Throughout the first week of this unit students were introduced to the module as a whole and then where asked to do various tasks designed to encourage critical thinking. Playing to your individual skills while applying for job roles and showing employers your essence through digital application is an important skill to have but it’s also not an easy thing to be able to do. 

Near the end of the week, I had to create a personal SWOT analysis and a values and Motivations table, these exercises helped me focus in on the skills I excel at and which ones I need to improve on. I did defiantly find this helpful because I find personal branding and personal promoting hard to do, I think I struggle with believing my work and personal creativity is authentic, however this SWOT analysis gave me a strong starting point to use for my skill development and my values and motivation table showed me I’m not as “boring” as I once thought.  

Long term Implications? 

I think going ahead I’ll be able to use these 2 learning techniques whenever I’m given a broad task like “branding yourself”. When a module or project first starts and I receive a brief I tend to get overwhelmed anyways, so much information is thrown at you at a very quick pace so having a template such as SWOT to start off the thought process is useful.   

The application form for the formative assessment centre was a task that needed to be completed during the second week of the module and I feel as though I thrived in this part of the module which defiantly surprised me a lot.

Being able to use the STARR module for the application form questions really helped give my answers structure and clarity, I’m dyslexic so I never believed formal written work would be a strong skill of mine however with the help of the STARR template I was able to deliver clear concise answers which flowed well while still showing off my strengths. I was also taught how to change a negative experience I had in work into a positive one by showing employers I’m able to learn from previous errors.

Long Term Implications 

This module helps develop so many transferable skills, this new method of answering application form questions is something I will be using whenever applying for anything whether that be a graduation job, a part time job, a placement etc. what’s great is the STARR model is easily transferrable between job specifications. 

A lecture was delivered about the second part of our professional Industry Practice module which entailed creating a campaign shoot concept for Depop surrounding a trend or youth culture of our choice. These campaign concepts would then have to be presented at the virtual assessment centre and then expanded before final hand in.  

I was happy about the second half of the module because it meant I was able to focus on creating visual work for a while, I find that a lot more enjoyable for me rather than having to produce content such as CVs, Cover Letters Application forms etc. I also had an idea for which trend and youth culture I was going to focus on, which is always better than days of trail, error and restarting. 

Sitting in the lecture and taking notes on the tutor’s explanation of the brief and own personal thoughts really helps me and is something I’m able to relate back to throughout the project, it’s always important to think about the learning outcomes I’m being marked on, having your own personal notes on the brief and key notes to hand also helps you from going off topic throughout the project.  

The assessment centre was an activity I was able to take part of which simulated real recruitment scenarios like group tasks, interviews and presentation. This was a great opportunity and after the event took place, we received professional external feedback in hopes the experience will prepare students for industry interviews. I was very pleased with myself after the assessment centre as I feel I received some lovely complements, it really motivated me and put me in a good position to continue the module with confidence I previously lacked. Time management was the most noticeable constructive criticism I received which was accurate, I think with my presentation I was passionate about the topic and so I ended up not portioning out my time correctly 

During the last week before the festive break from university in a group of about 25 peers we all shared campaign concept ideas for the Depops brief, we didn’t do full presentations just 2 pages of your choice out of the 10 produced. I was excited to share my work with queers and receive some tutor and queer feedback for the first time throughout this module and self-reflection techniques I’ve been able to grow in confidence and be prouder of my work, I’ve always been a confidence person however when it comes to me work, I always feel I’m lacking originality and execution. I’ve come to realise that I have all the creative and my execution of concepts and ideas could defiantly use some development however I’m already taking the steps to do that through taking part in LinkedIn learning courses to broaden my adobe knowledge. The feedback I received was all positive and also none of my queers had a concept which was similar to mine which made me feel confident in my concept.     

Learning how to create a creative CV and figuring out what a Creative CV actual has to include, I’ve had a regular CV for years which I’ve edited multiple times but again going back to my previous worries about originality creative CVs are something I’ve stayed away from because trying to market my personality and make myself stand out seems like a daunting task, what if I find out I’m not original at all?

I started off by looking on Pinterest for different types of creative CVs and figured out they are mostly like a regular CV just more visually appealing and usually a lot less information on after looking for inspiration I needed a theme and colour palette to use. I thought about my personality, and I’ve been told I’m optimistic, fun, don’t take myself too seriously so I thought I would create a fun 70s inspired creative CV, 70s fashion is currently trending so I thought it would be a great fit.

Within the fashion industry a creative CV is going to be eye catching and help me stand out in an over saturated employee market, I’ve made my creative CV easily to edit to a different theme or colour scheme because it needs to be constantly changing with my personality and different aesthetics are going to fit different job specifications best.