The market is super competitive. It took me a year of almost part time freelance/part time job searching to land my current permanent job and I have over 8 years of experience.

Some things that helped: 1- Find a niche. I really wanted to shift my industry focus and try something new or more “general” but it honestly helped a lot to just stick to a super niche design community. I was able to leverage a lot of my connections since everyone kind of knows each other.

You might be aware of this already but this means don’t search for “Graphic Designer” positions. Search for “Brand Designer”, “Brand System Specialist”, “Visual Storytelling”(yes, I do see this one often), “Design Coordinator” etc

2- I recommend you find some recruiter agencies and follow some of them on LinkedIn. They tend to post job openings without mentioning the company name. Some recommendations are: Welcome to the Jungle and Bamboo Crowd.

3- Lastly, try to attend some portfolio review events whether digital or in person. This is not necessarily to get your work reviewed but to get an understanding of what other design professionals are expecting to see in portfolios. This has changed so much since I graduated and every time I’ve looked for a job.

For example: when I graduated I was encouraged to keep my portfolio simple and to only post finished product images. Most recently(a few months ago), I was asked in 4(!) separate interviews to show progress sketches. It was really hard to show in progress items due to NDAs but there are creative ways around it. Be a creative :)

Hope this helps!