Katherine Pena – Mini Job Search

My qualifications include a Bachelors of Technology in communication design. I am bilingual- fluent in English and Spanish. I have extensive knowledge of Adobe Creative Cloud- which includes programs such as Adobe Photoshop CS7, Adobe illustrator CS7, and Adobe InDesign CS7. Skills include photo retouching, color correction, strong typographic sense, vector imaging, packaging design and logo creation. My areas of interest are all things design including portrait and landscape photography with comprehension in studio lighting and basic knowledge of all modes of video production- pre production, production, and post production. Other non-design related skills include knowledge of Microsoft Word and Excel. I am able to take initiative and work with tight deadlines. I am also highly conceptual. I am seeking an entry level position in a graphic design firm or ad agency as a graphic designer. Specifically a jr. or assistant graphic designer. My professional goals include doing a lot of freelance work to build clientele. Once I have established a name in my field I’d like to become a creative director. Possibly, one day become a professor at a college or university. I am most interested in working with contemporary organizations with a highly creative workspace.

 

Employers in my field are looking for creative individuals with a bachelor’s degree in a graphic design related field. Companies are mainly looking for individuals knowledgeable in Adobe creative cloud. Employers stress knowing different mediums is a must. Being able to work on anything from a mobile app to a magazine spread to a website banner is what makes you versatile, and the more versatile you are the more prominent and useful your skills become to the company. Besides design skills they’re looking for applicants with good written and verbal communication skills for communicating with clients, colleagues and employers. They stress time management skills as a lot of projects have to be executed in a certain time frame. Positions available for a recent graduate are limited to jr. and assistant graphic designers. We’d help higher up designers conceptualize and weed out through bad ideas, then help with execution by working or smaller projects. When applying to these jobs, a resume and a strong portfolio are musts. While at City Tech, My knowledgeable professors have helped me fine-tune my skills. I also enjoy that the school offers a segment called ‘Meet the Pros’ where professionals from the design world visit the school and speak about their life as designers/artists. It lets us as students and designers know a bit about the potential hardships we may go through and also how to build contacts. This semester I’m learning how to build concepts to potentially run campaigns. It’s a bit different from my other classes due to the fact that the professor consciously chose to not let students touch the computers but instead focus on the ideas themselves, whether it be drafting, sketching, or content planning. I am hoping I will be able to get an internship or two before landing an actual job.

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