She didn't seem to notice the pdf I had sent her with 18 samples of packages I had worked on, a tip of the iceberg for the amount I've worked on over the years. Apparently didn't see the comment in my email about how 12 of those samples were done in the last 12 months. All of them were food packaging samples. Anyone hear of Ditka's Grille available at Costco? Damn good looking if you ask me. I like to think I do good work, but so what.The client I’m recruiting for is extremely particular and has rejected people with more than 10 to 15 years of experience, possibly because they are hoping to eventually hire someone on permanently at a salary range of $40-$45K. They also insist that the person they hire have a portfolio of recent food packaging samples to show. Based on that I don’t think you’re a good fit for this company’s needs right now, but I will definitely consider you for other work that comes in.
Had another head hunter that's been in the graphics industry for a long time finally tell me how to read job listings. When they tell you 2 to 5 years experience, 27 isn't better. They're telling you that they want someone under 30 years old. That would explain why over the last 3 years and sending out 1 or 2 hundred inquiries, I get virtually no responses. This head hunter wasn't even going to submit me for consideration even though the listed job requirements were practically a cut and paste of my resume. The position paid $50-$55K. Didn't get the job.
The real kick in the head is even if I were to land one of these positions, for 99 percent of them I would have to work for the same hourly/salary that I was making 24 years ago, or less. For those that think this is such a creative/exciting field to be in, think again. Get out now and find something else to do. By the time you're 50, you're screwed. In the last few months while I was working, even websites and web development for Fortune 500 companies and smaller companies are starting to get farmed out to India and China. Those countries are what killed what I do. Apparently warehouses full of low payed employees that were trained in InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator can do a better job. They are now being trained to do Dreamweaver and Flash. I give it 3 to 5 years before the web work goes the way of the print industry.
Well, I feel slightly better now. Thanks for letting me rant.
Applied at Gander and Bass Pro for a wide variety of positions. Cabela's is next. Anyone have any connections at these places, let me know.
