www.delacroixleather.com
If you were looking for the blog, fear not- you've come to the right place. Kick off your shoes and stay awhile. :-)
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One of the most nerve wracking things I recall in the business world was job interviews. Of course, I was the one looking for a job so the stress was on me, not the faceless HR person grilling me about... actually, they never grilled me and they always had a face- I just had a hard time seeing it through my shaky nerves.
I began the process feeling completely inadequate. When you try to check what's making noise in the attic and accidentally miss a rafter and fall through the ceiling... twice, you question your ability to tie your own shoes, much less hold a job. My nerves were always tied to what I felt I could deliver and, trust me, I always underestimated myself even though I'm highly competent.
What I learned is that one can put pretty much anything they like on paper and talk a good game but there was no real telling what the other side of the table had on their mind or were looking for. Now I sit on the other side of the table, so now I know what they're looking for; in a word: performance.
At present, I'm building a lean, mean (well, maybe more friendly than mean) designing machine and that doesn't happen overnight. But what does happen is I see lots of design work. I can tell in about five seconds or less if that work meets my standards and aesthetics.
The most interesting aspect of that is that good work stands out. Someone may have worked for some of the largest brands in the world in charge of an army of designers, but that doesn't mean their work... works. At the end of the day, performance trumps everything. Fortunately, design performance can be assessed pretty quickly.
The saddest aspect might be that sometimes an artist has great work but it just doesn't fit with our aesthetic.
If you're looking for a job somewhere, consider all that the way I never did as I did my searches way back when. Sometimes your work is great but you're just not the right fit for the company's vision, but at the end of the day all that matters is performance and if you perform... well, that's all that matters.
-Chris
www.delacroixleather.com
I began the process feeling completely inadequate. When you try to check what's making noise in the attic and accidentally miss a rafter and fall through the ceiling... twice, you question your ability to tie your own shoes, much less hold a job. My nerves were always tied to what I felt I could deliver and, trust me, I always underestimated myself even though I'm highly competent.
What I learned is that one can put pretty much anything they like on paper and talk a good game but there was no real telling what the other side of the table had on their mind or were looking for. Now I sit on the other side of the table, so now I know what they're looking for; in a word: performance.
At present, I'm building a lean, mean (well, maybe more friendly than mean) designing machine and that doesn't happen overnight. But what does happen is I see lots of design work. I can tell in about five seconds or less if that work meets my standards and aesthetics.
The most interesting aspect of that is that good work stands out. Someone may have worked for some of the largest brands in the world in charge of an army of designers, but that doesn't mean their work... works. At the end of the day, performance trumps everything. Fortunately, design performance can be assessed pretty quickly.
The saddest aspect might be that sometimes an artist has great work but it just doesn't fit with our aesthetic.
If you're looking for a job somewhere, consider all that the way I never did as I did my searches way back when. Sometimes your work is great but you're just not the right fit for the company's vision, but at the end of the day all that matters is performance and if you perform... well, that's all that matters.
-Chris
www.delacroixleather.com
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