Interests" or something on it. Right now I'm going to give you some personal advice, the same advice I give friends who throw me a resume to edit for them.
I care about your personality meshing with mine, and your impact on my bottom line. Not about your love of wallpaper.
KILL IT KILL IT WITH FIREA resume should be a short, relevant description of your qualifications and work history. It shouldn't be an autobiography, at least not for entry-level or most office-type positions. Sales, sure, maybe. Spokesmodel job, they probably want to know you're interested in environmental causes and social justice versus men and barhopping. But if I'm hiring you for a bookkeeping job I don't care if you knit. It's not relevant, and my company has no "Sock Knitter" position for me to think about filling with you. Photography, sure maybe. Design, sure. But they're interests that are one sentence to sum up and that tie into competencies - more skills or accomplishments than interests, really. Don't add another section and list that you like camping and long walks on the beach. That, if anything, tells me you didn't have enough actual qualification to fill a one-page document.
I care about your personality meshing with mine, and your impact on my bottom line. Not about your love of wallpaper.
A Special Note About "Reforming" Freelancers
Been freelancing for ten years, making decent money, but now you're ready for a change and want to work in an office? List your freelance career on your resume. There are a couple reasons for this. Firstly, it sums up the "artistic skill" bit from above without having to wedge it in awkwardly somewhere else. Second, it fills the employment gap you'd otherwise have. I'm going to question what you were doing for the ten years you weren't working if you send me a resume with a ten-year gap. If you bluntly say "freelancer" I'll at least know you weren't in prison.
You might think it's crazy that I'd assume terrible things if there's a resume gap, but, really. Really. How am I supposed to know?
You might think it's crazy that I'd assume terrible things if there's a resume gap, but, really. Really. How am I supposed to know?
And third: If you successfully made a business out of freelancing, you know things. You know how to market yourself, how to manage finances, how to sell your work, how to negotiate contracts. You've basically proved your ability to be a small business manager. So, yes, put that on your resume proudly - list major contracts you held, awards you won, all the fun stuff. But obviously, again, tailor it to the type of job you're looking for. Focus on the finance aspect if you want to be a cashier, the sales aspect if you want to be a realtor, the marketing aspect if you want to be in marketing. And don't expect "Freelancer" as a job position to be a magical ticket. Not all hiring managers will think highly of it; they might view it as a cop-out or a way to falsely fill a resume gap. Make sure you can defend its merit as a position - either in your cover letter or in the interview if you get called on it.
When preparing yourself for an interview, always imagine that it will open with this statement.
To recap:
1) Promote your artistic skills as useful credentials for the job you're seeking
2) Promote them further when you get the job
3) ????
4) PROFIT
Really, that about sums it up. But always use your own judgment about whether it fits or makes sense for the given job, and don't make it sound like more than it actually was or is.
Resume fraud is a crime, y'all.
When preparing yourself for an interview, always imagine that it will open with this statement.
Wrapping It Up
To recap:
1) Promote your artistic skills as useful credentials for the job you're seeking
2) Promote them further when you get the job
3) ????
4) PROFIT
Really, that about sums it up. But always use your own judgment about whether it fits or makes sense for the given job, and don't make it sound like more than it actually was or is.
Resume fraud is a crime, y'all.
And then rest on your laurels when you're the most desirable employee in the company. Or at least when, once a year, you get to take the official pictures at the staff barbecue!
Due to an error with Sta.sh Writer earlier, my article posted early and with some glitches. Thanks to moonbeam13 and Mrs-Durden it's been corrected, but I wiped the original. Click for a screencap of some comments on that journal from Cinestress, DracoDesigns, neurotype-on-discord and TheMaidenInBlack - including a horror story about having superiors find out you've got art skills and some advice for situations like that: Initial journal comments.
Discussion
- Have your artistic skills ever helped you land a job?
- Have your artistic skills ever helped you expand your role at work?
- Do you promote your artistic skills when job hunting for non-ideal-art-type jobs? If so, how?
Edited to Add:
Due to an error with Sta.sh Writer earlier, my article posted early and with some glitches. Thanks to moonbeam13 and Mrs-Durden it's been corrected, but I wiped the original. Click for a screencap of some comments on that journal from Cinestress, DracoDesigns, neurotype-on-discord and TheMaidenInBlack - including a horror story about having superiors find out you've got art skills and some advice for situations like that: Initial journal comments.
I can make a show all by myself.