I haven’t interviewed for a job since 2008, and even then it was for a job in real estate finance of all things. Since that time I started my own business making animated explainer videos, then transitioned into more of a freelance position making graphics and software tools for a lab at UCSF.

Now that I am on the cusp of finishing up my degree at Oregon State University, and the lab is on the verge of closing, I find myself looking for a job once again. 
The first big hurdle has been getting a resume together. It’s only a page long, but it needs to somehow show off all my accomplishments and abilities in such a way that a hiring manager can quickly see what I have to offer. They say the average time spent looking at a resume is six seconds! That’s not a lot.

Fortunately, OSU offers free access to VMock, an online service that will analyze your resume and provide a score and several points of feedback, some of which are very granular and specific. You get ten free uploads a year, so there is a limit to how many times you can use it, but I found I only needed about four tries to get a decent resume based on VMock’s standards.

I also had to update my online profile. The primary platform for job searching, it seems, is LinkedIn. Even if you don’t search for jobs directly through LinkedIn, many prospective employers use it in place of, or as a complement to, your actual resume. The platform provides space for more information than a one-page document, so there are some additional advantages to polishing up a LinkedIn profile as well. 

Because my experience involves several visual projects, I also updated my ArtStation profile. ArtStation is a platform geared toward displaying personal artwork and I currently use it as a portfolio site for both graphic and software projects. Some built-in features make it much easier to share 3D models, Videos, GIFs, and other visual media. 

Both LinkedIn and ArtStation offer paid plans for a more customizable presentation, as well as some additional features that allow the user to monitor who’s viewed their profile or to directly message another user. I paid for both of these plans, at least for the short term while I’m looking for a job. I figure it’s a small investment relative to the cost of schooling or the potential salary I may earn, as well as the cost of working at a place that doesn’t “fit” me well. 

There is also the task of cleaning up Github repositories, as well as making some of the “portfolio” assignments from school visible to the public. Some of the projects I’ve worked on are web-based but haven’t been deployed to an easily accessible public URL. I used Vercel to deploy some simple static sites and updated older projects that are hosted on Heroku. 

In the meantime, while working on these tasks, I’ve also applied to a few jobs. I signed up on Indeed, ZipRecruiter, Monster, and GlassDoor, adding my resume or creating online profiles on each of these platforms. I can set parameters for the type of jobs I’d like and each site will narrow things down. They will also send daily emails with 5 – 10 jobs that fit my criteria. So far I find most of the jobs a poor fit, even with my filters set. Part of this is due to my limitations, both with where I can work, which is Tucson or remote-only, and my junior experience level in software. In total, I’ve applied to about 15 jobs and have interviewed at one, which I think went well. I’ll keep applying for select jobs while I finish school, after which I will be more aggressive with the job search if I haven’t found anything by then. If you know of any great positions for a software developer and visualization artist, please leave a comment!