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10 Tips for Getting a Job in Design

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I am going to share with you 10 top tips on how to change or start a career in Graphic Design and how to turn your dreams into reality.

1. Join Design Focused Groups

Interacting with like-minded individuals and networking in the right groups are extremely important. Participating and interacting with designers and design organisations will provide a deeper understanding of the field, who’s in our industry and give you the chance to speak with influential and inspiring people. These can take many different forms such as FaceToFace Networking, Exhibitions, Podcasts, Social media chat groups etc.

2. Volunteer

If you are studying or wanting to start off your career as a designer you will need to be able to showcase your skills. A varied portfolio of work is always requested (there is no getting away from this) and it should be something you are proud to display. If you are just starting off your career you may have limited exposure to briefs or commercial work. So volunteering is a great way to start building your portfolio and a great way to support your local community.

3. Your CV

Make sure your CV is up to date and includes all relevant information including links to your design portfolio. If you haven’t had the chance to create an online presence and you want to apply for a job right now, create a PDF of some of your best work and submit it along with your CV. There are many businesses and people that can help you with this. Make sure your CV is clear, concise and free from any spelling mistakes.

4. Create an online portfolio

This may seem obvious however having an online presence is imperative. There are many sites that you can upload your work to such as Behance. If you don’t have your own website & portfolio set up, check out some free websites such as Moonfruit, Weebly and WordPress these are all customisable and simple to set up.

5. Work Experience/Apprenticeship

Finding work experience with a good Design Agency or in-house studio can offer invaluable experience. We know this first hand as we have just placed a recent Graduate Rhys through this method. Rhys completed work experience with one of our Design Agency clients. A month after completing his work experience he was employed by another one of our clients as their in-house designer. Work Experience will help you understand how design organisation/departments are run, and give you a better understanding about client briefs and how to prioritise work to timescales.

6. Nurture a network of Designers

While other designers may be seen as your competition there is enough of the pie for everyone if you are good enough. Don’t be afraid to nurture relationships with other designers as it really pays off. (You are your only competition) This can be used for referrals, networking and building your brand. You generally find if you are good at your craft & you work hard at it you will have many supporters and people willing to help and recommend you.

There’s a great group of designers in the This Design Life facebook group here.

7. Talk to your Heros & Herions

While we all like getting notes from admirers or constructive feedback on our work, sending a message to those in our industry who inspire you can lead to many opportunities. Just look what happened when I complimented Chris from Calloway Green on the amazing SEO Academy content he and his business partner had put together. We found a common interest in design and all things Gary Vee! Let your design heroes know you respect their work and maybe one day when they are hiring you could be just what they are looking for. Of course this won’t always happen but it only takes that one big break.

8. Enter Competitions

Having some design awards and accolades under your belt can definitely help build your credibility and reputation. It is also a great way to get under the noses of other creative directors, editors and industry professionals.

9. Start your own projects

“You’re a Creative,” so make sure and put it to good use. If you find that you aren’t getting the break you need then create projects that will open some doors and potential network opportunities. Split your day when you are searching for a new job. You can use traditional ways of searching for a job such as partnering with a Specialist IT Recruitment Agency and also searching on job boards, all this can be done while also creating your own projects. Your projects could include ebooks, icons, CMS themes and anything else you can distribute for content or exposure. This can take time but creating your own opportunities will gain you extra credibility with your peers and potential hiring managers.

10. Don’t give up

You need to have the stamina and determination to keep going. You may have many doors slammed before you finally get your big break. Don’t give up, stay positive and keep moving forward. If you are getting negative responses form agencies and businesses ask for feedback on areas of improvements. Work on those and keep adapting until you finally get to where you need to be!

You can check out full blog and content details on our feature with This Design Life! This Design Life brings you hand picked quality design and inspiration from all over the world. They also take a look into the lives of designers. What makes us tick and what makes us better. What are you waiting for go check it out! 🙂

 

 

Instagram has now opened up API access!

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Instagram has now opened up  API access… But what does this mean for businesses?

Instagram has announced that it’s opening up its API access to approved third party platforms, which will enable marketers to track and manage their Instagram presence in more ways.

As Instagram:

“While businesses have been using insights to view metrics for their content and overall presence on the Instagram app, they’ll now be able to access these valuable insights in the Instagram API for the first time. This will help businesses keep track of their organic content’s performance more effectively on third party tools outside of the Instagram application.”

Instagram Expands API Access to Social Management Platforms | Social Media TodayBasically, this means that more third party tools will be able to provide in-depth Instagram data and functionality – for example, here’s how third-party app Iconosquare is now able to display Instagram insights data.

Instagram Expands API Access to Social Management Platforms | Social Media Today

In addition to this, the new API access will include comment moderation, so brands will be able to not only respond from their management dashboard, but also hide comments, or turn them off completely.

As noted by Marketing Land, this could especially come in handy for social media monitoring.

“For example, a brand could configure their social marketing management software to keep an eye out for comments with certain keywords — or have every comment sent through a tool like IBM Watson’s text analyzers — and automatically hide comments considered offensive or toggle off comments on posts whose comment threads are overwhelmed with spam.”

Of course, you still need to be using an Instagram marketing partner platform – and as a related aside, Instagram has shut down a range of non-approved tools using Instagram access against their terms of service of late, including Instagress and Mass Planner. Those platforms were shut down for facilitating the use of bots and automation, so not specifically linked to the purposes of this announcement, but there can be some confusion between approved and non-approved apps to best facilitate Instagram growth.

Follow us on Instagram for the latest Job updates and industry news. 

 

  • Social Media Today 

Boost for Shropshire Jobs as £11.2m investment is secured!

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Boost for Shropshire Jobs as £11.2m investment is secured!

Boost for thousands more homes and businesses as Connecting Shropshire announces £11.2m contract

Connecting Shropshire has announced that Airband Community Internet Ltd will be the delivery partner for the next phase of Shropshire Council’s superfast broadband programme.

Since 2002, Airband has been providing high-speed wireless broadband access to rural areas. The Worcester-based company will be responsible for delivering superfast broadband to over 14,000 homes and businesses in the Shropshire Council area over the next three years.

Airband will be deploying wireless broadband, which works by sending a signal from a transmitter on a mast, to a receiver attached to the property. A cable is then run into the building allowing the end-user to access the internet in the same way as any other broadband connection.

Councillor Nic Laurens, Shropshire Council cabinet member with responsibility for broadband, said: “I am delighted that we have secured a technology partner that can deliver superfast broadband to some of the most rural parts of the county. When this contract is completed, we expect 98% of premises in the Council area to have access to superfast broadband. This means that even more people living, working and visiting Shropshire will be able to benefit from access to faster internet connection speeds, enhancing their quality of life. The Connecting Shropshire programme runs till 2020 and will continue to work towards providing superfast broadband to all premises without access to it and we remain confident in being able to achieve this aspiration.”

Graham Wynn OBE, Chairman of the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) said: “Slow internet speeds are a significant barrier to business growth, which is why we secured just over £5m in our Growth Deal with Government to help us address the issue working with our partner, Shropshire Council. As well as connecting up thousands of businesses with superfast broadband, this investment is also expected to boost our regional economy by around £220m.”

Redmond Peel, Managing Director of Airband, commented: “We are delighted to have won the contract to deploy our fixed wireless network in Shropshire. Knowing how essential high-speed broadband is, we are looking forward to working with local residents and businesses to provide fast and reliable internet connections.”

“Our experience of building masts to deploy wireless broadband services in the Midlands, Wales, Dartmoor and Exmoor has given us extensive insight into dealing with the geographical challenges that we will come across in Shropshire. Our solution uses state-of-the-art radio technology, ensuring high-speed connections where fibre broadband is not available. Using wireless overcomes many of the speed and reliability issues that are experienced with long copper cable lengths, meaning that many who have long suffered from poor broadband due to their locality will soon be able to access speeds comparable to those of their urban counterparts.”

Frequently asked questions

Q. Why is this a good outcome for Shropshire?

A. An extra 14,170 premises will get a superfast broadband connection from this contract. This is 88% of gap areas we included in the procurement.

Q. What about the gaps. When will you resolve these?

A. We have a balance of funding and will look at seeking a solution to provide superfast broadband for the remaining gap areas now this procurement is complete. We remain confident that we can provide a superfast solution to all our premises by 2020.

Q. Why have you decided to award the contract to Airband?

A. A primary requirement for the Council was to procure a solution that provided inclusive coverage in our most rural areas. Airband have demonstrated that they have a technical solution for the Shropshire geography, which will provide the best coverage outcome within the budget that was available.

Q. When will the contract start?

A. Immediately from July. Some sites can be enabled relatively quickly with 7,000 being within reach of a connection by the end of winter 2017.

Q. When will the Airband contract finish?

A. Winter 2019/Spring 2020

Q. Why’s it taken so long to conclude the procurement, which was launched back in November?

A. Spending public money (State Aid) on telecommunication solutions is a complicated procedure. As a result a number of assurances and processes have had to be undertaken by ourselves and partners to meet strict EU legislation. The verification and evaluation of the bids needed to be rigorous to ensure the Council made the right choice and was not open to challenge.

Q. How much is the Airband contract worth and how much is Airband contributing?

A. The contract is valued £11.2m. Airband are contributing £1.4m capital. In addition Airband are contributing £19m operational expenditure.

Q. How much money has Shropshire Council committed to the Airband contract?

A. Shropshire – £2.24m

Q. Where has the other funding come from?

A. Broadband Delivery UK and Marches Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).
BDUK – £5.29m          LEP – £2.27m

Q. Is wireless an inferior technology to a fibre optic (wired) solution?

A. Wireless technologies have continued to evolve and now provide the same broadband speed capabilities as a fibre optic solution with the same resilience. The technology has been approved as a compliant technology.

Q. How will you mitigate the adverse visual impact of masts on the Shropshire countryside?

A. Airband has recently completed deployment of a new wireless network across the National Parks of Exmoor and Dartmoor. They have excellent experience of working with stakeholders with interests in sensitive landscapes. 

Connecting Shropshire will work closely with Airband, Shropshire Council’s planning department and other key stakeholders to ensure this contract is deployed to the benefit of all our communities. Mitigations of visual impacts include: re-using existing infrastructure, locating below the skyline, planting, painting etc.

Q. How high will the masts be and where will they be?

A. Existing commercial masts and buildings will be used wherever possible. Some new masts will need to be built. In many cases, new masts will resemble telegraph poles. Airband will work within the Planning guidance process which has purposely been relaxed by the Government to encourage the roll-out of Telecommunications equipment to address the frustrations of communities. Where required, full consultation processes will be undertaken and in all cases we will work with communities to ensure information is shared prior to construction.

Q. Is wireless broadband more expensive for customers than fibre broadband?

A. Generally speaking, similar wireless and fibre packages have comparable costs.

Q. Is there a choice of internet service providers off the Airband network?

A. Yes, Airband build the infrastructure and provide a service to the customer, but they also wholesale their network out to other Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

Q. Am I in plan to benefit?

A. For an interactive map with a view of the planned/current NGA coverage in the Shropshire Council area up to 2020, go to: https://shropshire.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=ddc8d72666934ca4ab4f938050be4ee4. 

Please be aware that the map is indicative and actual coverage may change depending on where the infrastructure is located. NGA infrastructure is capable of delivering 30mbps. To check availability, go to the Airband website and enter your postcode: https://home.airband.co.uk/coverage/. You will then be able to register your interest in the project and be kept up to date on progress.

Q. When will I get access?

A. The build is split into phases, with phase 1 due for completion at the end of winter 2017. Further information will be added to the Connecting Shropshire website as the first phase progresses.

Q. How does the system work?

A. Airband technology relies on ‘Line of Sight’, which means that the receiver on your property needs to have a clear view of one of the Airband transmitters. In the design and planning phase of the project, Airband use advanced software to map each property and establish where a connection can be achieved, without the need to complete an onsite survey for each property.

Q. What does the Airband equipment look like?

A. The receiver that will be installed to your property is a small, lightweight piece of equipment – about the size of a 2-pint milk carton. Where your property is a bit further away from our transmitter, the receiver will have a round, mini dish-like attachment.

Q. Will it cost more?

A. There will be a number of different providers and monthly packages available depending on the speed you require. 

 

  • Connecting Shropshire

How To Protect Your Organisation From Ransomware

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MESSAGE FROM NATIONAL CYBER SECURITY CENTRE (NCSC):

Since the globally coordinated ransomware attack on thousands of private and public sector organisations across dozens of countries on Friday, there have been no sustained new attacks of that kind.  But it is important to understand that the way these attacks work means that compromises of machines and networks that have already occurred may not yet have been detected and that existing infections from the malware can spread within networks.

This means that as a new working week begins it is likely, in the UK and elsewhere, that further cases of ransomware may come to light, possibly at a significant scale.

Our national focus must, therefore, be on two lines of defence.

The first is to limit the spread and impact of the attacks that have already occurred.  Due to broad government and partner efforts, a variety of tools are now publicly available to help organisations to do this.  This guidance can be found on our homepage – ncsc.gov.uk – under the title Protecting Your Organisation From Ransomware: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/ransomware-latest-ncsc-guidance

We know already that there have been attempts to attack organisations beyond the National Health Service. It is therefore absolutely imperative that any organisation that believes they may be affected, follows and implements this guidance. We have set out two pieces of guidance: one for organisations and one for private individuals and SMEs which can be applicable regardless of the age of the software in question.  It will be updated as and when further mitigations become available and we will announce when updates have been made on Twitter (@ncsc) and elsewhere.

Secondly, it is possible that a ransomware attack of this type and on this scale could recur, though we have no specific evidence that this is the case.  What is certain is that ransomware attacks are some of the most immediately damaging forms of cyberattack that affects home users, enterprises and governments equally.

It is also the case that there are a number of easy-to-implement defences against ransomware which very considerably reduce the risk of attack and the impact of successful attacks.  These simple steps to protect against ransomware are not being applied by either the public or organisations as thoroughly as they should be.

Three simple steps for companies to undertake which are also set out on our website (https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/protecting-your-organisation-ransomware) and can be summarised as follows:

Protecting your organisation from ransomware – NCSC Site

www.ncsc.gov.uk

How does ransomware infect your system? Computers are infected with ransomware via a number of routes. Sometimes users are tricked into running legitimate-looking …
  1. Keep your organisation’s security software patches up to date
  2. Use proper anti-virus software services
  3. Most importantly for ransomware, back up the data that matters to you, because you can’t be held to ransom for data you hold somewhere else.

 

Home users and small businesses can take the following steps to protect themselves:

  1. Run Windows Update
  2. Make sure your AntiVirus product is up to date and run a scan – If you don’t have one install one of the free trial versions from a reputable vendor
  3. If you have not done so before, this is a good time to think about backing important data up – You can’t be held to ransom if you’ve got the data somewhere else.

In the days ahead, the NCSC, working closely with the National Crime Agency in support of their criminal investigation, and with international partners in both other governments and the commercial sector, will continue our round-the-clock effort to get ahead of this threat.  We would like to reassure the public that resources from the Government, law enforcement and public and private sector organisation are working together to manage further disruption from the current attack and to increase protection against any further attacks in the coming days. The country’s security and law enforcement agencies are working round the clock to protect the public. Private sector efforts have made a very significant contribution to mitigate the cyber attacks so far and to prevent further disruption.

– Dr Adam Marshall, Director General, British Chambers of Commerce

ACQUISITION STRATEGY BOOSTS SHROPSHIRE JOBS

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ACQUISITION STRATEGY BOOSTS NASSTAR

Further, IT Jobs will be created as revenue has edged toward the £20m mark at Telford-based cloud computing specialist Nasstar following a “robust performance” from its core businesses.

Nasstar generated revenues of £18.4m in the year to 31 December 2016, up from £13.8m a year earlier.

Pre-tax losses widened to £1.8m from £1.3m due to a hike in exceptional items and administrative payments.

Chief executive Nigel Redwood said the group’s acquisition strategy in 2016, which led to the £13m purchase of Modrus in August, has provided a “strong platform for organic growth”and more IT Jobs within the Shropshire area.

“Modrus completes our service portfolio and enables the Group to focus on maximising and realising the benefit of bringing together five businesses over the last three years,” Redwood added.

“Our enhanced marketing plan saw the relaunch of our Nasstar brand which I truly believe now reflects the capabilities of our end to end fully managed service. The rebranding of the subsidiaries continued in the second half of 2016 with both the e-know.net and Kamanchi subsidiaries undertaking a full Nasstar rebrand with their names changing to Nasstar.

“Our focus in 2017 is to realise the efficiencies that have been made possible via our acquisition strategy with a view to improving margins in future years. We believe this will continue to provide a strong platform for organic growth, and create further new IT Jobs within Shropshire while increasing shareholder value.”

Nasstar’s board has recommended a final dividend of 0.052p per share, a 16 per cent increase on its maiden dividend announced last year.

For more information on other Shropshire Jobs that are available now, please visit our website 

– Storm Rannard 

Midlands Business Merger set to create more IT Jobs!

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A Kent-headquartered cybersecurity services provider has expanded with the acquisition of a Birmingham counterpart to create a £50m-turnover business.

SecureData has taken over Cygnia Technologies for an undisclosed sum, with all of the company’s employees & jobs remaining with the group following the deal.

Cygnia generated sales of approximately £9m in 2016, and operates from offices in Birmingham and Central London.

Established in 1992, SecureData provides a range of professional, support and managed cybersecurity services that assess security risk, detect security breaches, protect customer environments and respond to specific security incidents. The company is headquartered in Maidstone with a second office in London.

Executive chairman Ian Brown said: “The enhanced group is now clearly positioned as one of the leading independent cybersecurity services businesses throughout the UK and selected overseas markets.

“With over 210 employees including 150 cybersecurity engineers, analysts and consultants the group is well positioned to provide business customers with a one-stop shop service for all their cybersecurity needs.” The merger will create lots of new IT jobs within the Midlands and surrounding areas.

Jon Busfield, managing director at Cygnia, added: “The whole Cygnia team is excited to be joining SecureData. With an enhanced offering as a result of SecureData’s extensive range of professional, support and managed services this is great news for our existing customers, partners and people.”

To view a range of other IT jobs available within the Midlands, Shropshire and surrounding areas, please visit our local featured jobs here. 

 

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