Description
Before you can build a plan to reach your dream job, you have to look honestly at where that job is and where you are. In this assignment you pick TWO real job postings in your field, a LOCAL one (a real studio, agency, or company near you, so our Career Services team can start building relationships with the employers you find) and a REACH job that can be anywhere, your dream role. Then you write an honest reflection on the gap between what those postings ask for and what you can do today. This reflection becomes the raw material for your career agent in the next assignment, so put real thought into it.
Learning Objectives
By completing this assignment you will be able to:
- Read a real design job posting closely and pull out its true requirements.
- Compare those requirements honestly against your current skills, experience, portfolio, and network.
- Name the specific gaps you would need to close to be a strong candidate.
Steps
- Find TWO real, currently posted listings in your design field: one local (a studio, agency, or company you could realistically work for near home) and one reach job that can be anywhere. Look past Indeed, the best creative roles live on design-specific boards and on studios’ own careers pages (see the list below). Pick a reach job that genuinely excites you, not just something easy.
- Copy the full posting into a document so you have it to work from. You will reuse it in the next assignment.
- Read it twice. The first time for the feel of it, the second time with a highlighter for every required and preferred skill, tool, and experience.
- Write your reflection using the prompts below. Aim for at least a few honest sentences per prompt. This is for you, so do not polish away the truth.
- Save your job posting and your written reflection together. Submit both.
Where to find creative jobs (look past Indeed)
Indeed and LinkedIn are fine to start, but most of the best creative roles are posted on field-specific boards and on studios’ own sites. A few worth checking:
- Design & general creative: AIGA Design Jobs (designjobs.aiga.org), Behance Jobs, Dribbble Jobs, Authentic Jobs, Working Not Working, Coroflot, Krop, We Work Remotely (design).
- Animation, motion & games: ArtStation Jobs, CreativeHeads, the Animation Career Review job board, Cartoon Brew Jobs, Motionographer.
- Photography: ASMP and PhotoServe, plus local studios and agencies directly.
- For your LOCAL pick: the careers pages of studios, agencies, and in-house creative teams near you, your local AIGA chapter, and LinkedIn filtered to your city. These are the employers Career Services can reach out to.
Reflection prompts
Answer each of these in writing. Be specific and be honest with yourself.
1. The job. What is the role, the company or studio, and what about it excites you? Paste the posting and note where you found it.
2. The requirements. List every skill, tool, and qualification the posting names. Split them into “must have” and “nice to have.” Do not skip the soft ones like collaboration or deadline management.
3. Skills gap. Of those requirements, which can you do confidently today? Which can you sort of do? Which can you not do yet at all? Be honest about the difference between “I have heard of it” and “I can do it on the job.”
4. Experience gap. What kind of experience does this role assume, and what do you actually have? Internships, freelance work, class projects, volunteer design, anything counts. Where is the daylight between the two?
5. Portfolio gap. Look at the work this employer would expect to see. Which pieces in your portfolio already speak to this role? What is missing? Name one or two portfolio pieces you would need to create to be convincing.
6. Network gap. Who already works in this kind of role, at this kind of place? Do you know anyone, or anyone who knows anyone? What would a realistic first step toward that network look like?
7. The honest summary. In two or three sentences, where do you stand right now relative to this job, and what would it realistically take to close the gap? This sentence is the heart of what your career agent will help you do.
How to Submit
Submit BOTH job postings (your local pick and your reach job) and your written gap reflection (focused on your reach job) together here. Keep your own copy too, you will paste both into the prompt in the next assignment, Build Your Career Agent.