Complaining about work on social media is like farting in an elevator. You can't escape the fact that you did it.

One morning I switched on my computer to find this series of status updates at the top of my Facebook (Fb) Newsfeed:

• My boss calls me while I shower, she calls while I brush my teeth and pack my lunch, then I am trying to drive and she calls me again, so I pull over and try to talk to her, but she screams at me and hangs up a few times without telling me why she is flipping out. "WHO DO YOU WORK FOR?!!!"…
• Two more days of being bludgeoned before the weekend arrives...in my next life I would prefer to have more choices...
• She's gotten into the habit of abusing me, but since she pays me I am not allowed to complain. I think I need to start going home and being unable to work when she treats me too badly, because this shit will kill me. Must take stand, to preserve so-called sanity...

This old friend of mine, Robin*, was obviously disgruntled and feeling trapped by her chosen work. So much that she had to vent on social media. I sent her a concerned message about her tirade. In the end I had to ask “...are you sure you want to voice your disdain for your boss/job on the world wide web?”

I felt that I had to respond to her. This woman is my friend, and I’ve seen the worst case scenario play out in two similar situations. Individuals, friends of mine, have lost jobs in their respective fields after badmouthing their direct supervisor or company on Facebook. One of these has not been able to get another position in his field.

A Little Perspective

Of course, we should have the freedom to badmouth whomever we choose when speaking to individual peer networks. However, the internet is a complex arena where private conversation is concerned; Facebook doubly so:

If your privacy settings are set to only share your content with your peer network, you have a strong layer of protection from the rest of the web. But, ask yourself, “Do my ‘friends’ also protect their comments, shares, likes, and updates with the same settings?” Maybe some do, but definitely not all of them…

Once your friend comments on your negative work-related update, or shares it, it belongs to them and can appear to everyone who follows them. If they have an 'open’ profile then anyone who finds them on the internet can view their Fb activity—without even logging in!

To gauge whether you may potentially face negative repercussions at work answer this question, are any of your Fb friends also your coworkers, or close friends of your co-workers? If you’re not sure don’t risk your job by bitching unfettered on social media!

An Unforeseen Repercussion

Back when I was in grad school, a fellow student was going through a stressful time at work. In Fb status updates she told the world daily, that she hated her boss, her job, coworkers, and the company.

On one occasion I even commented that she was being harsh. She didn't care, she had been interviewing regularly and was preparing to accept an offer. Our paths crossed again three years later. I was tasked with vetting graphic designer resumes for an open position in my company and this woman applied. The memory of those graphic rants about the past job jumped immediately to mind. How long would it take her to become disenchanted before social media mudslinging began? Could I trust her not to badmouth my organization and friends online? Could I  risk unleashing her on my beloved organization? She did not get an interview.

Back to Robin…

She immediately responded to my note with this: “Guess who doesn’t care…Maybe I will get fired….if she's not gonna pretend she's nice and reasonable, I'm not either.”

I get it, she hates her job and plans to be fired. She’ll have the opportunity to find another job—and hopefully have a more fulfilling experience. Hopefully, when she is back on the job market she won't be applying with or interviewing with anyone who has had to read these hyper-negative status updates about her current boss.


*Her name’s not Robin
Reprinted: Still relevant...updated from the original—to accommodate recent Fb privacy settings... 

1. Ditch the Box: technology advances mean that we can leave the large portfolio case at home. Especially since a printed book that outlines your best works just as well. Some designers have ditched print altogether and showcase digital media samples; bringing a tablet/laptop on which to show their work. This can still allow for interactivity, if you design the digital portfolio with this built in
2. Simplicity. Simplify. Simple: use an uncluttered simple layout.
3. Brand Consistency is key. Keep the look of all consistent: the book, the leave behind, the resume, cover letter and business card.
4. Get Feedback: once you’ve settled on your designs find out from peers, industry professions and art directors what they think.
5. Leave a Leave Behind: after a stellar interview and portfolio review, you must put something in the interviewer's hand that will remind them of your fabulous self once you've gone. You want them to reach for their phone (or whatever) and have their hand linger over your leave behind...instead of making tha call they pick up your designed piece and handle it. At they review they can't help but ponder how awesome it would be to have someone with your skill, talent and creativity working on heir team... they could finally get "X" done right, etc.

Get some design inspiration from Pinterest

Don’t feel intimidated that you have little or no real-world experience.

Internships, work-study, student jobs, and even relevant coursework can make your resume stand out. Your goal is to present this information in the best possible way: present relevant details, be thoughtful in layout, and tailor each resume to the specific position.

To be clear, internships and campus jobs are just that, but they can be stepping-stones to your dream posting after graduation.

Begin with the Basics

SELECT THE RIGHT FORMAT 

• Chronological can showcase past campus jobs and internships. 
• Functional is better if you have few (or no) relevant work experience. 
• Learn the Difference in Format Styles...

TAILOR YOUR RESUME TO THE POSTING
This is an excellent practice to get into for the future. ALWAYS suit your resume and cover letter to the post to which you are applying. Generic and irrelevant content are just as likely to get you ignored on campus as in the real world. This is important!

• Generic resumes are the main reasons that your resume will be ignored.
• Learn to Tailor your Resume & Cover Letter...

CONTENT
Campus job and internship resumes are different than those for jobs out in industry. It’s encouraged to include relevant coursework, non-work experience, as well as grades or GPA in the body of the document. The hiring managers in these jobs are looking for a great student AND someone who can benefit from the duties of the part-time job. These elements mean that the incumbent will perform well and work to learn /master new skills at their limited time in the position.

• Consider Including: Skills (soft skills or technical), Memberships, Awards, Internships, Software and Technology, Volunteering and Community Engagement, Research Projects, Interests, and Work Experience. 
• Want to add the job at the Minute Mart….is it relevant…you decide.

*. If you don’t have particularly good grades as a student, don't included you GPA, better still- be sure to include your “Relevant Coursework”

I helped out a new job seeker with a mock interview last month, over salads and wine. This young woman is in search of a junior designer position within an educational institution--a regional behemoth. But I digress…

She did a bit of practicing before we met up and I asked her a few basic questions over bread and olive oil. In addition to the  usual suspects I decided to throw in one of those curveball questions, just to break her out of the practiced answers that she was giving. I asked:

"If you were an Animal, What Would you be?"

That actually stopped my young friend in her tracks, she looked up to the right, thinking. After a long while, she said "I don't know." The curveball completely knocked all reasonable thought out of her head. This is a tactic employed by some interviewers. It's not actually meant to leave you stuttering, but rather it's meant to see how you think critically and might see yourself in the hierarchy of the organization.

I had to tell my friend not to freak out. Instead of pursuing the question OR giving her time to pick one of the millions of species of animals that she has to choose, I asked her the following questions…speaking not as a mock interviewer, but her friend who just bought her dinner:

• Seriously, what do you know about the company and this job that you've applied for?
• From what you know, can you seriously see yourself working there and making a difference to their mission? 
• What are your traits that make it possible?

From her answers to those above, I used her words to formulate this follow up...

• Okay, so in a setting like Organization X, that calls for hard work, and dedication to strong communities, positive growth, and increased academic achievement for youth, are your traits an appropriate fit?

How do you Answer that Question

5-Part Series on an Exhaustive(exhausting) Job Search

Six months in to my cycle of apply-get a call-interview-pass or fail-then interview again, I reached out to my mentor to help sharpen my focus. To give me focus, really. In our three-year acquaintanceship she knew me enough to give homework and expect it *done. After a lunch meeting, she gave me homework.

The assignment: List the things (activities, aspects of the job) that you need to be happy in your work environment. List everything and rank them by order of importance. Make it an infographic.

I took a week or two and wrote this list then sketched the graphic, then played with the color palette, then emailed her an odd-sized PDF of my needs and wants for my ideal work environment.

She asked why graphic design was so low on the totem pole, and I had to be frank in my response, ‘I can make graphic design a part of any job—it’s an inescapable aspect of business in all arenas.’

Maybe you’ve heard that a tailored resume is one of the best ways to grab a hiring manager’s attention. It’s a fact that a one-size-fits-all, generic, general resume doesn’t cut it—remember, you’re facing a pool of hundreds (and potentially thousands) of competing applicants.

What Makes a Resume “tailored”?

Hiring managers are looking for the best fit for the needs of the job, team, and organization as a whole. Here are some core aspects that a tailored resume addresses. The list below will help you identify the information you’ll need to craft yours:

Responsibilities that match the job description - A good place to start is to demonstrate that you’ve already done the type of work the organization needs. Read through the full job description and pay careful attention to what the position entails. Include on your resume any of your work experience that most closely relates to those responsibilities.

Avoid wasting time and space with details that don’t relate to the job or the work of the organization—this means that yes, you can delete some items from your exhaustive list of duties. If you’re dying to mention them in your application, then craft a well-worded paragraph in the cover letter that outlines the important items that you’ve deleted.

Why? If you already have competency in those areas, you’ll be a quick study and able to hit the ground running in your new job.

How It’s Done / Example

Job description states: Serve as a significant role model for effective and appropriate work behaviors, procedures, and practices. Act as a liaison and advocate for participants.

On your resume, perhaps: Advocated on behalf of approximately 960 students and 23 student groups as their primary representative to the faculty and administration.

Yesterday a colleague engaged me by lamenting her current job search—she’s now on to the third interview. (sarcasm)That’s great. People in human services have three—maybe four interviews. You know what graphic designers have? Homework.

When I mentioned homework to her she paused, nodded and said “oh, yeah. You probably had to do things with PowerPoint, right? I decided not to take the bait. Besides she wanted to talk about her current precarious position in the deep, uncharted waters of the job search of a new grad school grad.

Let me tell you, graphic design interview homework can be intense. Although it was a few years back I remember this one vividly. I designed a marketing strategy to engage a young, civically engaged audience, who wanted to live greener. In addition to the communications plan, I also built social media sites (FB, Twit) a blog, a fully functioning website and a print events calendar that could fold down into a recycled billfold wallet.

And you want to talk to me about a grueling three interviews. Puh’lease.




-Simone

Complaining about work online is like picking your nose in the car..while it seems private, those outside can see you.

This morning I switched on my computer to find this at the top of my Facebook (Fb) Newsfeed:

My boss calls me while I shower, she calls while I brush my teeth and pack my lunch, then I am trying to drive and she calls me again, so I pull over and try to talk to her, but she screams at me and hangs up a few times without telling me why she is flipping out. "WHO DO YOU WORK FOR?!!!"…

Two more days of being bludgeoned before the weekend arrives...in my next life I would prefer to have more choices...

She's gotten into the habit of abusing me, but since she pays me I am not allowed to complain. I think I need to start going home and being unable to work when she treats me too badly, because this shit will kill me. Must take stand, to preserve so-called sanity...

This is just an excerpt from the status update from my friend, an—obviously disgruntled employee, Robin*. I posted in response to her tirade, “..are you sure you want to voice your disdain for your boss/job on the world wide web?” Right or wrong, I had to respond to her. This woman is my friend, and I’ve seen the worst case scenario play out twice in the last three years. Individuals, friends lost their jobs in their respective fields after badmouthing their direct supervisor or company on Facebook. One of these has not been able to get another position in his field.

A Little Perspective:

Of course, you should have the freedom to badmouth whomever you choose when speaking to your peer network. However, the internet is a complex arena; Facebook doubly so:

• If your privacy settings are set to only share your content with your peer network, you have one layer of protection from the rest of the web. 
• But, do your ‘friends’ protect their comments, shares, likes, and updates with the same settings? Maybe some do, but definitely not all of them.
• Once your friend comments on your negative work-related update, or shares it, it belongs to them and can appear to everyone who follows them. If they have an 'open"profile then anyone who finds them on them internet can view their fb activity--without even logging in!

To gauge whether you may potentially face negative repercussions at work answer this question, are any of your Fb friends coworkers, or friends of your co-workers? If you’re not sure don’t risk your job by bitching on the internet!

Unforeseen Repercussions:

Back to Robin. She immediately responded to my note with this: “Guess who doesn’t care…Maybe I will get fired….If she's not gonna pretend she's nice and reasonable, I'm not either.”

I get it, she hates her job and plans to be fired. She’ll have the opportunity to find another job—and hopefully have a more fulfilling experience. Hopefully when she is back on the job market she won't be applying with or interviewing with anyone who has had to read these hyper-negative status updates about her current boss.

Back when I was an undergrad another student was going through a stressful time at work. In Fb status updates she told the world daily, that she hated her boss, her job, coworkers, and the company. On one occasion I even commented that she was being harsh. She didn't care, she had been interviewing and was about to accept an offer. Our paths crossed again three years later. I was in the position of finding a graphic designer for my company and this woman applied. The memory of her rants about that last job jumped immediately to mind; how long would it take her to become disenchanted with work conditions before status update mudslinging at my beloved organization started. She did not get an interview.

*Her name’s not Robin

This basically translates to, have you done your research?
The interview is never solely about you. What do you know about the company? Is it positive or potentially harmful to their brand? Have they won any recent design awards? ..updated their website or branding? …hosted successful events? …

Here's a great example of how one interviewee approached this question…

A good friend and colleague told me this scenario. It’s definitely relevant here.
"I once had in interview for a Webmaster post at an organization that’s walking-distance from my house. In reviewing their website before the interview I was surprised to notice that their website update footer said 2011 instead of this year. I made note of that and a few other web-related items that made me curious; non-responsive design, inaccessible image and media content, social media feeds with months old updates, etc...

After introductions were made, they jumped right in with their first question, “what do you think of our website?” I told them my findings and then offered them viable solutions—even though they didn’t ask for them...

The result was a lively conversation with panel about the latest in responsive web design practices, integrating social media, and my love of outdoor concerts (I swear). After we shook hands goodbye—and before I got back my apartment—they had called my references and left me a voicemail message regarding a job offer.

Every year or so I revisit this list—with good reason. SimplyHired, was once my favorite search resource to share. In addition to algorithm-selected postings the site now features header and sidebar advertisements (disguised to look like jobs) and an unending amount of Temporary Contract positions—posted by anyone from phishers, to grandmas, to some guy looking for website redesign.



These resources have been effective for many jobseekers this year:

• Idealist.org
• NonprofitJobs.org
• HERCJobs.org | HigherEdJobs.com
• America’s Job Bank (an oldie but goodie)
• LinkedIn
• Indeed
• www2.guidestar.org/
• AIGA
• USAJobs.gov

Of course, if you’re interested in a particular industry, check out the professional organizations’ websites. The same goes for a particular company. Be sure to bookmark it and visit early and often!

... And How to Avoid Them

You’ve picked the pieces to showcase in-person and in your online portfolio. Links to your portfolio now live on all of your identity pieces and you’re all set to get your new awesome job. So, how come employers aren’t champin’ at the bit to contact you after seeing your mad design skills?

It could be that you’ve made one or more of the following mistakes on your portfolio site.

1. POOR TYPOGRAPHY IS A TURN OFF
Typography is one of the main pillars of graphic design. As someone in the market for a design job you’re expected to have a good grasp of typography best practices. Without these, even the least qualified art director will overlook you and your site.

THE FIX: Once you’ve created your site and included all columns of type, step away from it for a few hours. When you come back, review a wordy column of type and see if it needs any tweaks in the leading or tracking; do the headlines command attention or do they blend with your paragraphs? Finally be sure to keep line-length to below 80 characters—to enhance readability.

Two Junes ago I posted an article outlining ways to get around "robots", the ATS that your online application may pass through before getting into the hands of a human being. These programs strip out the formatting and compare your resume text to that of the original job posting and then give a generic score to applications that best fit the outlined criteria.

For the first time in recent history--four years or so--the graphic design job market does not lead the pack in creative services job postings. A newly graduated friend sent me his portfolio to review and then wanted to talk about the fact that his job search seemed to be in limbo. He's been applying for a couple months now, with nary a nibble.

In no particular order...

Many of us regularly use social media. It’s an easy way to entertain and be entertained, even when it leans to the  embarrassing. Posting a picture on Facebook from the bachelor party that shows you duck-facing the camera with a bottle of champagne in hand is likely to get a laugh from your friends — none of whom are actually in the market to hire you.

When you’re job hunting, it’s a great idea to work with social media. This means taking advantage of the great communication tools available on the Internet to help you find the ideal job, at the ideal salary, in the ideal location. That could mean:

1.  writing an industry-related blog or being a regular contributor to one,
2. participating in online discussion groups, or 
3. sharing videos that demonstrate your abilities.

The last time I wrote about phone interviews I had just flubbed one by being unprepared. Today, I write as someone who just conducted a series of phone interviews and now have a better perspective from which to report.

Background: 
I was recently in the market for an assistant Instructional Media Developer with great design sensibilities, the ability to craft messages for a target audience, some video or  motion graphics background, and a good grasp of Adobe Creative Suite.  I selected 3 applicants for phone interviews and told them that I would contact them to get a better idea of their "experience and professional goals," which I spelled that out in the email. Sadly, only one of  the applicants was sufficiently prepared to answer my questions.

Q&A
I asked the following questions, these are pretty common ones in our field:

1. Tell me a bit about yourself. This question is meant to illicit a response that incorporates education, and professional goals. It is rarely a chance for you to talk about your hobbies or siblings. Yes, one of the interviewees started telling me about how she's  the middle child. I had to reign her in and restate the question.
   
2. Tell me about your ability with "X" software or skill (describe the experience or give a rating of 1-10). Since my job description included some mention of script writing and story-boarding, I added these to the list--which included software, platforms, other skills, and conceptual design . The interviewees all had some limited experience in scripting and story-boarding, but only one elaborated on the experience by telling me more about a specific project.
   The lesson here is to always be prepared to elaborate or give concrete examples during an interview.
   
3. Regarding your resume, please tell me about why you made this design decision. There should be a concrete reason for every decision on your personal marketing materials. One applicant had a 2-page resume that included only 2 sentences on the second page--this person didn't realize that the text flowed to the second page after her most recent content update. I advised this person to apply for jobs using a PDF resume in future, to avoid formatting mishaps.
   
4. Tell me about your professional goals: During the interviews, I kept a checklist of 7 different career paths that I think would benefit from experience in instructional media development. When the interviewee mentioned one or the other of the fields I simply added a check mark on my questionnaire and left it at that. This was my tie-breaker question (not that I needed it).
   
   
   
5. Do you have any questions for me? The correct answer is "Yes...!" Are there any opportunities for professional development? Can you tell me about the culture of your company? Tell me about your style of management. Etc. Just remember to avoid the questions about salary, bennies, and time off.

These common resume mistakes make it hard to get into the call-back pile. Avoid these if you want to be taken seriously

1. Unattractive Formatting - Presentation matters as much as content.
Think about it like this: if you had a huge stack of resumes on your desk, would you be more likely to pick up the easy-to-read, well-formatted one, or the confusing one? Exactly! Create your resume in sections, keep the information clean and organized.
2. Grammatical Errors and Typos - Most hiring managers will stop reading as soon as they reach one of these ugly little mistakes. Not only does it show your lack of written communication skills, it also tells them that you don’t really care about the job.
3. Cutesie/ Unprofessional Email Address
4. Missing Accomplishments - Include accomplishments with-or instead of--your duties list.
5. Long-Winded Resumes - There are many opinions on resume length. It's my strong belief that a single pager is sufficient in our field. Be concise, and go for quality not quantity.

Adapted from an article on the SimplyHired Blog. Get more details at blog.simplyhired.com

Well, this isn't actually a question. However, you should have a process outlined for this one. The interviewer wants to know that you can approach a project methodically and follow the logical steps to a successful design project. Be aware that these are not optional steps. Here they are:

1. Get the design challenge and do your research: Learn all you can about the target audience and message. Find out the format and budgetary constraints. 
2. Create thumbnails: Brainstorm design solutions and sketch out several quick ideas.
3.   Develop the roughs: Flesh out 3 or 4 of the thumbs to develop further. Get feedback from the team or client on which is most successful for their needs.
4. Make up the comprehensive designs (comps): Use the successful rough to create a design that’s full sized, using the final color palette, and sans-Greeked text. This project is practically finished. Get some feedback from your team or client.
5.  Final design: Use that last round of feedback to polish up your comp into the finished product.

My buddy, Barbara*, works in marketing and does a lot of media writing. This year she gave a riveting AIGA talk about interviewing with a portfolio when not in the creative arts field. Today, a great article on Idealist.org loudly seconded her sentiment. It's good enough to share.

According to Barb and Idealist every professional should arrive at an interview with a portfolio in-hand; "we do more than just our job description" and a portfolio book is an excellent way to show it. A professional portfolio--or leave behind--gives the potential employer a great idea of our skills, abilities and range. It's also pretty impressive!

How Does it Look? This simplest presentation of your leave-behind is a spiral-bound book separated by tabs. These can be printed and bound, in quantity, at retail copy shops or by yourself if you have a spiral binder at hand). Be sure to select  a heavy weight paper and substantial cover stock. Spiral-bound books are not the only option. This publication can also be a highly polished design piece that profiles your creative skill as well. If you choose to go in this direction consider hiring a graphic design student, freelancer, or recent grad to help layout / design a polished look.

Here are a few examples of print portfolio books:

What Does it Contain? Your portfolio is a great supplement to the interview conversation. As you speak about your projects, accomplishments, or accolades, refer to the samples that you have in-hand. Here are Barbara's suggestions for basic content for this book:

• Your resume or Curriculum Vitae
• Listed technical skills, software, and hardware
• Printed samples of your work or projects on which you've worked--with descriptions of the project, your role on the project, and other pertinent information
• Writing Samples - if you have relevant, well-written pieces; include 2-3 samples of technical writing, public relations, media or editorial writing
• Kudos and accolades on your work or performance from colleagues or employers

Why Not Go Digital? If making a print portfolio is outside of your means and expertise, create an online portfolio. There are several free sites that offer open formats for you to showcase a variety of projects. An online portfolio gives potential employers a look at your scope of skill, and also makes you look very web-savvy; this is more important across all industries. In addition to portfolio sites like: Behance, CarbonMade, Jobrary.com there are several blog format sites that allow for maximum flexibility; like Blogger, Wordpress, or Tumblr.



*her name isn't really Barbara.