As someone dabbling (full-time) in design, logo design is absolutely inevitable. As nerve-wracking as it may be to bear responsibility for the future of the whole brand of a company based on the initial logo, it’s also extremely satisfying.

As a student of Classical History, I’m convinced that the Romans had the best branding/marketing..and this article at Logo Design Works provides a great summary of the history of logos and branding over the past few millenia. It goes without saying, mankind just really likes slapping their own name/graphic to claim something as their own, has always liked to, and always will.

How does this pertain to “that job!”? It’s quite design-snob on my part, but I am certainly partial toworking for someone who has ridiculously slick branding (i.e. Queen’s U Alumni, Brightworks Interactive Marketing (check out the beach balls!)) and wanting to continue working in a similar vein (i.e. Telus, Johnny Hollow (despite that it’s a Flash site))

Again, a job at the Royal Ontario Museum, and it looks stunning!

The Development Associate, Major Gifts assists in the implementation, coordination and execution of a range of fundraising activities relating to major gift initiatives, in order to sustain and deepen prospective and current donors’ commitments to the Museum’s highest priorities.

I have to profess my love for ROM job postings, because the majority seem to require a combination of communication + event planning + creative + general awesomeness.

Overall, this specific position deals a lot with administrative tasks alongside fundraising initiatives. There is a dash of creative, as you are part of the fundraising development team that gets to plan and carry out info sessions, events, promotions, etc to encourage donor commitment. Thank you, Queen’s Student Alumni Association, ThankQ and Northern Secondary for getting me into this sort of thing.

Hopefully the fax made it…

Also…I DO plan to have some variety in my posts someday.

Last Wednesday (March 31), I applied for two jobs at the ROM. As I’ve already mentioned, I REALLY want to work at the ROM.

I think the main reason this is my top choice job-wise, is because I have always had a soft spot for museums. I would think it’s a combination of being a visual learner,  having a strong affinity for non-traditional education, and a sentimentality toward stories that the most mundane objects may be able to tell. Similarly, I have a weakness for antiques, old photographs, and the subject of history in general.

I would say that I grew up at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg - or at least visited it every summer of my childhood. Over the years, I have been fortunate enough to travel to major cities of the world and have further fanned my love for museums by exploring the lot of them. I even studied Classical History to get that one more step closer to working with artifacts. So yes…I really want to work at the ROM.

I’ve applied to essentially every job posting at the ROM over the past year, that I even remotely was qualified for. The newest batch is:

Member/Visitor Rep.

This position entails working directly with visitors, working at the admission and membership sales desk, providing tour/building information and assisting with any questions, concerns, etc.

Experience:

The emphasis is on customer service, meeting sales targets, and communication. I feel I’ve got the three down pat from previous retail experience.

My Qualifications:

Other than the fact that I’m not 100% fluent in French, I feel that I’ve got this job down pat. I’ve even worked as a Museum Guide previously. The downside is that there is a preference for hiring internal applicants and openings for this kind of position appear only once every two years or so.

Interpretive Planner

This position is quite complex, working with the development team to script coherent, appealing, and educational exhibits.

Experience:

This is one of those positions that requests several years’ experience in the field, while being one of the few opportunities to gain said experience in the first place. That said, the rest of the required qualifications are essentially a listing for coherency, ability to work computer magic, interest/knowledge of museum organization and subject-specific information (i.e. archaeology), a dash of awesome, and a general ability to pay attention to what’s going on.

(the link to the position has since been taken down, so some of these are a condensed interpretation of what my cover letter addressed)

My Qualifications:

While I lack the years of experience in such a specific field, I’ve dealt with event organization, presentation planning, and endless research to feel that I even had the clout to apply for the position in the first place. Also, the job sounded wicked.

Now, off to get some work done and hunt down a few more job postings before the day is done.

Job #1 that I just interviewed for: weekend Sales Rep at Curry’s Art Supplies on Dundas.

If you want to make some extra cash selling awesome art supplies, give them a shout.

I applied for this job on a whim: was buying a sketchbook when I noticed a sign asking for resumes. It just so happened I was on my way home from a job fair and had a pile of resumes in my bag.

Since my weekends seem to be crazy-busy, I’m not their best candidate. However, the interview went fabulously and the interviewers were the nicest, most laid back ladies I’ve had a chance to speak with in a long while. If YOU’RE interested, get them your resume quick, since they’re looking to have someone start this Saturday.

When I was 13, I discovered comic books. Then I decided to camp out on Marvel’s doorstep until they hired me.

Seems things don’t actually work that way.

I went to university, graduated with a degree in Classics and have worked in graphic design for the past year. So while my degree hasn’t done much for me, my hobby has…kind of. Right now I work freelance from home and am scouring the web (and other resources) for that “sweet job” that will hopefully utilize more than just one facet of my skills.

After applying for literally hundreds of jobs since graduating, I need a fresh approach and new motivation. Here is where this blog comes in: this will be a record of the jobs I’ve applied to. Not only will it help me keep track, but will also be good motivation to actually send out those resumes on a regular basis. It will also help me define what it is that I’m actually looking for in potential work.

In the long run chances are that the ROM, U of T, and AGO will make many appearances here.

Until I figure things out, back to the drawing board.