Career Advice from Mom

1. Set a goal. What kind of job do you want? You know you don’t want to do free lance work where you must sell yourself, so what kind of full time jobs with benefits are available in the field of art? Which one would appeal to you? Look at job ads on Craigslist. Find out what jobs are available, where, and what skillsets are needed to get them. Do you want to be a web designer? A graphic artist? Select your career goal.

2. Determine what skills you are lacking to achieve your goal and how you can develop those skills. Do you need to return to school and do some graduate work to develop skills in web design or graphic arts? If so:

3. Select a graduate school where you can develop needed skills. Choose a state college or UC campus in an area where the kind of job you desire is plentiful so that you will be able to find an internship. (For example, UC Santa Cruz has a masters program in digital arts, but Craigslist seldom mentions any jobs in the Santa Cruz in art/media/design. Therefore, Santa Cruz is not likely to have many internships available.) Internships will give you the experience and skills you need to get a job in your desired field. Find out how much tuition will cost and when applications are accepted. Make sure that you are qualified to enter the graduate program you choose.

4. Get a job and begin saving to meet your educational goals. Live at home to save money, and sock away as much money as you can to pay for graduate school. You will need to buy a used car as soon as you save a few thousand dollars, but then save to achieve your goal. Remember, we are very close to retirement and cannot afford to pay for more school. You may have to work for one to two years to save enough to go to graduate school.

5. Research scholarships and grants you might qualify for and apply for them. I know when we first researched scholarships for college, there were some that were specifically for graduate school. Apply! Any money you can get through scholarships or grants is less money you will have to earn for school.

6. Continue to work as an artist while you save for graduate school. Enter gallery competitions, try to get some freelance work, take some evening classes at a junior college, etc. Don’t let your skills get rusty.

7. Plan to live with a roommate when you go to graduate school. Maybe one of your MICA friends could be persuaded to go to graduate school with you (Elaine?), or you might have to answer ads for roommates.

8. Get an internship while working on your graduate degree. Make everything you do count towards your future career plans. Every class you take should further those goals. Remember your goal is to become self-sufficient and to be able to enjoy a decent standard of living.

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