Professional Practice for Interior Designers. Christine M. Piotrowski
have to be made quickly. The time to agonize over the floor plan, or color scheme, or selections is speeded up sometimes exponentially from the academic environment.
A firm owner told me a story about a very talented recent graduate. This relatively new employee came up to one of the senior designers and said, “How about this carpet for Mr. Brown's house?” The senior designer looked at the novice blankly and said, “That project was presented two weeks ago.” After a discussion with the employee, the owner decided to let that person go. The office is not going to slow down to your pace. You are going to have to learn to work at the office's pace. That includes being very conscious of time management.
It is perfectly reasonable for you to expect that the boss or senior designers will spend time training you in the way the office does projects. However, because of the speed at which design work must be done, sometimes those experienced individuals don't give much thought to their training responsibilities. You need to ask questions, ask to be involved, and ask how you can help. When you are new, asking questions is not going to be considered a bad thing. Sitting around reading trade magazines waiting for someone to involve you only makes you look like you are not interested in working.
Although you may be impatient to be given responsibility for designing a project, it is important for you to understand that the time spent in learning on the job is necessary to help prevent you from making mistakes that can hurt both your short‐term and your long‐term career. As an entry‐level designer, you still have a lot to learn. Be committed to that learning curve and before you realize it, you will have project and client responsibilities!
YOUR FIRST JOB
The transition from student to professional is not easy for most individuals. The last semester of school can be a nerve‐wracking time. Projects are generally complex, the quality of work must be very high, and grades become even more important. Added to that stress is the development of portfolios, job searching, and internships.
After graduation and on the first job, designers are excited to finally use the skills they spent so many years honing in classes. They also feel more comfortable attending professional association meetings as a professional.
For most, an internship will be a great transition from student to practitioner. As was talked about in Chapter 2, an internship helps students see how all the coursework they have taken relates to the work done in the “real world.” That is why it is so important to work with your faculty advisor to seek out the best internship for your goals. Remember though that an internship is not an automatic entry at a job, but it certainly is a stepping‐stone.
Your first job becomes the groundwork for your career. This is not to say that your first job represents what you will always do in interior design. If you ask any professional who has been working for 15 years or more about his or her career path, you will find that a career in interior design is never a straight path. It zigs and zags and even may throw you a few curves. Students adamantly interested in one type of design work find that after some time on the job, their interests are really somewhere else. And that is okay. Just be sure you are making a change that is truly appropriate for you.
Naturally, how work works is different in different companies. Some firms are relatively relaxed and informal, whereas others might have a formal structure that makes it feel like working in the corporate world. How work works in a particular firm will in all likelihood be a key component of training during the first few days on the job.
Your first job is where you will learn to work in interior design:
You will learn methods of doing a project not covered in school. This is because each professional has a personal way of working.
You will begin to make business and industry contacts as you socialize with professionals in your area.
You will become very familiar with certain product lines and craftspeople that you can confidently recommend to clients.
Attending and participating in professional meetings will help you gain confidence in dealing with people you do not know.
You will learn how to dress, how to “talk,” and how to act like an interior design professional.
Because it is your first job, do not be cavalier about the experience. Some managers and owners today report that younger designers are too cavalier about changing jobs too often. Most of you will learn very quickly that you must park your egos at the door, because you will be directed, reprimanded, and pushed to learn by bosses, other designers, and even clients. This is not school, and this first job in interior design is probably not like any other job you have ever had.
Just because you graduated from a wonderful, accredited school (or anywhere else, for that matter) does not mean that you know more than your boss. Information that many have found helpful is in Table 4‐1.
Though truthful, the preceding comments may seem a little harsh—or possibly condescending—as well. The work environment is not school, and your time is not your own but the company's. Maybe you will be lucky and have a boss who mentors and congratulates more than criticizes. Sometimes it might seem like it but that tough mentoring by the boss will be just as valuable as the mentoring that is more congratulatory than harsh.
TABLE 4‐1. On‐the‐job policies and truths
| They really mean you are to be there at 8:00 AM every day.One hour for lunch means one hour.Talking and texting to friends on the phone is not allowed. Keep your personal life outside the office.Many project decisions are made within minutes, not days or weeks.Observe how others work, ask thoughtful questions, and listen a lot so that your decision‐making skills keep improving.Understand that reading magazines because you have “nothing to do” is not a positive task. Find something to do!If you make a mistake, don't fret over it and lie. Own up to a mistake and learn so you don't repeat the same mistake.You can't take every Friday off to meet up with friends for a long weekend.The boss is always right even when she is wrong.The boss is not likely to pat employees on the back every time they do something right. “Grades” don't happen on a weekly basis.December 24th is not a holiday. Nor are a lot of other days you may have normally had off.You will get criticized in front of others, and it will not feel pleasant.The boss will probably not give you positive feedback all the time—get over it. |
Design professionals expect entry‐level employees to come ready to work—even if that means cleaning up the library from time to time. They expect the entry‐level professional to be a team player, be disciplined, and be well organized. They don't expect you to know everything; they also expect you to ask questions. When you aren't sure, the only dumb question is the one you don't ask. Doing it correctly means a lot to the senior staff and clients. Aspire to learn all you can about the business, and there will likely be no end to your success.
You may feel that you are entitled to take on large responsibilities and do very important work right off the bat. Get over it. Few new employees who have little previous work experience are going to be allowed to take on projects by themselves, meeting with clients, and doing plans and specifications without supervision. You have to “pay your dues” and learn how the company that hires you does things and expects you to do the work. Their way may be quite different from what you learned in school. It doesn't mean you were taught wrong. It just means there are many ways to do essentially the same tasks. Learn how your company wants work done, and you will have a successful probationary period and possibly a long association with the company.
Table 4‐2 offers a few suggestions about how you can prepare yourself for the transition from student to professional. I am sure your professors will have others.