Flaming First Thread

[Fasheem]

Congratulations!

Good luck finding work in Saskatchewan. The job market was garbage last I checked, but there is supposed to be a "boom" coming. So far the boom has only resulted in inflated housing prices but I'm sure there is an actual job boom coming. Right.

[Mr Wallstreet]

Major kudos on slaying the beast aka graduating from college and becoming a full fledged Graphic Designer.

Regale with your tale of graduation!

While searching for graduation pics, I was surprised (but really I shouldn't have been) to see how easily innocent searches for the word "graduation" eventually lead to nude photos of bg busty women wearing graduation gowns while fornicating and fellatiating.

[MGM]

Wait, what? Congrats!



And where are those pictures, Wallstreet?

[The French Biscuit]

how is the job market for that in your locale?

and If I forget or I'm not around..congratulations on graduating.

So far, it appears to be pretty good if your focused on web design. Which I'm not so bummer there.

The best way to find work is to just e-mail a design firm and ask if their looking, rather than looking for an ad in the paper. Right now I'm waiting on word from someone who knows someone in a design firm in Saskatoon, to see what's going on on the inside

Thanks D!

[The French Biscuit]

Congratulations!

Good luck finding work in Saskatchewan. The job market was garbage last I checked, but there is supposed to be a "boom" coming. So far the boom has only resulted in inflated housing prices but I'm sure there is an actual job boom coming. Right.

Thank you!

The beauty of Graphic Design is if all else fails, I can go freelance. I've got a little bit of experience doing client work and I know about freelancing thanks to some presentations we had in class last term.

I'd much rather work for a company of course, because then you have a more steady, reliable salary.

Yeah, this "boom" so far hasn't done much for anyone I know, but we'll see.

[The French Biscuit]

Major kudos on slaying the beast aka graduating from college and becoming a full fledged Graphic Designer.

Regale with your tale of graduation!

While searching for graduation pics, I was surprised (but really I shouldn't have been) to see how easily innocent searches for the word "graduation" eventually lead to nude photos of bg busty women wearing graduation gowns while fornicating and fellatiating.

Thanks very much Wally!

The actual grad ceremony was a bit of a wash. Our class was one of the first in line so we sat up front just out of reach of the canopy that was over the graduats. Which meant we spent a couple hours sitting in the hot hot sun in big heavy black gowns.

Not fun.

The after-grad BBQ that our one and only remaining male classmate put on was most excellent. We played beer pong mostly, which I discovered I am bad at whether I'm drunk or sober. :-X Didn't get around to Obstacle Botchi, but that probably spared me a bit o' embarrasement.

It was good to see my friends again, and I miss them all. Unfortunately, three of them couldn't make it either because A) they went all the way back to China, and that's a long way to come back for just one day B) no real excuse, just being a pain I guess (just one of the three falls under B)


How "eventually" is "eventually"? Page 5 or page 50 of Google images?
I question the innocence of this search.

[The French Biscuit]

Wait, what? Congrats!



And where are those pictures, Wallstreet?

Thanks M!

Oy! No smut in the thread unless I put it here.

Thems the rules!

[The French Biscuit]

Tea and Biscuits

So far the job quest has been held back by A) already working on a project and B) my Grandma's upcoming 90th come-and-go tea party this Saturday.

Being the helpy-helper that I am, I've been dutifully cleaning the house and doing a bit of landscaping around the yard. Today I will have the joy of taking the weed-wacker out for a spin around the jungle that is most of the backyard. Wee!

The tea party itself should be fun. My mom and I ran around town the day before yesterday and got a bunch of dainty trays ordered and other necessary party things.

The banner project is going alright. My Gmail account is on the fritz ( AGAIN!) so I'm going to have to try re-sending some stuff today and asking around to see who can print these things in town.


P.S. Also got side-tracked by a painting project in my room, which looks pretty good. I'll have to get some pictures up eventually.

[Fasheem]

I'm beginning to suspect gmail of sucking fat hairy balls.

[The French Biscuit]

I'm beginning to suspect gmail of sucking fat hairy balls.

As am I. :P At least it loaded today, that's a plus. I'm seriously thinking of going back to hotmail.

Word on the Project: Delayed. Still waiting to hear from someone in the Co-Op about the banner drafts. She may be held up because she's trying to getan opinion from someone else as well, who apparently is hard to reach. Fingers crossed that we get some movement on this on Monday.

Word on the Come and Go Tea: Success. Everybody had a great time and we had plenty of food and drinks for everyone. Pity you guys don't live closer to me or you all could have come!

[The French Biscuit]

Don't run with scissors unless you are a trained professional

I really, really need to get my hair cut.

Really.

And by making a post about it, it will encourage me to actually phone up some small-town hair place and get 'er done.

Also, must finish updating portfolio site and laying out resume. That's the extra fun part of graphic design. Your resume not only has to read well, it has to look good too.

Just say no to Times New Roman.

[CountD]

[Python]

Don't run with scissors unless you are a trained professional

I really, really need to get my hair cut.

Really.

And by making a post about it, it will encourage me to actually phone up some small-town hair place and get 'er done.

Did you go super-short again? Huh? Didja didja didja?

[The French Biscuit]

Did you go super-short again? Huh? Didja didja didja?

I did! It's grown out a bit now, but it's still pretty short. Will post pics when I get some that I like.

[The French Biscuit]

Selling myself

I had my first pseudo-interview today. I say "pseudo" because a) it's fun to say and b) because it wasn't an "official" interview. My cousin works at a place in downtown Yorkton that recently lost one of their graphic designers and was going to start looking for a new one. Before they'd even posted the job, my cousin got me in to see the boss this morning (at a little after 8:30am) and I did a quick run down of my skills and experience.

Props for family.

The boss was up-front about the fact that they had offered the job to a designer in Brandon Manitoba (who works for the company that runs the Yorkton office), but she would of course have to move out to Yorkton. If she doesn't want to move out here, then that leaves the door open for me.

Now, I just got a message and e-mail from another job I applied for almost a week ago in Canora (50 minutes away from Yorkton if any of y'all are wondering). Interview for that is tomorrow at a more sane hour (11 am).

I had given up on the Canora guys because it has been nearly a week since I applied, but I guess these things tend to come in packs.

Not sure which one I'm really pulling for at the moment. Ideally it would be the Yorkton one because it's only about a half-hour commute, whereas Canora is nearly an hour (according to Google anyway). In Yorkton, I'd be with my cousin, which would be cool because we've kinda gotten distant over the years (my bad on that front). Canora is a little more of a blank-slate, which could be good too.

At the end of the day, I just want a steady job. So here's hoping I get at least that.

If anyone has any advice for walking into an interview when you've already got a potential job on the horizon, I'm all ears.

P.S. Those banners I mentioned a while back are all done and I have been paid in full for getting them done.

[ChimeraCreative]

Sounds like pure awesomeness keeps rolling the Biscuit's way. ^_^ I'm so gosh darn proud that a couple of us BXers have the gumption to get real jobs. ^_^

How's it feel to be home again in general? I've been in Tilbury for a little less than a week now and I'm at the exact level of annoyance I figured I'd be (a moderate level 4, subject to change if an asshole mows his lawn at 7AM).

[The French Biscuit]

Sounds like pure awesomeness keeps rolling the Biscuit's way. ^_^ I'm so gosh darn proud that a couple of us BXers have the gumption to get real jobs. ^_^

I know! It's great, I've been throwing my stuff around for about two months and this is the first time I've gotten some good results. Thanks so much!

Now, the Canora job (at the Canora Courier) is well, mine if I want it. They've been kind enough (ridiculously kind in fact) to wait until tomorrow afternoon when the Yorkton job will get back to me. The Canora guy got phoned me within an hour after the interview and basically handed me the position, pending on what I hear from Yorkton.

I talked to the Yorkton gall today, again (right after the Canora interview in fact), and we had a proper sit-down interview and really got to talking about what the job is and where the company wants to go. I'm even more psyched to work for them now, because the company (Quick Print) is really just starting out and there is a lot of room for creative ideas and growth. The Canora Courier would be just newspaper layouts and ads, so not a wide variety of things, but it would be fairly steady work.

I also found out from my cousin after the very good interview today, that Jan (Quick Print boss-lady) felt I was over qualified. Hopefully she doesn't think that anymore and she realizes I can do basic stuff like forms, as well as the fun stuff like business cards and posters without getting bored out of my head.

Tomorrow afternoon, the hammer falls and I'll hear back from Quick Print. Either way, I'll have a job somewhere so it's a fairly win-win situation for me.

How's it feel to be home again in general? I've been in Tilbury for a little less than a week now and I'm at the exact level of annoyance I figured I'd be (a moderate level 4, subject to change if an asshole mows his lawn at 7AM).

It's been pretty good. My little bro has a month off right now, so it's been nice to have the whole family together again. Plus, now that I've got some job prospects on the horizon, I'll be able to reconnect with old friends that I've lost touch with. I've already gotten an invite from one in Regina and another who is right here in Yorkton.

It'll be great to have friends in the same area again. I have been missing all my old Design buds back in BC, so it'll be nice to have a close circle of friends again.

Family-related annoyance ebbs and flows. Some days I think I could really use a place of my own far far away, and other days I really enjoy being here again. It's all good at the end of the day.

*flings a Flaming Croissant of DOOM! at the offending lawnmower* Some people have no consideration for those around them. :-P

[Mr Wallstreet]

Selling myself

If anyone has any advice for walking into an interview when you've already got a potential job on the horizon, I'm all ears.

Advice is a day late as per my usual but I would recommend going to the second interview and seeing what the other job opportunity has to offer. If there is no rush to give and answer to either job, take some quiet time, and reflect on each position from the day-to-day tasks to the co-workers, immediate supervisor, work environment, work culture, commute, daily workload, salary, benefits, commute opportunity for advancement etc.

Both jobs will have benefits and drawbacks but it'll be up to you to weigh each pro and con to see which side the pros add up to most and which will make you happiest.

This may sound like very generic cut-and-dried advice, but in my experience its always to better to separate out the good from the not so good and compare them separately as well as side-by-side. And even after all this, it'll still be difficult to accurately quantify where you'll be happiest and in that instance, you'll need to rely on your gut.

Best of luck on your decision!

And congrats on the job offers.

[Python]

^
That is good advice.

The only thing I would be concerned about the Yorkton position is whether or not the business will succeed. If it does, you're golden and your efforts would be a big reason for that success. If not, you're out of a job, but you can always get another.

[The French Biscuit]

Advice is a day late as per my usual but I would recommend going to the second interview and seeing what the other job opportunity has to offer. If there is no rush to give and answer to either job, take some quiet time, and reflect on each position from the day-to-day tasks to the co-workers, immediate supervisor, work environment, work culture, commute, daily workload, salary, benefits, commute opportunity for advancement etc.

Both jobs will have benefits and drawbacks but it'll be up to you to weigh each pro and con to see which side the pros add up to most and which will make you happiest.

This may sound like very generic cut-and-dried advice, but in my experience its always to better to separate out the good from the not so good and compare them separately as well as side-by-side. And even after all this, it'll still be difficult to accurately quantify where you'll be happiest and in that instance, you'll need to rely on your gut.

Best of luck on your decision!

And congrats on the job offers.

You advice, though tardy, is always appreciated and taken to heart Wally. Thank you.

I had a bit of time betwixt offers to mull things over, and I decided on the Yorkton job at Quick Print. So I have been their graphic designer since Monday and so far it has been going quite well.

The commute, the lack of variety and the lack of friends at Canora Courier ultimately made me drop it. It would have been just running type into columns and designing newspaper ads all the time, plus a 40 minute drive just to get to the place.

Quick Print has a wider variety of clients/jobs (ex. I've helped print flyers, business cards and forms in the last 4 days alone) so it's more interesting to work there. I've also learned more about the print world and it's inner workings, which is great for my career. The commute is much shorter (i.e. less of my cheque spent on fuel) and my cousin works in there too so It's cool to already know one person.

Thanks again Wally!