The Myth of the “Dream Job” in Design: What Really Happens After College

9/28/25

You’re Told…

I remember when I was a kid maybe twelve or thirteen, my mother told me “you can do anything you set your mind to.” It is one of the things that still sticks with me today. For the longest time I truly believed that this and hard work was the path toward success. After all, I always had a strong entrepreneurial, confident spirit nothing could break. The art world in general always interested me from the start. In high school, you were told to attend technical schooling as a path toward success. In high school, you were told college was “the path way to succeeding and not being a burger flipper.” In technical school, you were told you “had to attend college with a Bachelor’s degree” to make it not just earning a certificate. In design school, you were told ”you will never regret working hard” and emphasized the importance of getting creative enough that “gets your foot in the door,” After design school, I watched graduates get jobs directly out of design school. A path laid out clearly like a dot to dot activity book from end to end . 8 years post-graduation, I’m still fighting to break in. My path zigzagged mostly downward for eight years filled with delayed career paths, jobs outside the field, immediate close family/childhood pet loss shortly after graduating, burnout, depression and lost confidence tied into a blackened bow. All because of what you were told to do that would supposedly bring success and stability..

The Dream We Were Sold On

High school promised a path to success was not being a burger flipper but more of a stable job path with high income potential. Technical schooling promised college was the path toward career success through passion and effort. College promised a job market you can land with the right amount of creativity, effort and knowledge demonstrated. In reality, you were sold on an illusion of a booming, glamorized creative industry vs. the actual saturated job market. There was constant guidance toward a path which does not actually guarantee success at all, only debt piled high for years, possibly a lifetime and no return on investment despite effort. There was always this idea of getting a “dream job” and enjoying what you do to make a living from a young age by school to begin with; pushed further in every education aspect to pursue that path as if it guarantees stability and success if you remain positive and work hard enough. You are brainwashed from elementary school on answering the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up” having to provide an answer mostly with something you are passionate about and would like to pursue later in life earning a college degree to obtain this career path so it provides security along with passion. More myths projected that were not true were wages equaling stability and a livable income, internships counting as real world experience, having a strong skillset, knowledge and portfolio will get you hired, the narrative of “dream client glamor”, job descriptions on what a designer is, and hiring local talent vs overseas workers. This is where the reality check comes in. The “American Dream” you were sold on as a better future.

The Reality Check

During the time after college the traditional goal is to find your first design job as soon as you can to get the “years of experience” required for higher up roles, pay down student loans as soon as possible, and contribute to society in your field with the passion that lead you there. After graduating in a world before AI or remote work existed, professors encouraged you to stand out any way you can to get the job. Examples given were getting creative creating a mailable small piece to mail to HR to stand out, apply with printed versions of your resume in person, and hand type each cover letter specifically tailored for every job applied for. This could be hundreds at a time, easily. My confidence and determination in my ability to do this and land the job was at an all time high. There was no doubt I could do it.….until life unexpectedly chose otherwise. Life fell apart for me only one month after graduation and changed the course of my life. Everything I had hoped for would never happen. One month after college graduation, I lost the closest family member in my life that was and still is tragically and traumatically haunting to this day. I didn’t get a chance to show my hard earned portfolio of five and a half years of college projects to anyone. I waited until things got better to show it to family and it never did. After the loss, I shoved my portfolio under my bed, no eyes besides me peering between the pages. Now stored under the bed collecting dust. There was no chance to talk about job interviews with happy faces; happy faces were now frowns. In the months that followed, I ended up getting what felt like a dream job at first. A cruise ship I applied for early on after graduation hired me to manage their print shop. Travel was my enjoyment in life besides art & design. After all, my first time leaving the country was my study abroad semester in Brisbane, Australia. A far away country I felt excitement for visiting while others were terrified at the thought of a far distance. Working at sea was my first step to gain real world experience….or so I thought. It was exhausting with no days off for months. I was told my contract would be extended with the company and they would get back to me. I returned home to wait for news. During this time, my childhood cat I had for 15 years had died. Another devastating loss. but I kept remaining hopeful. Months passed while I waited, but I had to accept the truth: I was ghosted and left in the dark no matter how many times I reached out for answers. It was time to move on, I thought getting this experience would get me closer to my goal of working as a Graphic Designer. I was very wrong.

I got tired of waiting for others to give me a chance and so, I decided to move to Nevada. No plan, just took professors advice and printed a ton of resumes to hand out while venturing a new city across the country. I scoured the internet for advice on how to secure job interviews across country because I was so far away with no connections across country that no one took me seriously. I secured three in one week with the advice they gave such as having a secure move by date added early on in my cover letter when I was guaranteed to be there by. I arrived and passed out resumes. Failure. Myth 1 exposed: believing the old fashioned way would make me stand out for doing it old fashioned and get me in the door. Out of 20 or more resumes, only one person took it….and told me to apply online. This move made me gain confidence I could do anything without a job lined up. The move most were scared to make on their own, I embraced. I told myself I would be ok. I got a lot more interviews with the move, but some interviewed me, told me I spoke about my work very well and then admitted they weren’t looking to hire me during the interview. I wrote thank you letters after every interview, practiced speaking about my portfolio, and tried to have at least three questions to ask the interviewer so I was prepared and showed I was listening to them. I was sometimes told they would get back to me and then ghosted even reaching out for a follow up like college told you to do. I was met with silence and ghosted. I eventually gave up and moved back to Pennsylvania. I then tried redesigning passion projects and took on a few freelance clients I managed to snag while in Nevada or online. I designed tiny mailable projects and mailed them to HR, but no response. Myth 2 exposed :Getting creative with mailable projects would make me stand out and help get my foot in the door with being creative. Start over from zero just before the pandemic broke loose.

Backtrack a little before my move to Nevada and the pandemic, you will find I, too had dream companies to work for. My first was tv network, Nickelodeon. In my cover letter I remember writing about my study abroad animation project as the work example relating to the job description. The project was created being strongly inspired by SpongeBob on Nickelodeon. I got the interview with my dream company. My task was to complete a packaging project and presentation on it in a weekend. I asked questions, and looked at the presentation guide they sent me but it felt disorganized. I got answers but they didn’t feel fully clear so I created what I thought I had to do. During college, tasks were always clear and I nailed all of my quick tasks similar to interviews with clever thought into the designs, always on time. I failed the project. It wasn’t what they were looking for. I didn’t get the job. It was devastating. I felt I could have gone down an avenue I was interested in working: tv/entertainment design. Looking back, I may have dodged a bullet since this allegations news article came out in which I could have worked there at the same time as him back then. There is also this documentary called , “Nickelodeon Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV” exploring more about the real toxic culture going on behind the scenes. Myth 3 exposed: The glamorized dream client and creative industry being what it seems, is actually not what it seems.

After feeling highly defeated, burnt out, and depressed from more lost time not reaching my goals, I took a retail job to build savings. I was always a high achiever, striving for excellence and doing my very best job at everything I could do from a young age. Memories come flooding back. When I was twelve, I was a huge Pokémon fan. I once came up with my own Pokémon video game writing fourteen pages of content exploring the very beginning of what the game would look like, interaction between gamer and game world, to the final cheat codes and in game prizes won inspired by mixing Pokémon Gameboy games, Pokémon Snap and Pokémon Stadium for Nintendo 64 together. I sent it into Nintendo and got a response back. It was my very first job rejection. Good ideas, but I was too young. I took the feedback and started my second game I never finished. There was always this high achiever mindset in me. I believed I could do anything. I worked hard with a positive can do attitude.

Survival Jobs

During the pandemic and my eight year journey, I took retail and pharmaceutical jobs to support myself while getting more graphic design rejection emails or worse— silence. In these jobs, I got promoted into a higher role within eight months, and coworkers mentioned me learning the role was the fastest they have ever seen pick it up as quickly as me. My varied skillset in other fields have shown I am capable to learning and adapting quickly to change. I emphasize these in cover letters, thank you letters, interviews, etc. and I am never chosen for my field. Never the first choice despite this. Interviewing on the east and west coast proved the wages were similar for entry level roles. The average pay was $15 an hour or less, $16 was occasional, $17 or above was rare. Jobs in many other fields without a college degree pay more than those wages with only one interview than a designer in the field. The designer goes through more rounds with tougher questions, resume, cover letter, thank you letters, portfolio, and design test in the interview. You are told by professors and technical schooling to take these poverty wages for more real world experience. A single person who takes care of themselves living in a small studio has too high in rent to afford themselves. This is not the early 2000’s anymore where they mostly likely give advice from older decades not relevant today. Myth 4 exposed: entry level wages don’t equal a stable income with a degree, skills, knowledge and portfolio. Years ago, early on schools and institutions constantly told people to attend college as the only pathway to better wages and success. Proven wrong by wages and many not in the field working other jobs to get by. I have come across job descriptions in the past who did not count internships as real world experience. Your years in college should count as up to date real world experience in the present day, but it’s like finding a needle in a haystack. One person applying will the get the job out of hundreds or more that apply. Like chances of hitting the lottery. Small from the start even for poverty wage, entry level roles. Competitive. Many people went to college, gained the skills, and lack opportunities. Now they’re left in the back and forgotten about trying to navigate their own path. Lifetime of debt for a better life in your career not guaranteed. Survival job to survival job.

publicly viewed job description from Indeed.com

publicly viewed job description from Indeed.com

publicly viewed job description from Indeed.com

Design Trends vs. Job Descriptions

Many job boards are filled with job descriptions a designer is required to know that is not what a designer actually is. This ranges from having to know video editing, animation/motion design, UX web design with beyond basic coding skills of a Web Developer, Marketing web analytics skills, etc. A designer’s job is to DESIGN. Knowing how the web functions with the coding basics is all they should need to know along with print and UI front end web design. This being required is why entry level workers can not get into their field. They were not taught many other people’s jobs so the company can profit and save more money marketing the designer as a “wear many hats” to save money hiring the people needed for those separate fields. Profit for companies by having less people to pay and the more skills they know that is not their job, the more they profit. If anything it should not be required, but a bonus skill. They will hire people over you for what you were not trained on because it isn’t your field. Hiring for different fields not related as mandatory is like hiring a veterinarian to deal with animals, but in order to get the job you also have to know how to be many types of doctors for working on humans only. The Graphic Designer job description is changing because they don’t know what a Graphic Designer is and don’t want to hire and pay more people. Simple as that. If a company can run their business on their own terms and profit on their own, they would. Designers who do not see the problem are the contributed problem as well. Myth 5 exposed: job descriptions do not actually have a clue what a Graphic Designer is. It now blends many people’s specialized jobs into one and marketed as required “many hats to wear” decreasing demand for entry level jobs.

Aside from job descriptions, years of experience, and pay, Myth 6 exposed is outsourcing design work is now shifting more from hiring in the U.S. to overseas workers for saving on costs instead of hiring local talent. The truth many companies do is instead of hiring talent in their country (the U.S.) many actually hire freelancers outsourced in cheaper countries earning less for more work. These countries include China, India, Bangladesh and Philippines to name a few. Outsourcing is a strategic move many make to cut costs instead of hiring someone full time, overseas for cheaper online gets it done quickly and saves time and money hiring. It helps companies grow, cutting costs for them and contributing to less design roles with professional, stable pay.

The Truth Behind the Myth

While through the years there has been a lot of disappointment and loss of confidence and motivation despite what you were told vs. the actual reality, I remain confident I still have the right professional skills and determination to achieve success in the field. Maybe it isn’t what I imagined. Maybe it isn’t working for others, but myself one day. Flexible hours, remote, being my own boss encouraging others to change their career path or succeed in some other way they might not have imagined possible. Success doesn’t have to be immediate right out of design school. The failures might lead you to a totally different career you find you enjoy or are good at more than design while still being creative on the side. There will be a lot of downs but also there has to be some ups that come eventually down the line. A resume is looked at for a max of 30 secs and onto the next one. A thank you letter is appreciated but you still don’t get the job with a mountain of debt, but don’t let it hold you back and keep you down in a depressed state like I was. I still am a lot because of being in that stuck place, but it helps to push past it with a grain of salt each time. Keep striving for your dream or create a new path filled with something else. I’ve learned a career path isn’t always linear — sometimes it’s zigzagged, delayed, or unconventional. I want other designers or anyone who felt this story made them feel a little less alone in their struggles to know the industry may not have welcomed you right away, but your design story isn’t over. It could be the beginning of a new story you never seen coming in unexpected, good ways. If you have stories, struggles, or frustrations of your own you want to share, please feel free to share your post-college design reality in the comments below.

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