Job Hunting Advice

The Fashion Careers Clinic is not a recruitment agency, therefore we don’t put candidates forward for jobs. However we have contacted a selection of leading recruitment agencies and also brands, high street retailers and luxury companies, to provide you with a selection of jobs you might be interested in applying for.

They are design related roles only, so you don’t have to trawl through lots of jobs focused on buying, merchandising, production, and so on.

Please visit often to make sure you don’t miss out on any suitable roles – jobs are updated as soon as the roles come in.

Here are a couple of tips for best results throughout the application process:

Make sure to address your email and cover letter to someone specific (double check the contact information), rather than sending to ‘Dear Sir / Madam’.

Remember to include images of your work when applying. Sounds obvious, but it is surprising how many people don’t automatically send them. It’s important that the company or agency sees a selection of your work in order to demonstrate a cross section of your skills. As a guide, include a mood board, two pages of design development, and one page of final designs (including figure illustrations and flats).

Double check that your contact details are correct on your CV, and ideally provide more than one contact number, so both mobile and home numbers if possible.

Only send images of work that will actually fit with the style of the company you are applying to. Don’t automatically send the same images out to everyone – a ‘one size fits all’ approach won’t work. For instance, you would not send the same images of work to Top Shop and Hobbs.

Follow up your application approximately 4 days after you have sent the information, first with a call. If you don’t get through to the relevant person, leave a message and send an email. If you don’t receive a response after another day or two, email or call again, but leave it at that. Don’t pester the client or agency – they WILL call you back if they are interested or have a role for you.

Only apply for roles you are qualified for. For instance, if you are a new graduate it doesn’t make sense to apply for a Designer or Senior Designer role. If you want to work for a company but they don’t have roles advertised at your level, send a speculative application instead of applying for the advertised role.

Happy job hunting!