Change - moving into a design career

Being a career changer in design is like taking a hobby that you’ve done for years that uses the experience of your main career, and making it your primary career. You have previous work experience that can be applied, but you are starting from the beginning as a professional designer. You can make mistakes because you feel your previous work experience will be directly applicable, but you need to go in with a beginner’s mindset. 

Moving from one career into design

As a career changer, you are motivated to find a role to support you and your family and also leverage the experience you have working professionally.  Your experience is a two-edged sword; you have worked with people and in teams before, but not in design, so it is not always directly comparable.

Two possible career paths are:

• A Mid-weight role in an organisation to get experience

• Apply your skills to an industry you are already in like Digital Marketing, Content Strategy/ Design, Visual design or in a small company

Your plan should focus on:

Positioning

• Position yourself in the market, so you are different to the rest of the people looking for entry-level positions. Base this on previous work experience or a natural aptitude.

• Discuss your comparable work from your previous professional work

• Build a portfolio that is not just education-based

• Work on your storytelling, rather than focus on the process steps

Networking

• Connect with senior people in the industry by asking specific work questions.

• Connect with your previous industry to talk about design work.

• Start job applications with phone calls to the recruiters, follow up after applications and interviews to understand the position better and get feedback.

Planning

• Create a plan identifying companies and people who can help you find a role

To learn more about planning your career you can buy the book Career Architecture or book 30 mins with me to talk further.