Over the course of our careers, we all job hop, and in fact, we probably should once every three years. But some people do it better than others. And Jesse McMillan, who is a vice president and creative director at Lyft, has hopped from design-led company to design-led company over the course of his career. Before Lyft, he was creative director at Virgin America for seven years, and before that, he did stints at Nike and Levi’s.
McMillan is a gifted designer, but a successful career is about more than just talent. So we sat down with him to find out how he’s been able to land at so many dream companies.
11 comments:
I really like what McMillan has to say about working in creative industries. Especially in reference to young artist, I love that he encourages creators to stop limiting themselves. I feel like a lot of times people feel pressured to find their niche and stick with it; that once they've found something they enjoy that they can't sway. I think its important to keep exploring and searching as artists. CMU's undergraduate Design and PTM program does that well by giving undergrads the opportunity to explore all aspects of design and production before declaring a concentration in the second half of their sophomore year. It gives students the opportunity to get to try things outside of what they're intended concentration might be. When it comes to attaining your dream job, keep your options open. You never know where different pathways may lead or if your "dream job" will change in the future. Meet new people, take risks, "follow your muse", and explore new opportunities.
Oof-- McMillan's statement about how networking is just being sincere to people really hit me to the core. I always get the gut feeling to roll my eyes when someone says that they're going out to some gig to "network." Labeling it as "networking" makes it feel so incredibly stale and distant. It also brings me to my next point about how important small talk is; small talk is not a waste of time. It is an investment in the person who you are speaking with. I think that being sincere in networking and engaging in small talk are very related things and can be felt when they're being used as a tactic to "climb the ladder." What McMillan says : "It’s not about, ‘I’m trying to get out there and network with you!’ It’s not about that," McMillin continues. "I’m just really open to people I work with. Those connections are genuine. When I’m working with someone, I treat that with a certain amount of respect. So the work is meaningful. Your relationship is meaningful." By genuinely being interested in the person you are so called networking with and investing your energy into them as a person, not only with those meaningful relationships form but you will have perhaps made a new friend!
It can occasionally be tough to read articles such as this one that are from the perspective of someone who has had an immensely successful climb up the ladder, going from Levi's to Nike to Virgin America to Lyft. That being said, I do think he gives valuable advice and certainly knows what he is talking about. We are all, here at CMU, following our muse even though we don't know where it will lead, and if what we're doing isn't our muse than why are we doing it? The other side of that coin is his next tip, which is paying attention to when you feel as if a job is no longer for you. There's such a diverse array of things we will be able to do once we leave this school that restricting ourselves to theatre seems almost counter-productive. I don't know how I necessarily feel about getting an agent, as I don't know how those function in the design world, but it seems like he makes good points as to why an agent would be valuable to someone in his discipline. I agree with Michelle that the point about networking being about sincerity hits close to him. I always feel like I straddle a fine line between being genuine and coming across as saccharine, and there is certainly a huge payoff to discovering where the balance lies.
"McMillin recognized that as good as a job as he had on paper, it had grown stale for him. And the appeal of being at Levi’s, in theory, wasn’t designing denim. It was that he could go anywhere within the giant corporation to expand his horizons. So when that opportunity dried up, he found new opportunities at an agency." This quote really hits home because I too understand how it feels to be in the ideal situation yet be searching for anyway out. I was working a job at a local community theatre as a stage manager for almost two years. I was doing very well with SMing but I really wanted a chance to expand into set and prop design. The director of the theatre would not allow this. They decided that i was needed too much as an SM to be allowed to explore other areas. Although I was complimented i also felt stuck and did not feel like i was having the growth i needed. Even though we may be happy with what the label of our jobs says about us, are we really happy with how the job labels us? Sometimes a stagnant job, even a creative job, can interfere with our artistic and creative mindset. As artist we owe it to ourselves to move forward in our creative pursuits even if that means ending a job that seems to be the perfect spot for our creative endeavors.
This article jived with me because I ad a come to moment last year where i decided to stop following security and job stability and start following a muse. You could spend your life doing something that bores you and get good at something you were mediocre at or you could enjoy what you do and get great at what you're good at. I also believe in jumping around and not staying stagnant. In commercial theater there's a tendency to just keep doing what works (cough cough, lion king, phantom, and the met opera) but by doing so you don't grow as much as you could by creating something new. I feel like theater as a business is designed like an agency (or at least for scenery). You build something that is designed to be temporary and then you move on to the next thing. Each show presents new challenges and new insights and inspirations. Finally, to speak on networking, theater is a very small world so "networking" and trying to meet everyone you can on a shallow level, in my opinion, is not as important as impressing the people hat matter with your work ethic, skills, curiosity, and enthusiastic attitude.
Before I begin to delve into content, I want to say that I wish they had included McMillin's name in the title. For example: "McMillin's Four Tips..." I feel as though the article gives a slightly incomplete view through its title because these tips do not necessarily apply to everyone. McMillin seems very successful, having worked for big companies like Virgin and Nike, and I'm sure his advice will differ from that of someone who struggled immensely before hitting success. I also find it particularly interesting to contrast job tips for designers with job tips for engineers. I feel like the networking tip is one that is relevant across both of these fields - oftentimes, knowing the right people leads to landing a good job, and it is somewhat depressing to read/verbalize this fact. I appreciate McMillin's careful wording when describing networking by claiming that it is about genuinely connecting with people, but I am also positive that he, just like everyone else, does not always genuinely connect with people when networking. Overall, I enjoyed reading about the aspects that led McMillin to success, but I also wonder how many people who both have and have not found success in McMillin's industry feel about his four tips.
This article provides a lot of tips that go beyond working in a creative field. I feel as though a lot of the advice offered in this article is just really good for attempting to not only secure a job in a large corporation but also getting the most out of your time at that large corporation so that you will be prepared for a job in another sector of the corporate jungle if you choose to pursue a job at another company. I feel as though the tip to work at a smaller corporation when you're just starting out is incredibly poignant, because I feel like it can be easy to come out of school with a fancy college degree and expect to start working for the best of the best, but then you end up being assigned to very specific projects instead of earning your chops by working in a more general, fast paced environment, such as a smaller design firm in this case.
I LOVE that he makes a point about how networking is just being sincere with people. It is so frustrating to me when people are fake and gross just to make a "connection." Blech.
I think this is a good list of tips for pretty much everyone. I appreciate the fact that he understands you may want to leave your job, but that you should really pin down what it is about your job that makes you want to leave. I thought the 3-years-with-a-company rule was quite interesting as well. My current life conundrum is that there are many, many jobs I want to work in my life, and only one I want to settle in for the long-run. It's tough to make a decision on anything because I feel like if I don't keep all my experience pointing one way, I might lose out on my "forever" job one day, but I also don't want to look back on my career and see that I really only accomplished one thing. I like that McMillan believes in a change of scenery once in a while.
I really liked McMillin’s point about networking. Its this term that gets tossed around all the time, especially at CMU and I’ve almost never heard it said with out some kind of negative connotation or some kind of preface along the lines of “I know you’re all going to hate hearing this/laugh but….” Its this thing that we all know is important but has managed to get an unpleasant reputation and so gets viewed as a necessary evil, when really its exactly what McMillin said, being genuine to people and treating them with respect. Point about networking aside I also liked what he was saying about it being important to leave if you think its time for a change. Most of the time it feels like the idea we get from the rest of the world is you have to get a job and stick with it/that company until you retire to be considered successful but that’s not how our industry works (mostly) so if that’s the view that you hold to you’re probably setting yourself up for a lot of unhappiness. McMillin’s points about changing jobs are a good reminder that sometimes a change of scenery is what you need and can be a good thing.
This article has a lot of good information in it, starting with knowing when to leave a job and why. This was incredibly true for me when I left University of Toledo. I disagree with the author’s statement or concept of ‘job hopping’ every three years. While creative jobs are constantly changing and evolving, I’m not sure that ‘job-hopping’ is the best solution to a job that seems stagnant. People should follow their dreams and go after the jobs that they want, but there’s something to be said for practicality and job security. I don’t have a lot of experience in the creative fields that the article discusses, but leaving a job because ‘it got old’ or because you weren’t allowed to follow your dreams don’t sound like the best reasons. In the end, I think this article makes some good points about landing your dream job, but I’m not sure how practical some of the advice is.
I really kind of wish there was actual advice in this article about the title question. How to land jobs at creative companies. The advice, and it’s probably solid is to, when your job starts feeling stale or like there aren’t many opportunities to advance to jump ship. This is great advice I guess and particularly relevant in the current era as the death of the corporate career at a single company continues. We’re going to need to be constantly on our toes, building a portfolio until we retire if we really want to build a career that always has room for us to grow and to advance either in salary or responsibility. Unfortunately as far as the promised advice on how to land your dream job at a creative company, the article pretty much leaves you hanging without anything other than a cursory examination of some different types of jobs.
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