Making the transition from education to the workplace can be very difficult. Education teaches you the skills you need to do a job, however it doesn’t necessarily teach you how to land one. Futurerising addresses this dilemma with inspiration, learning and support for your career.

What should be in your CV? What questions should you ask in an interview? How can you stand out from other candidates? How do you negotiate your first salary?

Futurerising highlights internship and employment opportunities, shares biographies from industry professionals, posts reviews of the latest industry work and uploads industry tips and advice.

Futurerising has live briefs for you to submit your ideas to. At the moment, they’re looking for a social media campaign strategy for Batman versus Superman and a creative way for Greenpeace to recruit the next generation of environmentalists.

Upcoming Futurerising events include Leeds College of Art on 5 February, Cambridge University on 17 February, Bournemouth University on 15 March and Middlesex University on 4 April. At each event they bring along an eclectic mix of speakers from creative, planning, accounts and strategy, through to tech and start-ups.

Futurerising visited the UK’s largest independent media agency, the7stars, to have a chat with Co-Founder Jenny Biggam. Check out the video above to learn about the ins and outs of a large media agency. Hear about Jenny’s day-to-day role leading the7Stars, their work process and agency culture.

You can listen to exclusive talks from industry speakers across a range of subjects to help you learn about the creative industries and landing a job here.

Explore the Futurerising site for tips to improve your portfolio and handy links to further relevant sites.

More: Website | Facebook | Twitter

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For more creative delights we’ve Spotted on the web take a look here.

What:
Questioning Creatives is a website created to offer a better idea of a creative career path. It was originally setup by a graphic designer when his daughter was considering a career as an illustrator. After trying to explain that an illustrator’s life isn’t as simple as sitting at a desk all day, drawing nice pictures, he decided that it would be good to setup a website with interviews and career stories. This site is not just for prospective illustrators, but for anyone involved in the creative industry.

Why we like it:
Professional illustrators and recent graduates explain how they got to where they are now, the best and worst things about their jobs and what they wish they’d known at the beginning. This site provides a clearer idea of what a creative’s life is really like, alongside some words of wisdom. If you’re struggling to decide if a creative path is really for you, then these stories, tips and ideas might make that decision a little easier. We just wish it was around ten years ago…

Find out more:
Website | Twitter

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For more creative delights we’ve Spotted on the web take a look here.

But what did he do before all this? Find out below.

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1. Suppose the first job I had where I was paid money was being a busker on the streets of Liverpool. I used to play Bunnymen, Teardrops and even Soft Cell on the acoustic. Youth by the latter sounded really good unplugged. But i guess my choice of music was too much of a niche to rake it in. My other competitors would play the Beatles and I’d be history. Also, I spent a lot if time being attacked by body poppers, religious nuts and small kids. I’d keep going with blue cold hands. Only stopping when i’d snapped all of my strings.

2. My second pitstop on my illustrious career saw me coming up with the notion that I ought to get real job. So I signed up to work at the sickness benefits department at the department of health and social security in a poor part of Liverpool.  I worked in an oppressive red building that looked like a stazi outpost. I worked with Pete Best’s brother, Rouge, he was a drummer too. Mentioning Ringo was a no no at the tea break. Anyways, I’m not allowed to talk about it but rest assured that there was a very eccentric bunch used to sign on. One time somebody thought it was funny to play “Money money” by Abba. By the time the track hit “must be funny – in a rich Man’s world” – all of the claimants were smashing the place up. I’d never seen chairs embedded in concrete ripped out of the floor before.

3. About this time I thought my creative life was over until my old tutor Dave Clapham gave me the chance to work in his Liverpool studio. You can see Dave in Bad Night For The Blues, he plays the lord mayor. I used to cut promos for him for the likes of Deaf School, Icicle Works and The Farm. Working for with Dave was my third job. I made a little animated film called Safari. With that I got into art college.

4. My fourth job was weekend job while I was a student. I worked in Farnham Hospital. I was a cleaner and gave tea to geriatric patients. I’d steal the daffodils from the hospital garden and give them to the old ladies who would burst into tears. Most of the patients thought I was the gas man. I of course would oblige pretending to read their gas meters. I really enjoyed working there. I love talking to people.

5. My fifth job was the one which really connected me with animation. After college I was taken on as a runner at Paul Vester’s Speedy Films. They were the production company that made lots of ads. Milky Way two cars racing, Reach flip top man, Vitalite and Paxo the rooster booster. I became the production manager and worked on a film about New Yorker’s who had been abducted by aliens. I managed to escape the invasion and I’m thankfully still here to tell the story.

Photo by Louise Haywood-Schiefer

More: Website | Twitter

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We’ve asked professionals in creative industries what jobs they have had in the past to get their foot through the door (or at least pay the rent). For more in the “My First 5 Jobs” series look here.

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I’m going to get to my first five jobs in a minute, but would like to explain that my job title ‘urban crofter’ is due to the fact that I currently do around 5 jobs (paid and unpaid). My main employment is producing films for the company I run with my husband, as well as freelancing for others. However I am also: co-founder of a drug law reform charity ‘TDPF Scotland’ that campaigns for the regulation and control of all drugs, in a band, a volunteer for the architectural charity Skirmishes, a founder member of the Garnethill Woman’s Institute, and I blog about creative life in the east end of Glasgow. Oh, and I have 2 wee kids that are around most of the time too.

So I am very lucky to be able to lead this varied and interesting life, but how did it end up like this?

My first five jobs:

1) Fiddle player in ceilidh bands: From the age of 13 I spent my weekends in pubs and village halls earning good money while my friends hung out at youth club. This financially sustained me right through university too. The experience of mixing with interesting folk from an early age really helped set me up for lots of the things I’ve gone on to do since.

2) Work experience at Wark Clements Production Company
In my 3rd year at university Alan Clements (Mr Kirsty Wark) came to speak at my history department and I decided that TV production sounded interesting. I’ve never been a big TV watcher, and now (shhhhh) we don’t even have a TV, but I do love the detailed research, hitting deadlines, working with people, story telling etc involved in production. I never did work for them afterwards, but it was a great start to my CV.

3) My second job in television was as a presenter at Grampian TV. I am VERY thankful that there is no evidence of this on youtube or similar. Despite my outgoing personality, I was the worst presenter ever, but it was a great training ground: low budgets meant we had to research, write scripts, direct and present, and I went on to get loads of interesting freelance work over the next few years. AND I met my lovely husband in Aberdeen – what more could I ask for from a job?

4) Having my children / getting older. OK, not a job exactly, but key to how I live my life now. Having the girls forced me to get off the treadmill and find a new way of making things work so as to allow me to spend time with them, but also keep myself connected, fulfilled and earning a living. And getting older….. now that I’m in my 30s I just feel more sorted, confident, sure of my strengths and less worried in general than I was in my 20s. This allows me to try things / suggest things and just go for it.

5) The influence of those around me. So again, this isn’t a job but in a sense it’s much more important to what I’m doing than listing the various jobs I’ve done in the past. I think getting out there and mixing with people is the best way to keep motivated and inspired, and to find out what you really want to be doing. Glasgow is an amazing city for creative and interesting happenings and people so it’s really easy. Bruce Newlands (of Kraft Architecture) and all the other talented people involved with Skirmishes; and of course all the lovely ladies who come to the Garnethill Women’s Institute are just two examples of inspiring and uplifting activities in our fair city.

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We’ve asked professionals in creative industries what jobs they have had in the past to get their foot through the door (or at least pay the rent). For more in the “My First 5 Jobs” series look here.