I’m a graphic designer with a degree from one of the top art schools in the US. I love the work and honestly, I think I’m damn good at it. I graduated college in 2018, and since then I’ve lost my job in 3 different ways.
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I was hired as a graphic designer/only creative person at a small nonprofit. It’s not surprising that one didn’t work out well, but my theory is they wanted someone straight out of college to save on money even though they expected me to know things I would need more industry experience for. Instead of helping me find resources to fill my gaps in knowledge, they would yell and berate me for not knowing things or making mistakes. One day I finished a project I have been working on for several months and the next morning I was fired when I came in. They had a new person start the next day.
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I was hired as a graphic artist for a political firm in the 2020 election. Initially I was supposed to stay on after the election, but I was laid off with the other cycle hires.
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I was hired as a production designer at an ad agency. I finally had it all. Amazing benefits, a supportive boss, coworkers who were genuinely great people, no complaints at all. I loved every minute of that job and had hoped to stay on for several years, as had been discussed in my interview. Until it happened. We lost a major client and they laid off 1/5 of the company. Especially poor timing for me, as I had just turned 26 the previous weekend and being in the US, I can no longer go back on my parents health care.
It’s incredibly hard and frustrating to want so desperately to work and do a good job and not be able to keep a job. Even when I thought I had the perfect job it was gone in an instant. I’ve heard of a decent amount of layoffs recently and it makes me scared for my future.