The creative industry offers a huge range of job opportunities and different career paths for graduates – ranging from graphic design work placements, to graduate marketing jobs.
Having grown consistently over the course of the last decade, the creative sector offers graduates the chance to work amongst innovation, learn new skills, and have their ideas heard.
With the creative industries in the UK expected to create one million new creative industries jobs between 2013 and 2030, it’s an exciting time to be embarking on a creative career.
And surprisingly, you don’t have to be extremely creative to work in the creative industry.
Read on to find out more about graduate jobs in the creative industry, and what working in the creative & design sector is really like.
What Are The Creative Industries? ?
The creative economy has changed dramatically over the course of the last 50 years – especially since the rapid rise of technology.
In 2019, the following industries are classified as creative (some of them may surprise you!):
- Marketing & Advertising
- Design – including product and graphic design
- Fashion
- TV & Film
- Radio
- Photography
- Music
- Performing Arts
- Arts & Culture
- Museums, galleries & libraries
- Publishing
- Architecture
- IT & Software
Within these different creative industries, there is a range of different graduate employers.
The creative sector is largely made up of startups and small agencies, but also several larger organisations, particularly in the arts & culture, fashion, music, publishing and film industries – think BBC, Channel 4, Penguin, Universal Music and ASOS.
Within these broad sectors, there are thousands of different jobs; music graduate jobs, film graduate jobs, graphic design graduate jobs and many, many more.
There are so many creative careers to consider, that are better suited to different personalities and skill sets.
If you’re looking for graduate jobs in the creative industry, it’s worth thinking about which type of company you’d be better suited to.
Read more about the benefits of working in a startup here.
15 creative job ideas for graduates
The following graduate jobs are ideal for graduates with a creative mind.
If you’re looking to utilise your creativity at work, why not consider one of the following creative careers?
- Marketing Assistant / Marketing Executive
- Interior Designer / Interior Design Consultant
- Graduate Animator / Graduate Videographer
- Junior Graphic Designer
- Copywriter
- Junior App Developer
- Illustrator
- Graduate Web Designer
- Production Assistant
- Product Designer
- UI / UX Designer
- Fashion Designer
- Brand Manager
- Advertising Executive
- Graduate Architect
What is a graduate career in the creative industry really like?
There are a number of assumptions (some of them myths), around working in the creative industry.
Though this will vary considerably based on the type and size of the company you’re working for, and the nature of the graduate job itself, here’s what you can often expect if you’re embarking on a creative career:
You’ll have a large amount of autonomy
In a creative career, you can often expect a lot of solo project work; so will need to be comfortable working independently.
If you’ve studied Graphic Design, Fine Art, or a similar degree at university, chances are you’re already skilled at working productively on your own; and are able to work on deadline-driven projects.
You might initially earn a slightly lower-than-average starting salary
Later on in your career, you can earn a very high salary in design, but this will usually come with experience and reputation.
When you’re first starting out in the creative industry, don’t expect a sky-high starting salary; but remember that you’ll be building up your graduate CV and design portfolio.
You’ll often have great work perks
With creative companies often come great company perks; such as flexible working / work-from-home policy, and travel opportunities.
Many graduates choose to take entry-level roles at creative companies because of the relaxed, open working environment and the collaborative feel, they tend to offer.
Whether you’re looking for graphic design jobs or graduate marketing jobs, creative companies and job roles tend to offer attractive work perks and flexible working options.
You’ll learn new skills
Even if you’ve studied a Design degree, your knowledge and skill set will develop quickly in a creative role.
Working alongside similar creatives, and staying in tune with industry news and developments, you’ll be building up your portfolio and your knowledge base.
For example, if you’re working as a Designer within a marketing team, you’ll build up your knowledge of how these two work hand-in-hand.
Even if you’ve never considered graduate marketing jobs before, working for different types of companies / with different teams can be a great way to bolster your creative skill set.
Alternative graduate jobs in the creative industry
As well as traditionally creative graduate jobs like Graphic Design, Web Design and Motion Graphics Design, there are also a number of other roles which require a very different skill set.
Every design agency needs Account Managers / Client Services professionals.
Likewise, every web design agency needs a team of Developers, and every film company will need a finance team.
If you’re not creative but you want to work in the creative industry, don’t worry; there are plenty of roles within the creative & design space that require soft skills like communication, innovation, teamwork, and commercial awareness.
Even in the marketing and advertising sectors, there will be a huge array of graduate marketing jobs on offer; from Design, to Client Services, to Finance – even in a traditionally ‘creative’ industry, not all graduate jobs require creativity or design skills.
If you’re interested in a creative career, you’re looking for a job at the right time; the creative industries are growing faster than any other UK sector.
Browse all design graduate jobs, graduate marketing roles and graduate media opportunities.
