Here are some good career advise websites for 'Fashion and Textile' students and graduates.
So take a look!

http://www.prospects.ac.uk/options_textile_design.htm

http://www.creativeskillset.org/fashion_and_textiles/careers/

Websites for 'Fashion and Textile' Graduates

So I haven't posted for a while, but I am back and ready to write weekly posts.

Websites for ‘Fashion and Textile’ Graduates

·   Milk round - New updated website worth checking out.

·   Creative Southwest

·   Creative Arts London - advertising jobs and internships, soon to be only paid internships.

·   Arts Council England

·   Arts Culture Media Jobs

·   Arts Hub

·   Gum Tree

·   Craig's List

·   Fashion Workie - Internships

·   Recruitment Sites - For example; Indeed.com

·   Drapers Record

·   Con De Nast

·   Hearst– Magazine Editorial/ Graduate Media Sales

·   Guardian.com

·   Select a company you could see yourself working for, and then take a look a their career section.

Grad Schemes - Buying/Marketing/Visual Merchandising

• Arcadia Group
• John Lewis
• Marks and Spenser’s
• Next
• Harvey Nicholas
• Selfridges

Sadly there are limited graduate schemes for the 'Fashion and Textile world.'

Social Media

• Update your LinkedIn Profile - search for jobs.
• Update Face book page, tumblr, blog, twitter est.
• Create a website – online portfolio.
• Etzy account.

British Fashion Houses have exploited interns for many many years, and it continues to be on the rise. The following article touches on the subject. What do you think?

http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-features/TMG8943090/British-fashion-houses-warned-over-intern-exploitation.html

Top Tips for an 'Internship' Interview:

1/ Research the company, this is very important.
2/Take a copy of your 'Covering Letter' and CV.
3/ Make sure you take your portfolio, with appropriate work - research, observational drawings, development and product/photographs of product if you are going for a design internship. Although showing your work to any creative department would show your enthusiasm for following a creative path, be it in sales and marketing, editorial, events, product development est.
4/ If you have an Ipad this could be useful inorder to show website, tumblr, blogs est.
5/ If you happen to go for creative editorial internship, taking written work could be worthwhile, as someone in the company may take the time to read what you have, and beable to give you constructive feedback.
6/ Arrive to the Interview 15/20 minutes early.
7/ Make sure that you have the correct directions printed off - google maps.
8/ Have a contact number saved to your phone, just in case you are held up.
9/ Dress appropriatley -smart/casual. Most importantly feel comfortable in what you are wearing.
10/ Remain calm and collected.
11/ When at the interview, be positive when showing your work and don't worry if you can't answer a question, turn the interview around and have questions to ask them.

I have had variety of Internship interviews - French Connection; PR - this was a very informal interview that lasted twenty minutes and they asked me specific questions related to the French Connection brand. So background research was vital. Liberties; Art Fabric's - I presented my portfolio, and talked through my style of working. Print/CAD based work was important to show in this interview.

I have also had interviews with Clarissa Hulse; Interior Design Studio, Bath Children's Literature Festival, Arnolfini Gallery est. However with Designer's Guild and Country Living Events I lived to far away at the time to go up for an interview, so we exchanged emails and spoke on the phone.

Top Tips; applying for work experience/internship:

1/ A good CV - highlighting any previous internships and achievements throughout your academic/creative career.
2/ A positive covering letter highlighting why you would like the oppurtunity to gain experience with the company that you are applying for.
3/ Make sure that you include your contacts details and also if you have a website, blog, or tumblr account, make sure you highlight these. It is a great chance for your work to be seen prior to an interview.
4/ Research the company that you are applying for - important if you end up getting an interview, and also when composing your covering letter.
5/ Email and post a copy of your application.
6/ If you don't gain a response within a week, then follow up with a polite email asking if they have recieved your application.
7/ If you don't gain the internship, then don't be disheartened. Email back and ask if their is a chance of you gaining work experience/internship later on in the year.
8/ Most companies today take on interns like know tomorrow. One could describe it as a conveyer belt. So the best thing to do is email as many companies as you can and go from there.

My next blog will be on 'Interview Tips' for an Internship.

Interning is an invaluable experience; be it a two week placement to three months. The more experience you get, the more you can add to your CV, and one is able to realize what particular sector of the creative industry, that they want to be apart of. It's a journey that could be described as 'crazy paving.' Their is no direct route today and that is what i'm beginning to understand. The longest placement I have undertaken has been one month. The longer you are at a placement, the more responsibility you may get, if you perservere and persist. It can be frustrating when you are just making cups of tea, filing, stuffing 100's of cushions. But just being in a working environment is a great experience. Network, Network, Network - take the oppurtunity to talk to everyone in the company, even if it's just for thirty seconds. I have learnt more about the creative industry from asking questions, and then documenting what people have said. Today it can be hard as younger people within the firm, may come across as less friendly and less willing to talk about their positions, as they could be scared about losing their positions, especially in this current climate. So don't be put off. It's all a learning curve. Application process for internships is a timely process also, much like a job application; one has to write a good, well thought out covering letter and CV. I have been trying to get an internship with Monsoon for the past year – still unsuccessful – so many students/graduates are floating around in their graduate talent pool. Is it luck? Anthropologie – I have discovered that you can’t intern with them unless your university is linked to them, which is rather frustrating as they would be my dream company to intern for. I will just keep trying. Never give up. Loughborough University – good industry links for their sandwich year – still have to be able to fund your sandwich year, sadly. My friend interned for Next and Liberties, luckily she was able to live with her boyfriend and family friends during these long periods, and worked part-time on the weekend in retail to help fund her incredible experiences with these prestigious companies. Everyone's position is different. I have come across that most of the girls interning in London, already live in London with their parents and commute, therefore they have the oppurtunity to do placements for 3-6 months (unpaid) and this allows the company to remember them more if a job position did become available, although nothing is guaranteed. Everyone's position is different, so my advise would be to try and get any experience within the creative sector. Stay local at first, gain experience at university; become a student ambassador, put together exhibitions, crash on friends sofa's if they happen to live in another city, even if it's just for a couple of days. Just gaining experience could start to open doors and you may find that rather than going down the design route you happen to excel in the world of events. Just give it a go.

I have most recently just completed a two week internship at 'Designer's Guild,' in their sales and marketing department. I was a valuable aid in helping the sales team put together files on the 'Spring/Summer 2013' collection, that were then given out during the two day sales briefing, to the 150 sales team representatives from around the world. It was a great insight, to see how such a successful, interior company is run and I couldn't quite believe how many people worked there in all the different departments, be it customer service/finance/sales and marketing/creative/product development/showroom/press office/warehouse est. Take the time to check out 'Designer's Guild' website www.designersguild.com