Things learnt after two years as a grad.

Written by Jaheed Hussain

It’s Graduate Takeover season for Fuse and I’m well excited about being able to co-deliver it all alongside the brilliant Redeye and Short Supply. If you’ve not seen it across our socials, we’ve launched a short season of content, advice and mini-events, all to help the grads of 2021 figure certain things out. Luckily for me, I graduated in 2019, a year behind those in 2020 who unfortunately had to deal with getting out of their studies at practically, the worst time ever. BUT, this graduate takeover thing will hopefully show you that there’s still creativity happening out there, and successful graduates from 2020 - even though you graduated during a pandemic. For us, we were keen to feature as many graduates of 2020 and we have planned to showcase so many, so, keep your eyes out for more.

Coming out of graduation I had that mindset of “Oh shit, I’ve got to find a job now” and straightaway - like many of my peers - I went to every job site and started applying for literally anything. I didn’t get anything (and looking back, I’m really glad I didn’t) So, I had to think about what I could do to change things around for me and that leads to the very first thing that I learnt.

Working on side projects is more important than randomly sending out CVs.

It’s so important. Whenever I give this piece of advice and someone asks, “why?”, the only thing I can do is to point to Fuse. Because of this insane project, its elevated my own practice. I don’t like putting my name on it (which is why I rarely namedrop myself on Fuse’s socials) but people have asked me, via Fuse’s emails or whatnot, “who’s the person behind this?”, “who designed your website?”. Any work you put into self-initiated projects, shows. So, don’t be afraid to show it off online y’know? A few months after I graduated and didn’t get any job offers, I really started to focus in on Fuse, spending time on social media, networking with others and brainstorming content ideas and it led me to my first internship after leaving University.

Second bit of advice: You’ve got to network with people.

Follow people who create work you love, engage with their posts and share them or even, send an email to say how much you enjoy it. You’ll make genuine connections that will last you longer than you expect. Plus, you can have people to lean on if you need help and trust me, even now, I still have so many questions about the creative world. In most cases, a lot of creatives eventually get their best opportunities because of the connections they’ve made.

Stay active on social media, even if it’s to like other people’s posts.

Unfortunately, one of the main things I’ve seen graduates do, is falling completely off the radar after their studies end. You’ve got to stay active and not only because it’s a benefit to networking but because you can also find tons of advice, content, help and opportunities online and best of all, it can relate to your practice - whatever it will be. If you have barely any presence online, it’s hard for people to discover your work and even harder to follow your progression as you grow your practice. You don’t need to post every day, or regularly but stay active and be a part of a community.

Also, there’s a ton of smaller things I’ve learnt too like…

Learning how to invoice. Especially, if you’re freelancing and how important it is to keep track of invoices and making sure you get paid. It’s all vital to building your professional practice. Intern did a brilliant IGTV of how to invoice, which you should check out here: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CFWaEmUFG9d/ but essentially, save all the important docs in a folder and constantly nudge people to pay you if they’re late. Also, managing your finances. At the start, you will absolutely struggle with money, at some point - unless you have an abundance of riches obviously - but yeah, you’ll struggle. So, save your money. Don’t spend it on anything you don’t need and keep track of your spending from month-to-month. This actually leads to another thing I’ve learnt recently too and it’s how Adobe isn’t the only bit of software creatives use. For me, I was taught Adobe since college and you’d be surprised about how much better open-source and free software is. Take the time to research and learn about Adobe alternatives and try out everything that relates to your practice. It’ll save you money because once you’re not a student, Adobe hikes up their price and they make you pay if you cancel your contract early. Also, be kind to others. Don’t be self-involved and don’t do it all for yourself, if you know what I mean? Like for example, share opportunities you see online EVEN if it’s something you’ve applied for. Yes, other people will reply but you’ll be helping out others in the industry and that’s one of the most important things you can do as a creative.

Just in general, empathy is so important.

If you see someone struggling, reach out. See if you can help them. Give a shit about others in the industry and they’ll give a shit about you too. You’ll graduate with close to 100 other past-students and not everyone’s got their dream debut job. So, be kind and help others out. In terms of work, don’t be afraid to create projects that relate to your passions. If you’re passionate about environmental issues, say it through your work. If you care about the refugee crisis and want to help charities, reach out to some and see if you can make something for them.

Finally, resting is key. Don’t get burnt out.

This goes without saying but you’ll get burnt out if you overwork yourself. Save your energy, manage your hours and if you’re feeling burnt out - rest. It’s more beneficial to rest when you’ve got creative block, than it is to push on and inevitably lose interest in whatever it is you’re working on. I’ve experienced it and it’s not cool, so rest up as much as possible and take it easy. Good things don’t happen overnight.

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