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BEST JOBS FOR CREATIVE CAREER CHANGES

Bored of pushing papers around? Sick of the daily grind? Then maybe you need a creative career change. The good news is you can find out all about the very best roles for creative career changes below.

Graphic Designer

One of the best jobs for creative career changes has to be graphic design. First of all, it’s most definitely creative as you’ll be working with images and visuals. It is also a career that you can still break into even if you don’t have a specialist degree. Indeed, your ability to get work as a graphic designer is based on two things, your portfolio, and your ability to market yourself. This is good news for career changers as they won’t have to expend the money or the time for a course before they can get working.

However, it is worth noting that seasoned graphics design states that a graphic design career is not all about creativity. You also need a lot of skill, as well as the ability to take direction from clients, even if you might not think they have the most aesthetically pleasing eye.

Salaries are reasonable in graphic design too, and building up a client list and freelancing means you can set your prices. Working for an agency may also be possible, although it’s important to realize that positions are very competitive, and as they tend to be junior roles most often go to newly minted graduates.

Interior Designer

Interior design is also a great selection for anyone looking to change careers. Interior designers are concerned with the interior of buildings and structures and it’s their job to make sure they are practical, safe, useful, and aesthetically pleasing.

Often the role of an interior designer can be confused with that of an interior decorator. This is because some interior design firms will also deal with the decoration aspect of a job. However, it is important to note the difference between the two roles, with interior designers being more focused on things like building codes, light, accessibility, and thorough fairs, and decorators being more concerned with things like paint colors, finishes, textiles, and soft furnishings.

You can expect a good average salary in interior design as well, with plenty of room for an increase as your experience grows. Like most creative careers, the best way to maximize your income is to start your interior design business offering services to your clients.

Art Director

If you have a sharp creative eye and you are great at managing projects and people, you should consider making a career change to art director. The role of an art director is to oversee all the visual aspects of a project or campaign. This may mean approving the proofs for the illustrations commissioned for the project, attending photoshoots to supervise, working with graphic designers, concept artists, and storyboarders, and just about anyone else that is creative and has a contributing role.

Being an art director is a varied and existing role, but being able to meet deadlines and get the best out of people, even if you have never met them before, are crucial skills for success. Getting a job can be competitive too, although, as a career changer a background in project or people management can work in your favor.

Illustrator

If you have ever dreamed of spending your days drawing and painting and getting paid for it, then a career change to an illustration may just be what you are looking for. Although, it is crucial to remember that just like with any other creative career in illustration you need to make art in line with what your client has commissioned, rather than have a total freer reign on what to create.

Illustrators are still in demand for a wide range of projects including book cover design, internal illustrations, designing assets for the web, creating illustrations for magazine articles, and crafting images for advertising campaigns.

One of the most important skills you will need to be a good illustrator is to be able to tell stories with the images you create. You’ll also need to be fluent in foundational drawing skills too including figure work, values, shading, and rendering. Many illustrators are sought out for their specific style, so spending some time developing this can be particularly helpful as can working with an agent to secure jobs.

Social Media Manager

If you love being creative by making and curating engaging content, the career change as a social media manager may just be the position for you! The role of a social media manager is a varied one as you can find yourself editing a post written by a team member or freelancer one minute, and creating compelling visuals for a video the next. What this means is as a social media manager you will not only need a great understanding of how social media marketing works but must be willing to be something of a ‘jack of all trades’ learning enough about editing written content, video content, graphic design, PPC, etc to get by.

As a social media manager, you will also need to be able to prioritize your work well and be able to switch between multiple clients and brand voices a day. For all this hard work you can expect a good salary, and because it’s a marketing post you can expect to always be in high demand!

UX Design

For creatives that like making other people’s life easier, a career change to UX is an ideal option. First of all, as UX or user experience is a relatively new career, you’ll find that most other people working in the industry are, or were at some point career changers too. This means your transition can be a lot easier, and you’ll find plenty of people willing to help you find your feet. Indeed, within the field of UX, there is a movement to give back to the community by offering free mentoring for those not as far along in their career, which can make a massive difference for career changers!

UX roles can be quite diverse but as a rule, they deal with anything that comes under the umbrella of user experience for websites, or apps. The goal of a UX specialist is to make sure the user can access the information and services they need online, and that their experience while doing so is as easy, and positive as possible.

There are several different career options for those considering a move to UX, including researcher, information architect, developer, analyst, and even writer. Salaries tend to be above average in the field too. Although, the recent layoffs in the tech sector will affect this going forward.

Website Designer

Last, of all, another design job that can work well for a career changer is that of a website designer. Sharing some skills in graphic design and UX design, website design is more focused on the building of both the front end and back end of a website.

One of the best things about website design is that as long as people need websites for their businesses, organizations, and personal projects, website designers will still be in demand, which means there’s plenty of job security for the future.

Being able to use programming languages like HTML and C++ is very useful for those working on website design, as it allows them to craft custom websites designed specifically to meet their customer’s needs from the ground up. SEO knowledge is also crucial as anyone commissioning a website will want to make sure that it can be found by search engines.

Best Jobs for Creative Career Changes