Design Grads: Success at the First Job
A few years ago, both Chegg and IBM released separate studies that showed a disappointing stat for recent college graduates landing their first job. Both studies revealed that less than 40% of hiring managers found their new hires to be prepared for the job. These were jobs within the graduates chosen field of study!
This trend has not escaped the design industry. In an article for Fast Company, Gadi Amit observed, “Academic design programs are crippled by blurry standards which are so vastly different from program to program that it is nearly impossible for me, as an employer, to have a reliable idea of what skills a student toting a design degree can be expected to possess.” It seems some college institutions are so busy abiding by their own definitions of success, they have forsaken their fundamental purpose of preparing students for what current design firms are looking for in a new hire.
Is this a problem that can be solved? At the core, this is an issue that must be addressed by the education system. But what about the student that has recently graduated? She can’t go back and ask for an improved education. Is there a bit of wisdom she could receive to fill in the gaps that college missed?Is there a tool-kit that could be created to get her on the same page as the hiring manager before she ever walks in for the first interview?
Those were the questions on my mind as I interviewed both hiring managers at design firms as well as recent design grads experiencing their first jobs.
The experiences were varied for graduates. Something that quickly became apparent was those that had the easiest time getting and keeping a job were the students that had served at an internship. It seemed most of the intangibles that college was unable to provide were the very things that made the internships so valuable. What “intangibles” am I speaking of? In my interviews with design firms, the biggest skills they found lacking in new hires were the following:
- Self awareness
- Pace of work / time management
- Social skills / professional courtesy
- Communication / ability to sell their ideas
- Understanding constraints
A recent grad may be a whiz in Illustrator, but have difficulty navigating office interactions and communicating effectively. They often lack self-awareness and that may cause painful realizations when they get their first review. They must learn to separate themselves from their work so critiques can be more effective and they can learn faster. — fd2s Design Consultants
It became apparent that software skills were not the struggle for new hires, but learning to work with others and manage productivity were.
This was echoed by the graduates I interviewed who stated their biggest struggles at a new job were the following:
- Assertiveness
- Time management / juggling projects
- Communicating with boss /negotiating
- Working with a team
- Networking
It is also important to note that the designers who enjoyed their jobs most considered their soft skills (communication, organization, etc.) much more valuable assets entering the new job than design know-how. Software skills are a given for those getting hired; what sets some grads up for success is the addition of self awareness when working with others. Too many college programs seem to emphasize the tools of the trade (software know-how) at the expense of basic interpersonal skills.
“To be honest, almost everything that I was “technically” taught — I have used very little of… How to research and figure things out, how to be organized enough for other to be able to pick up your work, and to CYA (cover your ass i.e. keep email documentation of everything) have been the most helpful skills.”
— Yolanda G.
One simple solution for younger students still in school: find an internship ASAP! Both grads and design firms agree this is a definite advantage. But let’s return to the student who has worked her way through a university’s design program, is about to graduate, and never had an internship. What are the barriers she has to overcome to land her first job and meet the expectations of her boss?
The Chegg study mentioned at the start of this article found that graduates often tend to overestimate their abilities. They assume their communication skills are better than they really are, for example. This is simply a lack of self awareness. I believe that my research shows the biggest barrier recent grads face is a lack of soft skills. These graduates are eager, but nervous, fresh out of college, looking for their first design job. They are hungry to learn, but they don’t know what they don’t know.
If we created a “customer profile” for this type of graduate, it might look something like this:
Most of the pains are soft skills that tend to take a back seat in university education, but can be easily taught to students eager for self-improvement. A graduate hungry to land her first design job and meet the demands of a boss would do well to simply become aware of the things they don’t know.
Problem to solve: what tools can we give new grads to be most successful in getting and keeping their first design job and meeting the expectations of their hiring manager?
I am proposing the creation of an eBook with supplementary online training videos and tool-kit to help recent design graduates be successful at their first design job (even though they never took part in an internship program) by teaching the soft skills often learned at an internship, but seldom taught in college. The course will be unlike others on the market that tend to focus on hard skills and neglect to teach the importance of communication and self-awareness. The material will be optimized for smart phone use and will be both motivational and practical, highly actionable with tools to help graduates manage time, get organized, understand communication dynamics, and more.
Online training of this sort is quickly becoming a globally embraced form of education. Websites like Lynda.com, Skillshare, and Udemy lead the way in the more informal style of learning, while most colleges now offer at least some of their courses completely online. Forbes reported E-learning was poised to earn $107 billion in 2015, and Research and Markets predicted E-learning to hit $325 billion by 2025.
The main competition on a course like I am proposing would be Lynda.com and Creative Live. The biggest differentiating factor for my course would be the personalized touches, which I foresee including a live coaching session for those that purchase the higher tiered version of the program.
