Finding your dream job is easy…if you know where to look. Some job sites are general, while others are industry-specific. For creative positions, start with sites that are specific to advertising, marketing, and design. There are several job-search pages that are hosted by industry publications and professional organizations.
Do Your Research
Design jobs are competitive, so get to know the firm before you apply. You can tailor your resume and portfolio presentation to match what they are seeking. Visit their site for background information including their size, services, and clients. Do a search on Google for recent news stories about them. Many design firms also have profiles in online business directories such as the ones listed below.
Learning more about the employer will help you to customize the cover letter and resume that you send. It will also give you a better sense of how you might edit the contents of your portfolio to match the firm’s activities. Finally, learning more about the company is great preparation for an interview. Not only can online research turn up a job opportunity, but it can also make you a stronger candidate.
Research Design Salaries
The AIGA | Aquent Survey of Design Salaries is the most comprehensive annual survey of compensation data for the communication design profession in the United States. Each year, for more than a decade, it has been commissioned by AIGA, the professional association for design, with the support of Aquent, AIGA’s official sponsor for professional development, and in cooperation with Communication Arts magazine. This survey is part of a comprehensive program of AIGA activities developed to serve the professional designer with strategies for success.
AIGA Design Jobs
AIGA members can search this national job bank by state and category, and post portfolio files.
Creative Hotlist
Creative Hotlist is hosted by Communication Arts magazine. You can search for design jobs by region, category, and industry. You can also post portfolio files.
IDSA Employment
Industrial Design (ID) is the professional service of creating products and systems that optimize function, value, and appearance for the mutual benefit of both user and manufacturer. The IDSA site features many industrial design job listings.
SEGD Job Bank
The Society for Experiential Graphic Design is the global, multidisciplinary community of professionals who plan, design, and build experiences that connect people to place. Members consist of graphic and information designers, fabricators, architects, exhibition designers, technology integrators, interaction designers, brand strategists, students, wayfinding specialists, teachers, and others who have a hand in shaping content-rich, experiential spaces.
HOW Job Bank
In partnership with Coroflot, HOW is pleased to provide the Design Jobs List — your connection to the best design jobs for graphic, web & interactive design opportunities. Whether you are in a mature stage of your design career or are just starting out, you’ll find graphic designer jobs and careers from leading employers that are seeking to fill a broad range of positions.
www.howdesign.com
Talent Zoo
Talent Zoo features advertising, marketing and design/creative jobs and industry news.
American Advertising Federation
The American Advertising Federation (AAF), the nation’s oldest national advertising trade association, and the only association representing all facets of the advertising industry.
Adweek Jobs
Adweek is the leading source of news for marketing, media, and advertising professionals. It delivers insightful, forward-thinking content across various platforms, including a weekly print magazine, an iPad app, daily newsletters, social media, original videos, events, and awards. Adweek is a must-read for CMOs, creatives, media buyers, content creators, agency heads and anyone looking to stay informed about the digital media landscape.
Ad Age Talent Works
Advertising Age is recognized as the leading global source of news, analysis, and inspiration for the marketing and media community. Advertising Age includes ongoing coverage of strategic topics for marketers from mid to large companies complemented by breaking news and a database of the world’s best creative.
http://jobs.adagetalentworks.com
Core77 Design Directory
Core77 Design Directory provides a comprehensive database of design firms and their portfolios. Design Directory reaches 43,000 business leaders, and like-minded design professionals every month, showcasing the latest in product, branding, communication, and design strategies. Profiles can be searched by name, location, or design specialty.
Agency Compile
Marketers and advertisers come to Agency ComPile to stay informed on the agency landscape. You can see where agencies are located and which clients they work with, industry trends, learn which agency is responsible for specific ads and you can search marketing and advertising agencies by type, location, size, or client industries.
A few more places to look…
At this point in your job search, if you have not found any listings that interest you, the next step might be to begin visiting large, general job sites. If you do, keep in mind the drawbacks mentioned above. General sites include the following:
Monster Jobs promotes itself as having more than one million job postings and tens of thousands of resumes. You can set up automatic notification of new listings that meet criteria you define.
CareerBuilder has some listings for advertising and graphics. You can block particular companies from seeing your resume. This is a great feature if you don’t want your current employer to know that you’re thinking of leaving.
Simply Hired is a specialized search engine indexes help-wanted listings from hundreds of sources. You can filter the results using many different criteria.
Indeed is another specialized search engine that checks for listings on other sites.
Yahoo! HotJobs has national job listings by category. You can set up an automatic notification of new listings that meet your criteria, and you can block particular companies from seeing your resume. In addition to the paid listings that it receives directly from employers, Yahoo! HotJobs has developed a search feature that checks for listings on other sites.