Finally. A decent book on getting into advertising.

As a school that helps art directors and copywriters develop their portfolios so they can land a decent job, we’re always on the lookout for good resource materials that will help in the cause.

We don’t find very many, but we forgot to look under our own noses.

Dave Holloway, a creative director at Publicis in Seattle (about 8 blocks due west of SVC) has written one of the finest books we’ve ever seen on the topic of tracking down the elusive job. It’s called, appropriately enough, Hot to Get the Job You Want and Succeed In It.

Before Dave came to Seattle, he worked in New York at some rather distinguished agencies, and he’s won his fair share of awards (Cannes Gold Lions, among them).

He’s been kind enough to share his vast store of knowledge with SVC ad students, but we figured everyone could benefit from what Dave has to say.

Blog your portfolio? It’s free, easy, and, smart.

Craig Swanson, founder of CreativeTechs, the Seattle-based technology support service for design firms, ad agencies, in-house departments, and freelancers, frequently gives talks and workshops at the School of Visual Concepts. This fall, Craig shared some compelling reasons why the aforementioned creative firms should consider using a blog to show off their portfolios to the world.

The problems with most portfolio sites.
If you don’t have one, you already know this problem: It can be difficult to get a site off the ground if you don’t have the technical skill, the money, or the mojo.

If you do have a portfolio site, then this hang-up probably rings a bell: If your site is hard to maintain (as most are) then your online portfolio tends to grow a little stale.

How to get a design firm to hire you.

The holy grail for design students and the rest of us who’d like to move up in our jobs is “The Book.” It’s the portfolio that flings open doors, gets job offers flying, and assures us that we’ll live happily ever after (or at least until next Tuesday). But, turns out the book is only part of the equation.

So what’s the secret to getting a design job like these days? We asked the only people whose opinions truly count—the creative directors and heads of Seattle’s design firms. As part of the School of Visual Concepts’ Design Leaders Tour, the top dogs at four local studios shared their opinions, and now we share the condensed version with you.

Here, in brief, is what we heard from Jack Anderson of Hornall Anderson Design Works; John Rousseau and Marcela Barrientos of Fitch; Bob Grindeland and Dale Hart of Methodologie; and Steve Albohm, CD at Girvin.

Surprisingly, design firms don’t want designers. They want problem solvers. They want people who can answer in the affirmative to each of these questions: