It’s the same old story, and one that seems to be something many of us struggle with, myself included: how am I supposed to get a job when employers want on the job experience?

I completely understand the viewpoint of the employer. There are many incredibly talented designers out there, and it certainly makes sense for employers to want to be certain that the designers they hire are going to be in it for the long run. Employers don’t want to see a young college graduate who is not certain what they want from their career yet. And, in their defense, that certainly is an issue. Considering the societal pressures of having to jump into a college degree and not yet being mature enough to make a decision on what you want to do with the rest of your life is a challenge many people face, and many people do end up switching career paths while they are in their late 20’s-early 30’s and many even later than that. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, but employers are looking for people who are passionate about their field, because talent can only take an employee so far.

However, I want to make the argument for the junior level designer with little to no experience and why they may be the best thing for a company. While they may be young and unsure of themselves and what they want from their career, they have something that many people with years of experience have lost: adaptability and creativity.

People with little to no professional experience in a certain field do not have expectations of what their career should look like. They adapt easily and take whatever difficulties will come with the work place, typically.

Even more important, however, is creativity. There’s a reason many of the most successful people in the world have actually dropped out of college and do not recommend getting graduate degrees: it’s because when we sign up for an institution, they are promising to educate us, but with added education comes less freedom of our brain. One can argue that we are learning how to create more effectively, but essentially, we are capping our creative freedom. With more experience and education comes a greater cap on creative freedom. The more specific our education gets, the more specific our brain gets, focusing more on details rather than the greater picture or wild ideas.

It’s the same thing with great music or art. Why is it that young people always are able to produce such amazing art? Because their emotions are on fire — because they haven’t yet learned how to control them. Their brains are filled with creativity and they have not learned how to control it.

Of course, the ideal candidate would certainly be someone who has a large capability for creativity but is also able to control themselves in order to create something that is accessible for the user. For a team to be successful though, there’s no reason that an entry level designer could not contribute wonderful ideas to a team.

Additionally, if it’s truly just added work that the employer is hoping to see from the designer, it is up to the designer to take it upon themselves to create a portfolio. With the level of online resources that are available to people, there’s no reason a designer can’t take it upon themselves to create a case study and add something to their portfolio just for fun to have some sort of work. There are also many opportunities to work freelance, or, if all else fails, I am certain that there are volunteer opportunities that a designer could create for themselves. Employers want to see you take initiative and they want to see your creativity shine. So, I say, be creative and CREATE the experience that the employer wants to see. If you do that, you’ll be just fine. :)