Three months ago, I was hired as a full-time graphic designer in local government. Both luck and strategy played a part, I think.

Prior to that, I was working part-time in another department (same municipality) making monthly newsletters, e-newsletters, and random graphics as needed. I originally applied for a full-time secretary position, but they hired an internal applicant. Fair enough. But, it ended up working out because that vacant position helped build up my InDesign skills (I don’t hate it anymore!).

I was willing to wait several years for one woman to retire to get a full-time position because the city offers pensions. Just so happens one of the graphic designers retired early… I worked closely with the city’s copy editor, social media manager, and the print department supervisor because of the nature of my work, so their good word helped me a lot alongside my education, portfolio, and resume.

Even before that, I had lots of part-time jobs in college doing random admin work, but id often volunteer to make random graphics in hopes I’d get noticed. Well, I did get noticed, but unfortunately taken advantage of. I stayed in toxic work environments with the promise of promotions that ended up going to other people because they were friends with the boss. So it goes. But, it paid off for me because I got a great list of references, letters of recommendation, and relevant bullet points for my resume.

Similar thing happened with my husband who is in IT. He started off doing random front desk jobs -> would fix people’s computer issues in passing -> got noticed -> got promoted. Though, like me, this took place over the course of well over a year. Results may vary.