Studying for a university or college degree is hard work, and it's easy to assume that there will be time for a career after you graduate. But if you start laying the foundations for your creative career now, you'll finish your course with a degree and the experience and contacts to help you stand out from the crowd. Kirsty Logan explains how...
Join a club or society
Your university or college will probably have a newspaper, theatre group, radio station and TV channel, as well as workshop groups for musicians, creative writers, and filmmakers. These clubs are social and look great on your CV – and you never know which of the people there will go on to fame and fortune! If your university or college doesn’t have anything in your chosen field, start your own group.
Wherever you can, make your uni work overlap with your creative work
If you’re studying English Literature or Film Studies, choose the essay or project options with a creative element. If you can get better marks by working on additional projects with other students, go for it – it might seem like unnecessary extra work, but it’s great experience as well as a way to make new like-minded friends. The more creative work you produce, the more you’ll have to choose from when putting together a showreel or portfolio.
Use your holidays well
Even if you don’t have the time to do a three-month internship, a week spent volunteering in your chosen career can make a huge difference. Apply for jobs at music, film or book festival – working in the box office might not seem like the path to an amazing job, but you never know what contacts you might make, and being at the centre of a creative industry will give you valuable insight into the realities of the job. It’s tempting to slack off and just do the bare minimum, but try to seem enthusiastic and make it clear that you’re doing this for the experience too. With any luck you’ll get a decent boss who will support your ambition, and even recommend you for future opportunities.
Look on the bright side of rubbish jobs
If you missed your shot at the cool summer placements, don’t despair – even the grimmest minimum-wage jobs can teach you vital skills for your creative career. Office jobs help with computer skills, sales jobs are great for developing a thick skin (vital for creative careers), and customer service work is helpful for learning how to deal with difficult people. A summer spent building a website for a boring company means that making a website to promote yourself will be a breeze.
These things might not all seem relevant to a creative career, but artists have to keep accounts and organise their commissions and performances. The less time you spend figuring out how to do paperwork means more time spent on creating.
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Image: Trinity College Library by timtom.ch, available under a CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license.