Job Advertisement - Web Designer

Web Designer

About the Job

"We have an opportunity for a Web Designer to work within a fast paced in-house marketing team. Responsibilities include the maintenance and updating of current group websites. Identify and resolve issues relating to group online marketing. Plan, design and develop new online projects for group and to interpret and develop design briefs received from Marketing department.

Essential skills include CSS & (X)HTML (preferably hand-coded), JavaScript, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash and excellent communication and organisational skills. Knowledge of Quark would be an advantage as there may be a requirement to get involved in the print design process.”

While looking at employment opportunities around the web design industry it’s quite clear that many positions are open and are unaffected by our current economic climate. The advertisement I have come across is one by ‘The Book’, a recruitment agency, or in plain English, a ‘middle man’.

The job advertised is for a standard designer from what I have read. They are looking for XHTML, CSS and JavaScript. These skills I now feel confident in writing down on my curriculum vitae and would feel equally as confident in being able to talk about these technologies.

Technologies such as Photoshop and Illustrator are skills that I am always developing and I think having a portfolio of works may help out in future interviews.

Later skills, PHP and MySQL, I am still learning so I would at least want be confident in using these technologies before I applied for a job that utilised them. Other skills that are required for the position are the Adobe design tools that seem to be de facto of the designing industry.

With a salary, £17k - £19k, which seems to be an average amount for the industry, the job seems to be basic and with other jobs advertised as ‘Senior’ with salary thirty percent greater, there doesn’t seem to be that many skills that are required.

There is one skill I am lacking though and is something that education cannot give me; experience. This seems to be an underlining requirement of what is required for people entering the industry and the only way I can think of gaining this experience is to either try and accumulate as much freelance work as possible or to do a spot of voluntary work in the industry and gain good reference through both.

From reading this job advertisement I can see skills that I need to develop to make employment more feasible. The software skills are skills that I am always developing as a designer and is something that will not improve vastly overnight. Having a good grasp of a coding language though seems to be an advantage over many. If these skills are flawless than what I lack in software will be leveled out by language.

I think a good objective to set myself is to be fluent in PHP and to have knowledge of how to update and maintain a database using MySQL. These two skills will allow me to at least get a foot in the door and to be able to apply to jobs other designers may not.

With all these facts taken into consideration I feel that knowing the skills I am learning inside-out will help me with any interviews I may have in the future. As said before Adobe CS suite skills are always in the process of development and to try and set myself a task of being a Photoshop guru by the end of the year is not a realistic goal. Having the core coding skills are both realistic and achievable.

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