Listen up all you dissatisfied job seekers and new design graduates – we are in possession of the secret to finding job nirvana. So take off that iPod, take out that notepad, and become one with this article. 
Get ready to inhale some revealing survey results that will put you on the path towards enlightenment, i.e., landing that ever-intimidating, full-blown interior design position. Discover precisely what design gurus want to see when you stroll through their doors seeking job satisfaction and a shot at a new business card. Open up your mind, as these results will give you results.
Last year the Center for Career Services at Syracuse University partnered with the American Society of Interior Designers [ASID] to comprehensively evaluate the wish lists of interior designers when seeking potential new hires. These two organizations joined forces to poll a spectrum of 500 veteran, in-the-trenches professionals, delving deeply into their innermost desires on the subject of job-search basics: résumés, cover letters, portfolios, and interviews (oh my!).
We here at PLiNTH & CHiNTZ deemed this survey so worthy as to have referenced it in the September 2005 YOU’RE HIRED! article titled “Raising Your Interview IQ,” a version of which also appeared in Issue 02 / Volume 05 of ACCESS, ASID’s Student Newsletter. In those pieces, we focused on dispelling the common, preconceived notions about what students think employers are looking for and what employers actually expect. As you can probably guess, they don’t always jive. But enough about us…
So after months of data crunching, Syracuse and ASID just released the informative fallout, which is all lovingly compiled in a handy new booklet aptly designated Tips for Graduates Entering the Interior Design Profession: What Employers Are Looking For. You can get your hot little hands on this worthwhile missive by either downloading a .pdf version here or ordering a printed version off ASID’s Student Center site.
Want a Cliffs Notes version of this puppy before going to the trouble to get it” Then you are très lazy! Just get a copy and be done with it because you need to read it. However, we will let you know that it offers great advice for the terrified and lost seeking tips on how to make themselves shine bright in employers’ eyes. Some of the sparkling gems include sample résumés, lists of most-asked interview questions, and counsel directly from the designers’ mouths.
So take it from us (PLiNTH & CHiNTZ) and them (Syracuse University / ASID). Between the lot of us there’s a super buffet of juicy job-seeking tidbits just waiting to be gobbled up. Be sure to sample the rest of our archived YOU’RE HIRED! articles, as well as those in the PSYCH 101, DON’T EMBARRASS YOURSELF, and THE “REAL” REAL WORLD. By the time you taste everything on the PLiNTH & CHiNTZ menu – including DESIGN SPEAK (light appetizers) and CLUB CHiNTZ (deserving dessert) – you’ll be on your way to creating a workplace feast for the soul. We don’t call it the INSiDE SCOOP for nothing.
