August 5, 2011

Getting Started



Fashion is no doubt a competitive industry. With the thousand of other self-proclaimed fashionistas who have internship and work experience applying for the same positions it may seem impossible to get started in pursuing your dream career. 

Don't fret and certainly don't give up. Here are 3 tips that will help you get your start in the industry no matter how much or how little experience you currently have. 

1.Write a good resume, but an even better cover letter. A resume serves to showcase your work experience, educational background, and skills, but what it doesn’t show a potential employer is your personality and passion. A good cover letter should express why you think you are a perfect fit for the position, how your past experiences will make you a good asset to the company, and express your passion for the type of work you are applying for. 

2. Do your research. Fashion tends to be a word-of-mouth kind of industry. Get yourself out there and start networking. Research local fashion events, meet up groups, and make an appearance. Insider blogs, fashion publications, and social networking sites are also a good place to start your search. 

3. Be proactive. My first internship with a fashion designer was the result of searching for local designers and boutique owners, contacting them via email and offering my services. If you decide to go this route, which is entirely worth the effort—be honest. If you have never interned before and have no experience in the field (watching an entire season of Project Runway does not count as experience) then tell them what you can do. Are you great at organizing? Then offer to maintain their office by filing, answering phones, and doing inventory. In my email I even offered to make coffee.

And remember...any experience is good experience. 

3 comments:

  1. Tell me more! I know how to use Twitter, but what I would really need to know is more specific information on who to follow, who to tweet, and what to tweet in order to help me break into the industry and make contacts. You give some information on this of course, but more would be really nice!

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  2. Love to see your passion for something like that.
    a couple suggestions i can make would be:

    1) try adding a little more personable stuff into it, it is easy to talk about what you think is right, but i think it would make the post more personable if you talked a little bit about how you came to these conclusions.

    2)Add a sentence to the end on how to talk to the person about the future, like what to do they do once when complete your tips.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is a nice, informative read!

    I want to hear more details, maybe provide a link or two to different fashion job resources or where to find out about fashion events in the area.

    ReplyDelete