Break in without a criminal record...

 

My current position at Ragtrader magazine is based on a lie. Although, that’s not entirely true either.
My current position is the result of my first position at Ragtrader which, you guessed it, was based on a lie.
Or at least a glaring omission.

Not even the woman who employed me, a former criminal court reporter, managed to pick up on it until it was too late. I walked in to the Yaffa Publishing office with one term left to complete in my journalism degree. The position of Ragtrader Sydney journalist was for a graduate. I was a few months short. She didn’t know this. I never gave her a reason to.

“You’ve got a lot of published stories here for a young journalist,” Tracey Porter, my interviewee and former Ragtrader editor said as she flicked through my hearty portfolio in the company boardroom.

“Yeah, I did a lot of freelancing in my first couple of years at uni,” I responded. “It pays off when you graduate, eh?” she said. “Sure,” I nodded.

I broke the news to Tracey during my first week as a Yaffa journalist, when I told her I had to leave at 4pm on Thursdays. “Why?” she asked. “Uni.” “Are you taking another degree?” “Ahem, more like finishing the first one.”

It was the start of a long and, from that point on, honest and rewarding relationship (she’s a highly successful PR executive now, the queen of spin, ironically).

The point I’m trying to make is it wasn’t my “degree” that got me the job. It was the work I did outside of that – a piece of advice which sounded time and time again at the recent Higher Learning seminar in Sydney.

Aimed at emerging fashion designers, the event featured a broad range of industry speakers, the first of whom we have covered in this edition (stay tuned for more).

Here are some points nearly every speaker touched on when it came to breaking into the fashion industry: don’t take no for an answer but be polite and professional in your persistence, be prepared to work part-time until you can fund your fashion label full-time, invest in a strong and tailored brand message (a good look book is vital), drum up as much industry/work experience as you can and don’t be afraid to stand out of the crowd.

This means refraining from a generic email in your initial approach – get the exact name and title of the person you are targeting and send them something memorable, whether it’s a beautifully packaged letter or a personal follow-up phone call.

Oh, and for the most part, be honest.