Q&A with Previous Werkhouse Participants
Participants from 2017
What do the next steps in your creative career look like? Find out more from four of our previous Werkhouse participants.
Whether you are a final year student in education, or already in a junior role and thinking about changing direction, . the question can be the same: what comes next? The steps to move forward with life can appear unclear and feel loaded with responsibility.
There is no ‘one path’, no right or wrong way to take those next steps. These are the stories of four past Werkhouse participants. This interview was conducted in June 2021 by Illustrator Jess Knights, who is working with the Werkhouse team. The past participants talked about how they felt about the workplace after leaving education, and tell us a little about their hopes and dreams for the future. They also talk about the value of attending the Werkhouse weekend.
Kesia is now a Designer and Creative Strategist living in Bath. Scarlet is now a Senior Designer, Holly, a Graphic Designer for Branding and Packaging and Cai, a Freelance Designer & Illustrator. They all live in Bristol.
How did the participants feel about entering the workplace after they left education?
There’s no denying it - the jump from education to the workplace is a big one. The participants said that despite their education and various forms of work experience, they were all unsure of what to expect from the workplace. To start with, just getting a foot in the door can feel like an impossible task. Over the years they have discovered that the relationships you build are key.
Holly found work experience all a little daunting to begin with, but said most placements looked after her. Scarlett said: “Having done a couple of internships during my second year of university, and because of how I was taught on my course I felt fairly well prepared.” Despite her experiences Scarlet was still apprehensive of what the 'real' world of work would be like.
Upon leaving education, Cai pondered the age-old question: “How do you get the experience needed without having experience?”. With no tutors or mentors to guide you, life outside of education feels like a different world altogether. Cai found that his soft skills took him further than he would have thought at the time: “All I knew was to talk to people, network and collaborate - I was able to feel my way from there.”
Is there anything that the participants had learn on-the-fly whilst in the workplace?
Software / Artworking
Most of the past participants said they wished they had more practical software skills before they entered the workplace.
Holly said she had a steep learning curve in her first Junior Designer role. “Since I was in such a tiny studio I had to turn my hand to artwork,” she specialises in packaging design, and she said there are many technical aspects of this that weren’t taught at her uni.
Cai wishes he’d known earlier that he could teach himself. His complete understanding of the Adobe suite has been self-taught over the last few years. There are many fantastic resources out there to help you with this - LinkedIn Learning, Skillshare and Domestica to name just a few.
Time Management
Kesia highlighted a better work-life balance and Scarlet explained that juggling different briefs are skills they feel they have picked up over the last few years.
Cai also said he learnt how to allocate roles and responsibility to others after leaving education, which is an important way of managing time effectively.
How to speak to clients
It can feel like a big jump between speaking in front of other student designers in education and pitching in a workplace. On this experience, Scarlet said: “Explaining a creative concept to a corporate client vs your fellow university students is very different!!”
What was the past participants most valued experience of the Werkhouse weekend?
The answer was unanimous. The people! Scarlet said: “The best part for me was meeting other creatives in the City - not only my peers, but also the leaders and mentors who were already in industry.”
As Cai put it: “When I look back, the most valued thing was the energy that came from collaborating on a pitch and working in a team. It felt great, exciting, creative and so valuable.” Kesia had an interesting, and quite unique experience: “I loved meeting people and connecting with agencies in the South West. My time at Werkhouse even connected me to a job opportunity!”
What are the past participants looking for in their future and their career?
We spoke about what the past participants are looking for in the future. Having a supportive job that fulfils their needs both financially and mentally was on everyone's checklist. Progression - in terms of building on existing skills and acquiring new ones along the way was really important to them too.
Scarlet: “I'd like to keep progressing in terms of broadening with more of a variety of skills. Career-wise I think I'm less bothered about climbing the 'ladder' and more about continuing to have creative freedom and more opportunities to develop my work.”
Cai: “Adaptability, passion and creativity. I'm excited to have a varied career filled with many opportunities. I'm eager to work on more projects that I feel passionately about, rather than just anything.”
If you will be applying for Werkhouse this year, hopefully this post has taken away some of your concerns about your next steps, by showing how past participants felt when they left education, the skills that they learnt along the way and some of their hopes for the future.
You might now be itching to know how to build on your so-called ‘soft skills’ or wondering what to expect from the ever-changing creative workplace, or even just how to apply for the Werkhouse weekend. Don’t worry, as we will be offering more insights and answering all sorts of questions on our social media platforms over the summer, so be sure to follow us for all the relevant information:
Cai, Holly, Kesia and Scarlet were all previous participants of Werkhouse weekend in 2017 (pictured above).