It seems all interior design jobs, however junior, demand experience. A depressing situation for interior design graduates looking for work. Having slogged away for 3 or 4 years. And racked up £10ks of student debt.
But as you’ll see, your situation is not as bleak as it first appears. Because there are things you CAN do to help you land your very first interior design job.
Not All Interior Design Jobs Demand Experience
Yes, I know it seems impossible to find interior design jobs without experience, but there are a few. The retail and KBB sectors are a good place to find them. I appreciate that these roles can be ‘salesy’. And not what you dreamed of when you embarked on your interior design university career. But they are a foot in the door.
For instance, Howdens always have entry-level jobs available all over the country. Not only that, their job adverts contain the comforting phrase, ‘It doesn’t matter if you haven’t worked in this industry’. Wren Kitchens and IKEA also frequently publish no experience interior design roles.
Not all design and build firms are unsympathetic to your plight. BDP Architects are a good example. Although graduate schemes are usually geared to architects and engineers, their nurturing ethos also extends to graduate interior designers.
Finally, don’t rule out interior design / admin assistant roles. Again, employers usually don’t expect applicants to have experience. Plus, they provide another way into design studios.
But these few jobs are hard-fought over. So you need to show potential employers you’re an exceptional interior designer. And you’ll come back to this.
Make Friends with Photography Undergraduates for Job Hunting Success
Bear with me! As every Google search will tell you, to find interior design jobs without experience you need to build your portfolio. Which can be achieved in part during your degree. And with free makeovers for friends and families. Also think about voluntary design work for local businesses, non-profit organisations, and community centres.
But all your free (to others!) efforts will go to waste if not presented professionally. Put another way, crappy smart phone shots aren’t good enough to impress employers. And this is where photography students, or graduates, come in. Because they know how to take a good photo.
More importantly, there’s mutual benefit. It’s not just interior designers that need a portfolio. Photographers need one too. So get in touch with photographers at your university. Not least because social media makes it easy to do!
Present Non-Interior Design Jobs Experience in a Clever Way
No interior designer is completely without experience. Your professional and volunteer experience to date gives you lots of transferable abilities. Such as communication, team working, initiative and so on.
More than that, you may already have ‘design experience’ in another field. An obvious example is ‘taking client briefs’. This interiors-speak for ‘understanding what customers want’. So anyone with customer management knowledge has the client skills firms want.
And all you need to do is present those abilities intelligently on your CV as follows:
- Realise that recruiters spend 8-10 seconds first reviewing your CV (that’s right, seconds!). So make what you want them to see obvious. And what you don’t want them to see, less obvious
- Recruiters spend 80% of their time on page 1. So relegate your meager chronological list of industry jobs to page 2.
- On page 1, create an achievements summary to provide recruiters with the evidence you meet the non-technical requirements of the job. WITHOUT mentioning where you gained that experience.
- Ensure the recruiter knows you have the relevant technical abilities by listing them in a side bar on page 1 and page 2. And you do have abilities like space planning and CAD. Because you’ve spent years learning them!
Of course, crafting a killer interior design CV and portfolio is more involved than the few bullets presented in this article. But don’t worry! Because you can get Your Free How To Guide For An Amazing CV and Portfolio here!
How To Demonstrate You’re an Exceptional Designer Regardless of Experience
What makes a designer exceptional is their desire to develop. Always trying new things and finding ways to improve. So increase your knowledge. An obvious way to do this is to deepen and broaden your technical skills. Like more in-depth knowledge of CAD. Bring REVIT into your repertoire.
Also, exceptional interior designers don’t just consider design from an aesthetics and functional perspective. Instead, they recognise interior design is a commercial venture. A business that needs to make a profit. And showing even very basic business acumen can really help your job search.
And the great news, it costs nothing to improve your knowledge and skills. Because there’s a wealth of free courses for everything from architecture and design software to running a business. So enrol. Especially on those courses that provide a certificate you can put on your CV!
Interior Design Jobs: How to Get One without Industry Experience
There you have it! 4 ways to overcome a lack of work experience and get an interior design job.
Not all jobs require you to have industry experience. For instance, design assistant roles. And jobs in KBB and retail.
Make sure your portfolio is professionally shot. And you already know people who can do that for free!
Use recruiters’ busy lives to your advantage. Cleverly structure your CV to show your strengths. And disguise your weaknesses.
Use your initiative and complete free courses to demonstrate you’re an exceptional designer.
Put them into action and increase your chances of being invited to interior design job interviews. Which, of course, presents a new set of challenges. But no need for concern! Because you can get help with interview preparation too!