Work out your career path - Essay Example

? Table of Contents My career Path 3 Educational Requirements 4 Experience 4 Personal Attributes and skills 4 Networking 6 Employment 6 Future CareerProspects 8 Retaining the position 8 Conclusion 9 Bibliography 10 Fashion Designing Career Pathway Fashion designers have the responsibility of building their career through constant efforts in the way of conceptualizing, producing and supporting new styles in clothing and other accessories like shoes, belts, bags and so on. They produce such products with a variety of range in styles and colors for boutiques, large retail stores and personal clothing businesses. Their uniqueness of ideas and specialty in creative combinations of attires and accessories help in the development of their career. Their fame is dependent on their innovative imagination and translating those imaginations in practical design of new attire. My career Path In order to pursue any goal a person needs to follow fixed plans and be determined. The plan is to be carefully constructed when it comes to one’s profession. The professional studies and career require closer planning and time management skills. The earlier education and short term goals are normally achieved easily. However, the long-term educational and career planning is a difficult and complex mechanism. It requires deep insight and knowledge about the chosen career and the barriers that may be encountered in the pathway. My aim in professional life is to become a successful and famous fashion designer. To achieve this aim I have constructed a career path. This career path is not limited to the practical applicability of learned concept but follows a realistically constructed pattern of behaviors and activities. The following steps define the ways to step into the career of fashion designing. Educational Requirements The educational requirement s in fashion designing career are generally not mandatory, however, in order to start the career by working under someone’s surveillance or a proper employment in relative field it would be helpful. A diploma or 2-4 years degree course from a reputable institution in fashion designing or a related field may be very helpful in attaining the attention of the employers (JIST works 1994, p. 190). The degree implies the understanding of the person and his/her qualification helps employers in making the right choice. Education, hence, is the first move towards our specific career goals. I pursue the arts degree in order to polish the creativity, skills, knowledge of colors and understand helpful ideas to maintain quality of work. Experience The next requirement of a fashion designing career is the practical experience which enables the designer to bring in innovative ideas using artistic thoughts and creativity. The experience in the fashion designing field helps in attracting more advanced job opportunities and enables fashion designer to attain the trust of the employers on choosing clothes and fashion designing accessories. My career plan, hence, places more emphasis on experience rather than having theoretical knowledge which is not applied in practical life to gain advantages form those ideas. Personal Attributes and skills There are a number of skills and attributes of individuals which help them in attaining high performance in their life and career. These attributes include leadership skills, good communication skills, high bargaining power, creativity, management skills and so on. However, these attributes work more efficiently when they are accompanied by academic theories and constructs. Since educational field offers a great variety of subjects today, it is not difficult to find an appropriate course to develop, polish and learn the required skills from universities and colleges. The fashion designing field requires much workload related to art, drawing and sketching (Clark & Fehl 2006, p. 114). Hence artistic qualities are to be polished and improved in order to be successful in the fashion designing career. Moreover, sewing, stitching and computer operating skills are also important for the career development. In order to attain all these attributes, I am taking part in the arts degree course. To attain proficiency in computer software like adobe, macromedia freehand, PowerPoint, Flash and other designing software available I aim to pursue short courses and application of those learned patterns to efficiently handle the performance of those software. Knowledge about fashion and interest in developing new ideas as well as improving the older ones is also an important trait of an individual to be successful in the fashion designing career. My personal skills and traits allow me to creatively handle dresses and designs to make a perfect and innovative idea of modern yet delicate dress. There is a need to have the skills, knowledge and expertise to forecast the fashion trends and knowledge of manufacturing. The most important of all aspects is to have ample information on forecasting the costs related to the project or order placed. The basic accounting and managerial skills are required to assess the costs and include profits in order to keep the business running. To attain these managerial and basic accounting techniques I am taking the degree course in Arts field which provides enough information on management of arts works and accounting techniques to earn profits which are both reasonable and achievable. Networking The life of professionals like actors, filmmakers, artists, painters and fashion designers is highly dependent on personal socializing skills. They need to have an outgoing personality with the expertise to grow and manage their network and relationships with others related to or working in the industry. In order to achieve this aim, they may use different ways to grow their network of friends and acquaintances which include joining formal parties and events, social networking using advances technologies like social networking websites, keeping good communication habits with people they meet in daily life and so on (Bye 2010, pp. 52-60). I have a big friends’ circle with much interest in knowing about people who are working in the fashion designing field mainly to learn their success factors and incorporate them in my career plan. To meet this goal I have adopted the technologically advanced, yet successful means of networking by joining social networking websites like FaceBook, twitter, blogs etc. Employment There are a number of alternatives available to a person when trying to attain a distinct position in the industry. A person may directly involve himself in an independent fashion designer having his own ideas, strategies and workers. However, it is not possible for me to adopt this approach. I personally believe in gaining experience from the key players of the industry by working with them or under their surveillance before jumping in as an individual designer. I find a number of advantages in following employment approach over individual business. These include the advancement of practical knowledge about fashion designing industry along with expert suggestion from the employers on the designs, manufacturing, fabric selection, color scheming and cost cutting. I aim to step on the career ladder as Designer’s assistance. This job will help me in making good interpretation about the designers’ choices, working styles, planning skills, procedures and schedules. Once these things are analyzed and understood a promotion or opportunity to become Assistant Designer may help in further understanding the dress and accessories designing process. This gives an insight to a higher level of decision making about the fashion designing procedures involved (Vogt 2007, pp. 38-40). Experience in these two areas may help in getting an employment as a Associate Designer which finally helps in understanding the practical application and skills of designing the final output for the consumers. This is the most important phase of the learning process which would help in introducing the base of fashion designing in practical life. This position in the fashion designing career will help in developing realistic ideas and outing them into practice. It goes beyond mere planning or choosing materials but involves the stitching and making of the product or dress which was planned. Finally the aim of becoming a fashion designer may be fulfilled. This aim is supported by a number of factors which are achieved by employments at various levels in the industry. This career path particularly helps in knowing more people who are professionally involved in the fashion designing field. The step by step process to approach fashion designing position involves a great deal of time and efforts on communicating ideas, processing information and meeting people to negotiate the fashion designer’s requirements. The knowledge gained and network established helps a lot in the final stage of the career i.e. in becoming a famous fashion designer. The helpful contacts and customers which know and value your association with various fashion designing organizations will help in bringing new opportunities to build my career stronger. Future Career Prospects The fashion design industry is competitive enough to bring in hurdles in the way to achieving the career success. It is not easy to build a name among the outstanding fashion designers who are already working and famous for their work. It requires time, efforts and proper networking to make a dress or innovative design known to the consumers who are in search of new, modern and stunning fashion design material. The glamorous world of media is highly vulnerable to changes in the fashion design industry. Personal relationships in media may help in developing a distinct image in the industry. It is however, difficult to attain this by working individually. The career ladder that I chose is of particular importance in this regard. The high experience, qualification and portfolio management will help in gaining the attention of the big players of the industry (Jones 2005, pp. 200-206). Once I will get the opportunity to associate myself with one of the leading fashion designing organizations, my career path will be smoothened towards achieving fame, name and prestige. The modern technology and social networking via websites have helped in clearing the hurdles in self-employment opportunities for professionals like fashion designers, artists, photographers and models. Hence a carefully managed portfolio of work, innovative ideas, sketches and designs which translate the distinct fashion design plans may help in attracting personal customers. Retaining the position The career planning does not end at achieving the desired position but requires more efforts to retain that position. In order to keep myself at a distinct position in the industry, a more knowledgeable personality should be adopted. Industry publications should be reviewed in order to gain knowledge about customers’ perspective on the current fashion trends (Stecker 1996, pp. 265-270). Women require more elegant look with high preference on the color schemes. Women’s wear daily, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, She and other magazines help in understanding fashion which is prevalent and the consumers’ behaviors towards them. I aim to bring in changes as a fashion becomes common among the women. My reading habits and quest for gaining knowledge about fashion will help me in successfully achieving my aims in this phase. Conclusion Being a woman, I personally believe that I have the ability to understand what women want when it comes to dressing and fashion design products. The career path that I wish to follow is time consuming and requires a lot of struggle, yet I believe that this path provides me with a lot of learning opportunities. The career path that I wish to follow is a step by step procedure whereby, the success is not short term but when achieved it brings great fame, prestige, money and respect to the fashion designer. I aim to review my career path at each stage of life in order to find the success of it in the upcoming future. Fashion designing is a creative field where I can sue my artistic abilities with creativity and interest in designing products for women. My particular interest in the fashion industry helps and will help me in pursuing my aim of becoming a women fashion designer. My knowledge about the requirements of attaining and maintaining position in the fashion design industry helps in accumulating and incorporating all traits and expertise in my career plan which may help in career development. Bibliography Bye, Elizabeth. Fashion Design. Oxford: Berg, 2010. Print. Bottom of Form Clark, Richard P, and Pamela Fehl. Career Opportunities in the Visual Arts. New York: Ferguson, 2006. Print. Jones, Sue J. Fashion Design. New York, NY: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2005. Print. Occupational Outlook Handbook: 1994-95 Edition. Indianapolis: JIST Works, 1994. Print. Stecker, Pamela. The Fashion Design Manual. Melbourne: Macmillan Education Australia, 1996. Print. Vogt, Peter. Career Opportunities in the Fashion Industry. New York: Ferguson, 2007. Print. Read More