The Busy Creator Podcast, episode 33 - Creative Career Q&A with Lisa Cummings

Lisa Cummings (@LisaCummings) is a corporate consultant and trainer, and host of the Careers Q&A Podcast on PinchYourselfCareers.com. She offers insight and advice to job seekers and people at all stages of their careers, answering questions about office culture, hiring, money, and other career-related topics.

Today’s conversation borrows the format of her show, answering user-submitted questions specific to the create professions.

Show Notes & Links

• On quantifying your work: put it in their perspective, be able to communicate your successes, make it all about the company. Also, get those figures wherever possible.
• Present a business case rather than ask for stuff
• On “creative” resumes: The content has to be solid, they don’t have to be infographics per se, inject your brand and personal style, show precision and attention to detail
• “Your resume is the first piece in your portfolio” ← Click to Tweet
• A resume is for 3–5 seconds. A hiring manager may only see your resume 30 seconds before they meet you.
• On learning in preparation for quitting: present your case as a learner and leave the quitting part out, get the knowledge elsewhere by training outside the studio, take advantage of the business’s need for “utility men”
• “Open the Kimono”
• On declaring your [small] role on a project: be honest in describing your role and the other people involved, spin your part as a learning experience, describe the new skills learned, don’t lead with the shortcomings
• Two (or Six) Degrees of Kevin Bacon
• On reading books to learn business skills: learn the people skills (you’ll need them), also check out courses (online or off)

• To Sell is Human by Daniel Pink
  
• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
  
• Influence by Robert Cialdini
  
• 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
  
• How to Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul by Adrian Shaughnessy
  
• The Essential Principles of Graphic Design by Debbie Millman
  
• The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber
  
• The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley
  
• The Long Tail by Chris Anderson
  
• Onward by Howard Shultz
  
• Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
  

• On being hired without a prestigious background: you can’t go through the front door, Lisa’s podcast episode about job descriptions, network like crazy,
• Big Spaceship, AKQA, RazorFish - well-known web design agencies
• On building your portfolio as a young creative: Do self-initiated work, do projects for community organizations, family or friends, take on a before-and-after, plan your time for taking on projects “for fun”
• “Spray and Pray“, the wrong approach to job-hunting

Tools

• Resume and Portfolio

Techniques

• Chronicle everything. Get co-workers testimony, get figured & statistics
• Use your promotion opportunities as a chance to update your portfolio. Keep things fresh.
• Ask for feedback following an interview, don’t accept “you need more experience”

Habits

• Save your praise, especially in a corporate environment
• Bring two copies of your resume to any interview, on the paper that you chose. Control that experience.
• Always be networking

Get The Episode

• Download The Busy Creator Podcast, episode 33
  (MP3, 44:16, 21.4 MB)
• Download The Busy Creator Podcast, episode 33
  (OGG, 44:16, 38.3 MB)

Subscribe to The Busy Creator Podcast on iTunes

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