Does anyone know of any graphic design or web design jobs in Cork?

endorphin

I recently moved to Cork from New Zealand and am looking for work either in graphic design or web design. I've been here 4 months and so far haven't had any luck getting work. There seems to be some work in Dublin, unfortunately I can't relocate as my girlfriend has a job here. Does anybody know of any jobs in this field in the Cork area. I have contacted quite a few agencies without success, and regularly check the online recruitement sites but there just doesn't seem to be anything available.
If anyone out there is looking for a web designer or graphic designer you can check out my portfolio at http://www.endorphin.co.nz/, and some of the other sites I have done http://www.stephaniecreagh.co.nz/ http://www.musclesense.co.nz/

If anyone can suggest some ways of finding work I would really appreciate it.

RicardoSmith

Its a global market. Do some projects on the freelance project sites like rentacoder etc. Put your CV & portfolio around Ireland and the UK.

Tiriel

hmm I studied Graphic Design in CIT in Cork and left it after getting the Certificate as it was very hard to get work. Try the weekly published Whazon? as they did employ a couple of the lads that did that course with me.. other than that freelance work is probably your best bet. Good luck and hope you like Cork

zervi2003

In mostly same position as you in Cork (IT as well). Posted a thread here last week on how to keep motivated. Agencies and job opportunities here are crap for IT. Noone willing to give people a chance.

RicardoSmith

zervi2003 wrote:

In mostly same position as you in Cork (IT as well). Posted a thread here last week on how to keep motivated. Agencies and job opportunities here are crap for IT. Noone willing to give people a chance.

The IT market is tough at the moment. You need to be top of your game to get the work. So upskill and look EVERYWHERE for work. That means outside of Cork.

endorphin

Hey thanks for your replies. The consensus is pretty much what I thought. I guess I'll look for a job in another field - a nice mindless retail position or something equally dull and uninspiring (no offence to anyone in retail). I'm only here until November and then off to India for a bit and then the UK where there are a few more options available. I've had a look at sites like rentacoder for work but for a job that may take me two weeks or more there are people who are bidding $20 for the job.
I just can't match the quotes that 3rd World country programmers are charging as my costs and standard of living is a bit higher than in India. I'm heading off there at the end of the year for 3 or 4 months so ironically will probably end up having more chance of getting a job there than I do here.

zervi2003

RicardoSmith

Naturally people with years experience will probably get a job over someone with the same college experience/training experience but no or little work experience. It is tuff out there anywhere at the moment. But what I was getting at is how can people who qualify and train for years be "left out" of the selection process totally, not even having a chance?

From what I can see, the IT industry will suffer in a few years as people from this country, or other countries living here, have to go else where to get jobs they trained for or else change to a totally other profession.

the IT industry here seems to be like a little "club" - and at that an extremely hard, elitest club to get into.

RicardoSmith

zervi2003 wrote:

RicardoSmith

Naturally people with years experience will probably get a job over someone with the same college experience/training experience but no or little work experience. It is tuff out there anywhere at the moment. But what I was getting at is how can people who qualify and train for years be "left out" of the selection process totally, not even having a chance?

From what I can see, the IT industry will suffer in a few years as people from this country, or other countries living here, have to go else where to get jobs they trained for or else change to a totally other profession.

the IT industry here seems to be like a little "club" - and at that an extremely hard, elitest club to get into.

Well I agree with you. The lower end IT stuff is all being outsourced and it has driven the value of it through the floor. I reckon that the only IT that will be left will be higher end specialist areas or those that require people on site. Anything that can be done cheaper elsewhere will simply leave the country. The IT industry is changing, I don't think it will ever return to the same type of market that it was before.

On a practical level. I've a fairly mixed bag of experience. Less the the 5yrs of experience usually asked for these days. I was told by agencies that there was no point in chasing a regular programming job, because the level of competition was so high, 200+ applicants for many positions, that unless you were the best in your field you haven't a hope. I took an honest look at my skillset and decided it wasn't good enough if I was honest.

So I switched target to roles that were a mix of things, say support & development or maybe a specific technology or business where the competition would be less, say content management etc. I reconstructed my CV and sales pitch so that appeared to specialise in that area. I found this new approach to be much more successful, and I managed to find a perm role that I'm very happy with. I'm also upskilling in areas that I think I'm weak in. Also consider a role that less than ideal but gets you a step closer to where you want to go. I found that after doing a couple years of contracting all sorts of work, I had a much broader base of skills. On their own these roles weren't ideal. But the combination of them works well. Its easy to do a crap job if you know it ends in a few months.

Any of my colleagues who have a solid 4-5 years of good experience behind them, (and can prove it - no bluffing these days) are not having a problem finding roles at decent rates.