We are always inundated with speculative approaches for jobs here at me&him. Most are horrendously bad. Most are from students having just graduated but given the current climate a lot are from people who have unfortunately been made redundant. Just yesterday I was asked for advice on how to go about getting things right. It’s not easy and there is no ‘right’ way to do it but here is a little list of things that might help.
Approach companies that you want to work for first. They might be the most famous ones but you should aim high, why not? However also look for companies that do work that you like or admire but maybe don’t have that famous name. There’s a lot of them out there. You found us after all.
Find out about the company you are contacting. You should research them, look through their website at least. We once had three students from Coventry apply for a job, no idea why as they were all graduates of automotive design course and last time I checked, we haven’t any car design. Don’t email the general contact address, find out who to contact. Often this info is there on the website. Our names are on our site yet most people still address their emails ‘to whom it may concern, or Dear me&him’. Oh and we aren’t already best pals, keep you emails polite and respectful. Don’t start with ‘Hi Guys, or Hi There, Wos Up Guys…’ yep those aren’t made up.
Say some nice things about our work, but nothing generic that could apply to anybody. Mention specific projects and not just the ones that may have won awards and say why you like them. Heap praise upon us. We all have egos.
Your CV will need to be online, in pdf format and in print. It must be well presented but nothing to crazy, let the work shine through, it doesn’t want to compete with your portfolio. Do not add anything unnecessary to it. We don’t care if you have a full, clean driving license. We don’t have a fleet of vans awaiting a designer come delivery person. We can safely assume that you like everybody else out there, ‘can work well on your own and as part of a team’ and when not working you love ‘going out to the cinema or equally ’staying at home reading’.
Oh and that pdf CV version please make sure it’s A4. We might just want to print it out and that 100×500mm page size you thought was ‘creative’ isn’t going to look good.
The next thing is unforgivable. Spelling mistakes. Get somebody else to check your email through, anything. Just don’t make any mistakes anywhere. It’s so incredibly important. There are a lot of people looking for jobs out there so don’t therefore, give us any reason to bin your CV.
One last thing, always say you will contact the recipient in a few days, never assume they will contact you because they probably won’t. We are pretty busy people you know (last week we worked every night until 3.30am).
Ultimately the only thing that will get you that job though is your work. It has to be brilliant.
If you would like to share your experiences on CV’s received or approaches made we would love to hear from you. Email us@meandhimdesign.co.uk
