Job advice for a burnt-out graphic designer in London?

May 22, 2008 10:09 AM

My life sucked, so I moved to the opposite side of the world. I'm a former mid-weight graphic designer in London, and I need a new non-design job. What should I do for a crust?

I want to write, paint or find some other creative outlet. That's why I don't want to keep designing, as it is creatively draining and non-rewarding. I thought about working at a bookstore, or museum but I'm in too much debt, in too dear a city to earn minimum wage.

I consider myself a generally competent person, and I'm confident in my ability to learn something new. I've got a basic office & retail skill set. My only conditions are: no hospitality, not deadline-driven and not creatively draining. I will work hard, but want to leave work at work.

I've got some travel experience, having backpacked over the US, Brazil and Europe for 9 months independently (booked all my own flights, accommodation, etc and funded myself). I speak near-fluent Swedish. Maybe something in the travel industry? I have a natural computer literacy (programmer dad) -- I'm assuming selling computers is about as low-paying as selling books?

Any suggestions to help me get off my mate's couch and into a new job paying over minimum wage will be greatly appreciated!

posted by linus587 to work & money (10 comments total)

Not sure if this is directly opposed to your current state of mind, but have you considered setting up an internet business or something along those lines? I have a computer literate friend who decided to ditch his 9 to 5 in order to set up some internet businesses, just small sites of particular interest to him, nothing grand like a huge start-up or anything. Now the guy is making a decent living selling advertising on his sites and can travel and work from anywhere he wants, he also has plenty of time to dedicate to his other interests. Anyhow, just a thought. I always figure it's easier to start over if you can leverage your current experience instead of starting from scratch.
posted by ISeemToBeAVerb at 10:32 AM on May 22, 2008

Get a job with SAS? Maybe that's too hospitality-oriented, though.
posted by beerbajay at 10:36 AM on May 22, 2008

I don't know whether there is a US equivalent, but could you get a job as a paralegal? They pay can be great and the work stays at the office.
posted by prefpara at 10:45 AM on May 22, 2008

Are you physically fit? How old are you? Construction work pays pretty well and it seems to fit your guidelines. There are obvious deadlines but it's team work so you're not personally under pressure.
posted by matteo at 10:46 AM on May 22, 2008

This happened to me several times in the past. I loved bookstores, so got a job in one, but it quickly sucked the joy out of bookstores. Rather than enjoying a visit to the local bookshop, finding a book was out by one of my favorite authors, when I didn't even know it was coming out! I found myself checking out how the books were merchandised, how smart the staff was, and there were no surprises since I already knew about every book I cared about coming out in the next year. It was also harder work than many imagine (both physically and mentally. I still get ill when I think of how many books I've "stripped.").

The same thing happened when i was writing for income. And when I go into tech support (which I still do).

Normally, I'd suggest making your favorite hobby into your job, but only if you have other hobbies you love.

And as a former computer salesman of a couple of months I can say this does indeed pay as poorly as a bookseller.

How do I avoid what you're mentioning? Well, my creative outlets now have nothing to do with my work. I'm into clay, back into writing, and while I've never recovered the joy of browsing a bookshop I can live with this thanks to amazon (I just want access to the things I want and amazon is far better at informing me about these things than any clerk has ever been).

Suggestions: Look into business and technical writing. Translating Swedish into English? If you're near fluent I would think you could go that direction (though doing English to Swedish probably would require full fluency). The beauty of this, from my perspective, is this would be crazy boring, repetitive, and actually encourage you to be creative. Like writing poetry in a math class.

Also, if you like design, it is possible to do this without major deadlines. Either produce stuff and try to sell it after the fact, take on smaller clients or smaller scope projects, or work on closed ended projects. So you shill yourself out for a 6 week project, but after that, do something boring and lesser paying for a while and work on your creative things during these time.

I'd also think about what your "dream job" is, and see what kind of training, education, or prior work experience you;d need to get there someday, maybe start working on this in the meantime?
posted by cjorgensen at 11:01 AM on May 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

I think this is what's so great about college ... you get exposed to so many interesting things you could do but never considered or knew about by sheer accident. I'd recommend signing up for a few classes, perhaps at night, at a school covering an area that you are somewhat interested in. consider picking up a program and just signing up for something that sounds cool and see if you're into it at all. repeat until you've found the right thing. sometimes you don't really need to go to college for it, which is great as well, I'm just trying to make a larger point about exploring here...
posted by krautland at 11:28 AM on May 22, 2008

Teach conversational English in Sweden? Look for office/admin/HR/managerial jobs in design firms?

Visit lots of agencies and see how your skill set and desires match up with what's on offer.
posted by Martin E. at 12:54 PM on May 22, 2008

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions so far.

@matteo -- I'm in my mid 20s, overweight, but otherwise in good health. I would consider this, but I heard that to work in the construction industry in the UK you need a certification or to join something-or-other -- does anyone know more about this?
posted by linus587 at 4:12 AM on May 23, 2008

DISCLAIMER: I'm in my 20s, Indonesian currently working in Singapore as software developer, so my view might be slightly biased :p

I'd suggest coming to work in the Asia region for a short to moderate amount of time.

While I'm not the expert in immigration rules, I believe that you should have no problem getting in and finding jobs in most of the major cities in the region (Hong Kong, Singapore, .. all except Japan and probably China) as long as you have a decent college degree and revelant working/design experience. Language shouldn't be a big barrier either -- a lot of people are able to speak english to differing degrees of proficiency.

The cultural change will do you good and might give you a fresh perspective in life. Additionally, while you might not strike it rich here, it's unlikely that you'd be impoverished either. If you have any savings in GBP, it will go a long way in the region, so the initial sunk cost won't be very high. Once you've established yourselves in any asian metropolis, it would be easy for you to stretch yourself out exploring the surrounding regions for a truly authentic regionalized experience.

All the above paragraphs are written on the assumption that you are single / do not have an involved family commitment, and have not visited the region before. Your millage may vary.
posted by joewandy at 12:10 AM on June 3, 2008

"I'm in too much debt"

whops ... i just noticed this
posted by joewandy at 12:11 AM on June 3, 2008