Rejection is Redirection.

I’ve gotten to know rejection quite well recently. At first, I didn’t really like her but now we’re inseparable.

Before the start of this term I wasn’t sure if I wanted to come back to DPS, my degree or even university. This meltdown stemmed from my Erasmus exchange programme to Berlin being cancelled because of Covid. I desperately wanted my head to convince me to not do what my heart wants. I went round and round in circles until I ended up right where I started. I realised I just have to pick something and go with it, instead of mulling over all my choices. So here I am.

I had a disastrous experience with my first virtual interview and assessment for a DPS placement. I applied for a position where it was a creative training and placement with an agency that I admired. I submitted a written essay and was invited to the virtual assessment day where there would be a group task in the morning and a one to one interview in the afternoon I felt confident and believed I had a chance. That morning, my Wi-Fi crashed, causing me to miss the group task and ruining my chances of getting the position. I still attended interview and at the end asked if I could show them a presentation of a group project I had done, to make up for missing the group task. They were impressed with my work and my ability to think proactively and bring something extra to the interview. I scored highly in the interview and in my written essay, but without the group task it was not enough. They did recommend for me to apply to another placement they will run in January 2021, which I am hopeful for. At first, I was pretty upset, but I strongly believe that everything happens for a reason, even if I don’t understand that reason just yet.

Failure. Rejection. Fear.
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These words have negative connotations, and we are conditioned to think they are nothing but trouble. I have learnt to look at rejection through a more positive lens and it has helped me grow immensely. I now understand that I will never succeed more than I fail (I think Steve Harvey said that). Also, I have learnt to think of rejection as redirection (Ibz Mo taught me that one, video link below). I turned this lesson into the poster below, I am thinking about designing a poster every day, to visualise what I learn throughout DPS.

The first in a series of posters I designed about my new found wisdom.

Changing the way I think of rejection. Screenshot from my Excel spreadsheet of internship applications.

​As scary as uncertainty is, I hope to learn and grow as much as I can as a designer during this new period of time. Every time I present something in a virtual meeting, I can feel myself chipping away at the imposter syndrome. This is something I have learned that almost everyone deals with and it’s not just me. This idea of a global reset is fascinating because everyone is learning about themselves at a pace and in a way that we have never experienced. Even though we are isolated, there is comfort in knowing we are all experiencing similar things.

I virtually attended some of the Adobe Max conferences and presentations including Portfolios 101: What Every Job Hunter Needs to Know with designers Nick Longo & Andrew Hochradel. Andrew spoke about the dilemma of jobs requiring experience and students not having enough experience to get the jobs they need for experience. It really stuck with me and opened my eyes to how to get around this especially during this time so I transcribed that section and hope it can help others, I will also provide a link to the livestream. 

~ 45:00
“If they want three years of experience have a portfolio that’s so good they’re like “oh my gosh, they’re so good they’ve been doing this for like 20 years”, and you’re like nope I just started last year I just worked really hard on it. You can convince people and that’s the thing. Manage people’s perception; the way that they perceive you is their reality so if it looks like and they perceive you as if you have been working in the industry for five years and you’ve only been there for two, good on you, to them you’ve been there for five years. You just have to have the work to show. I think the time is arbitrary; it’s a way for a lot of non-creatives, a lot of times, to mitigate the idea of like “that’s their bench mark like time means experience” but, if you show the experience you don’t need the time.” - Andrew Hochradel

Hard work shows. Every time.
 

Humiraa Firdaws
BA Illustration & Visual Media
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@whatihadinmind
[email protected]

Portfolios 101: What Every Job Hunter Needs to Know with designers Nick Longo & Andrew Hochradel https://view.streamgo.live/Adobe-career-bootcamp/events/1
Rejection is redirection – Ibz Mo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3W6TWwPrS8

Notes on Purpose.

​The definition of purpose is 'The reason for which something exists'. So, the question 'What is my purpose?' is actually asking, 'Why am I here?'. So, what am I? A human being. I am not an angel or a robot, but, a human being; meaning, I am inherently flawed. Therefore my purpose is to make mistakes, fail, learn, and try again. My purpose is to be better than I was yesterday. ​