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Art and Career

A friend was seeking some advice for a 16-year-old who produces some stunning paintings.

"Pinto" by Samantha Mash
Click image for full size

It is wonderful work -- the question was how to develop it into a career.

Unfortunately, the truth about the art business is that talent is not enough because the supply far exceeds the demand. Not fair, not right -- it just is. By itself, art is a very unlikely way to make a living. Career counselor Marty Nemko says it very well:  Can You Become a Starving Artist?

That said, it is not impossible and while only a small percentage of artists succeed -- remember that some do!

But more important is that success as "an artist" is not the only route available! Even if she never becomes a commercial artist, the skills are useful in other careers and can set her apart. I'm a case in point -- I have ok visual skills in photography, graphic design, and drawing. I would be a mediocre (and radically unemployed) artist -- but compared to other electrical engineers, my art skills were stellar and I ultimately leveraged them into marketing roles where my engineering, art, and communication skills developed into a solid career.

The secret? I knew what I liked to do and was always alert for ways to use them in my job. Before too long, I discovered (i.e., stumbled upon) opportunities. I tried them -- some worked, some didn't. Eventually, it led me to a nice mix between what I like to do and what the world is willing to pay for.

My advice: Keep producing art but develop your other interests as well.

Learn Photoshop and Illustrator. Take courses. Develop your style and your confidence.

Find opportunities to show your work -- visit galleries, talk to artists, show at school and fairs. Be aggressive in this. Even if you never sell a single work, this is valuable life training and will lead you in ways you do not expect. Do not stop because you think you are not succeeding -- stop only when it becomes clear that it is not serving you and not serving your passion.

Most important: it develops confidence. Most artists have a huge blind spot about their own work -- they either think it's way better than it is, or more often, they think it's way worse. Doing it and showing it is the best antidote. "Produce and promote."

More articles from Nemko on ideas for artists to pursue:

• Realistic Dreams
• Cool Careers

At the same time, recognize that art alone is not a high-probability career. Seek other passions and develop other skills -- as many as you can. Artists are almost always good at different things -- music, different media, writing, story-telling, seeing the essence, looking at things differently, design of many kinds such as architecture, product design, engineering. In my experience, doctors (and especially dentists) are frequently artists.

Be alert to things you like to do that also happen to be in demand. Keep doing the low-demand things you love but know that those are probably best to keep as hobbies while you seek marketable skills.

The most frequent advice you will hear is: "Never give up." It is the best advice and the worst. One one hand, you must believe in yourself and you must keep producing and showing. But on the other hand, you have to see what is true. If you focus on one picture of "being an artist," you will fail to see opportunities that don't match your picture. The worst examples are the defiant ones on talent shows like American Idol — the ones who just don't get that this is not going to happen for them.

Never give up on producing and showing -- but at the same time, be ready to switch tactics when new possibilities appear.  The path to the mountaintop doesn't look like a mountaintop.

Four Rs for Business

This is from a business management professor, Jerry Newman, who spent 14 months working in fast food restaurants to see how they work and get real-world business experience. In his book, "My Secret Life on the McJob," he advocates the four Rs for business:

Reality: Lay out the job in advance and tell the truth. Turnover is lower when you set expectations.

Relationship: The "social glue" is important: When people become friends with their co-workers, they enjoy coming to work.

Reliability: Are managers consistent? When managers handle things the same way, workers can soon learn to handle it that way themselves.

Recognition: "It is amazing how few use that as a tool," he says. Find out what each person's main, "load-bearing beam" is, what makes them who they are and reward it.

Resume Hints

Here is some advice for how to format and submit a resume, from the perspective of a hiring manager.

First Impression: Ten Seconds

Most important is that you must assume you have only a few seconds to get them to read the resume. In ten seconds, I want to know what you want and what you do best. If it matches what I want, I will read on. The opening statement should be on a cover letter (more on that later) if you are responding a posted job; in an objective statement on the resume if you are posting your resume. Make it something that will appeal to a manager who is flipping through 300 resumes in the next hour and is looking for your exact experience and skills! Think like the person who will be hiring you, not like the other 299 resume writers in the stack.

Always include an objective so I can know what you want, and always make it as laser-focused as you can. Please, please, please never write anything like, "Objective: Position that uses my skills and experience in..." I see that every day and all it tells me is that you are an amateur. You are expecting me to figure out what you want!

I will usually read the cover letter, the objective and the first section, which should be a very concise list of accomplishments, experience, skills, usually in bullet form.

Remember that the job of the first few lines is not to sell you -- it is to get the right manager to read the rest of the resume!

Then remember that the rest of the resume's job is not to sell you. It is to get the right manager to want to interview you.

Edit Your Resume

General formatting comment: Please, please have your resume reviewed by someone with excellent editing skills. I am somewhat tolerant of errors for technical jobs such as programmer, database administrator, or electrical engineer. Somewhat. Even for the techiest techie, an error of any kind is a big strike one. I can't help but think that if you have errors on your resume, there will be errors in your work. I saw a survey that said a high percentage of managers give up on a resume with a single typo.

A Microsoft Word attachment is usually the best way to send the resume but Word is not a universal format. Be careful to make sure it all works -- fonts, character sets can mess you up if the receiver is on Linux or Mac or uses an older version of Word. Use Times and Arial and be careful. Save in a Word version that is universal (I think all recent versions save in a pretty standard format).

A PDF may be better if you are looking for a job where communication matters -- e.g. Marcom, writing, graphics.

You also need a carefully formatted text version that works on the dumbest text programs. You need this because a lot of resume sites make you paste your resume into some web form and lord knows what it will look like when it ends up in the manager's e-mail.

Refining Your Resume

Ask people you admire for advice and do not hesitate to ask to see their resume. They will be flattered. I did this when I was looking for my first new job. I was a 25-year-old engineer, asking managers in their 50s and 60s. Section managers and division managers, several grades above me, some of whom I worked for, happily gave me their resumes! I learned a couple of things. First, what high-level resumes look like (and by the way, some of them were really awful). Second, that a lot of them had reasonably up to date resumes even though they were not looking.

Cover Letter

When replying to a posted job, always use a very brief, well-written cover letter. Very few do. It makes you stand out, and indicates you are replying to the job that the manager has open. The cover note can be in the e-mail message to which your resume is attached or it can be a cover page on the attached resume (or better, both).

In that brief note, demonstrate that you read the job description and you see aspects that make the job perfect for you! Show that there is a match and a special interest. Not overly enthusiastic or begging -- just show interest. And did I say -- make it brief? A couple of paragraphs.

My friend Lars Rider, a recruiter, offers this formula for cover letters:

• Attached is my resume for (position title).
• I have (degree, if relevant) with x years total experience and x years in (relevant skill).
• What I found particularly interesting is (say why you are a benefit for them and something about the job that benefits you).
• I am available for interview (if you need 1-2 day notice, or whatever the situation is, be eager to interview) and can start (immediately, with short notice, etc.).

Sample:

Hello,

Attached is my resume for your technical documentation lead position (job
p213SJ) that I saw on the Tech Writers' bulletin board.

I have over 20 years experience in most phases of technical documentation,
including 10 years managing teams of up to 12 writers and editors. I
am particularly adept at training new editors and mentoring
experienced writers. My current work is in technical manuals and
online help documents.

I found your position particularly interesting because your client
base matches my experience and I am especially skilled at the team
coaching you described.

I am available immediately for interviews and I can start with two
weeks notice.

I look forward to discussing the fit with you.

Regards,

Your Name and contact information

Follow-Up

Feel free to follow up a few days later. It never hurts, often helps. But don't be demanding, pathetic, or make-wrong. Use e-mail. Something like, "I sent my resume a few days ago and wanted to make sure you saw it. The position you described is exactly what I am seeking. I looked at your website and it looks like my experience in (whatever) would be an excellent match for your organization because (why). Thank you for considering me, hope to talk to you soon."

How to Find Your Passion

What do you want to be when you grow up?

It's not just a question for kids. We adults often need to re-evaluate who we are and what we want. I've done it. It took a while but after a few years, I landed one of those "they pay me to do this?!" fulfilling positions doing what I love!

Here are some guidelines that may help others get there faster.

Once you know what you want, see the post, "How to Find the Perfect Job."

Act Now

First suggestion is to do it soon. The process for finding new passion is best done like losing weight -- gradually and for a long time. The sooner you start, the sooner your mind will be processing possibilities instead of dwelling on how something is missing.

What Do You Want — and Is It Achievable?

The hardest part in this quest is balancing desire and reality. On one hand, you don't want to be held back by limitations that exist only inside your head, by false notions of humility or weak self-confidence. But on the other hand, we all know people who fail and fail and fail because they are looking for something beyond their ability. If you watch a show like American Idol, you see it over and over: the people who don't have what it takes, everyone but them knows it, and they can't hear the feedback. "I don't care what these judges say, I know I have what it takes and I will never give up!" Persistence and commitment are good traits but you need honest assessments of your talent.

Your goal here is to find something you love and are good at. It is probably not going to be easy and you probably don't know how to get there (or you would have). But at the same time, you need a measure of reality. While I believe in impossible dreams, you also need to recognize how the world works.

This can be hard. You need to learn to hear and integrate feedback from multiple sources.

Career Counseling

A good career counselor or coach is very likely to help. You can do it yourself but honestly consider: You have been in your current career for how long? And you haven't done it yourself so far. Get a little help from someone who knows what's out there and is skilled at telling people the truth.

But an important warning. There are a lot — and I mean a lot — of incompetents and swindlers out there. It's a ripe field for charlatans because we are dealing with people who are desperately married to their dreams — those "never give up" American Idol types.

Be especially careful around anything that is expensive. There are numerous counseling and placement companies that charge a small fortune. Avoid any recruiter who wants to charge you a fee. Be highly skeptical of any school or technical institute that charges a fat fee and makes promises of how "our graduates find high-paying positions." Especially be careful of anyone who trades on lofty hopes, especially in areas where we all know there are many, many more hopeful people than there are opportunities, like art or acting.

The best resources I found were non-profit organizations that do career counseling and charge little or nothing. These are usually funded by foundations or government programs.

When I did that a few years ago, I went to the (now-gone) Career Action Center and enrolled in a couple of workshops. I recommend that. Look for a workshop where there is enough structure to guide your journey but enough flexibility that you are finding your way. And I recommend something that throws you into a group with other seekers.

There is an author, Barbara Sher, who has written some books and done some videos. What I like about her is that she motivates but is not some fluffy motivational speaker type with idealistic ideas. She encourages you to think outside the proverbial box but in a grounded way, with realistic advice about how to get started doing what may seem impossible at first.

Sher originated "Success Teams." Groups of people like you who are looking for new directions, they use structure and exercises Sher developed. They are free or inexpensive and widely available.

Consider aptitude testing. A friend of mine did this and thinks it's great. He used Johnson-O'Connor in San Francisco. I have heard other positive experiences with them.

Private coaches can also be good.

Whatever you do, get personal recommendations — like finding a maid, a painter, or a dry cleaner, our best advice is always from someone who has been there.

How to Find the Perfect Job

I know quite a few people who are re-evaluating their careers. I did that in 1999. It took a couple of years but ultimately, I landed a job that was better than I could have imagined and fit me better than I knew.

Here's an outline of the method, in the hope that I can help others get there in a lot less time than I took!

1. Define your ideal. This is the hard part and is the subject of another pos, "How to Find Your Passion."

2. Write a resume and make it a rifle-shot. Define it EXACTLY for EXACTLY the job you want. Imagine a guy out there who has just written a job description for a position you want and make that resume play directly to that person.

You may encounter other jobs that are also what you want -- write a separate resume for each. Each resume should laser-focus. The Objective on your resume should never use the word "or."

3. Post it everywhere. Be a resume slut. Now, you may not want to do this (especially if you don't want your employer to know) but it worked for me -- the job I have found me. I would never have found it myself.

4. Make a list of companies you admire and begin hitting them up.

5. Tell everyone and when you talk to someone, always end with, "do you know anyone else who might know of something?" Always.

6. Read job listings. Not just for the job you want but also read the job descriptions for ideas that you can use to fine-tune your resume. (My story: I had been looking for a year when I saw a job posted that jumped off the page. The job description was precisely what I wanted and beautifully written (thank you, Ed Colligan). I applied and in the end, didn't get that job — but my new resume, with its career objective built on that description, was eventually seen by a recruiter who was working for my current employer.

7. Never turn down an interview. The job I have sounded horrible right up until I signed the form, which was after three or four rounds. And every interview teaches you more about what you want and how to present yourself.

8. Never show up at an interview naked. I finally figured out that was a mistake.

9. Use recruiters, but remember they do not work for you. You cannot depend on them alone.

10. You'll get turned down, rejected, bla bla bla. So what?

11. Send thank you e-mails. Hardly anyone does this and as a hiring manager, I will tell you they help. A written note is nice but you want to avoid seeming too desperate or weird. I think an e-mail is safest. Short, simple, cordial, and definitely do not sound desperate.

12. Be persistent and diligent. It may take a long time -- mine took over a year. That's OK.

13. Make sure your resume has no typos, no spelling issues. None.