Donny Bever

Q1:

Name: Donny Bever
Degree from UMD: BFA, Graphic Design
Current Job: Visual Merchandising Team Leader (VMTL) at Target

Q2: As a senior at UMD, when did you start applying for jobs?

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I started applying for jobs towards the end of spring semester during my senior year. Looking back I wish I would have started searching and applying for jobs sooner. Trying to get a career started while juggling final projects at the end of my undergrad journey proved to be quite stressful.

Q3: What websites or resources did you use when you were applying?

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I mainly used LinkedIn, designjobs.aiga.org, and themplsegotist.com/jobs to search for jobs. I was fortunate to have great relationships with most of my professors at UMD; they were a great resource for me to turn to with any questions or struggles I had while job searching.

Q4:  If you could do anything differently about applying for jobs or the job market in general, what would it be?

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Until my senior year, I did not really understand the importance of networking. The graphic design community is relatively tight-knit so it would have been helpful to have a strong professional network before I started applying. I have good friends who started networking early on and it made finding jobs much easier for them, many of them had jobs lined up before graduation.

As I mentioned before, I also would have started searching and applying much earlier than I did.

Q5: Do you enjoy your job/profession at this time?

Yes, Target is a great company to work for and they provide a lot of opportunity for growth. To me, these were crucial characteristics of an employer. My goal is to eventually move from my roll in stores to a design job with Target's creative department at headquarters.