The Creators

Resources for exploring yourself, your major, and possible occupations:

Pathway U: Got 25-30 minutes? Why not use that time to explore your values, interests, personality, and workplace preferences? Exploring yourself and what you value in life can be so helpful for finding potential occupations. Pathway U uses your answers as well as scientific algorithms to give a nice, long list of occupations that you might enjoy. For best results, discuss Pathway U with a Career Counselor or Advisor!

Explore Careers in Art: The Art Career Project covers all aspects of the art world, from culinary arts to music, film, and fine art. Explore some of your favorite art modes and see potential careers doing what you love.

What Can I Do With This Major?: Unsure what careers you can do with your major? Or even just exploring different major possibilities? Then this will be a great resource for you. What Can I Do with This Major breaks each major down by industries/fields, providing you with tons of ideas and occupations to explore. At the bottom of each major page, you’ll find resources including industry-specific professional associations, alternative job search engines, and further resources on exploring occupations.

Career Development for Artists Workbook (Word document): Interested in potentially making a career out of selling your art or starting your own business? This Career Development for Artists workbook is here to help! Created by Boise State student Emily Arnold as part of the Hometown Challenge, this workbook provides helpful tips and tricks on how to leverage your creativity, find work that’s meaningful for you, set career goals, gain ideas for building your business, and more.

My Next Move: Whether you know what you want to do or are still exploring, My Next Move can be a useful too regardless of where you are in your search for a career. Explore industries, take the My Next Move Interest Profiler, or enter keywords to discover occupations that interest you.

To explore other occupations and resources, see this Art, Design, and Visual Studies Career Guide or visit Career Services to find more career exploration resources.

Resources for finding experiences that speak to your creative soul (or that can at least help you learn about yourself):

Work U: Gain valuable experience while earning credit and building connections in the community! Work U is career preparation with a twist, giving you hands-on professional work experience, clarity on your career goals, an opportunity to be mentored, focused classroom time, and a chance to build your resume and network – all while gaining three upper-division credits. Keep a lookout for the many Work U opportunities that involve creativity and innovation!

On-Campus Jobs: On-campus jobs provide more than a paycheck; they provide opportunities for professional development experiences and network connections. On-campus jobs can be a great way to explore your interests and values as well as gain a sense of belonging on campus. Plus there are plenty of jobs where you can flex your creative muscles!

Internships: Paid or unpaid, internships can provide crucial career-related experiences that can give you the opportunity to grow as both a professional and a human. If you need any help finding internships or networking with organizations in the community, chat with one of our Career Counselors or Advisors!

Try Freelancing: Use Upwork and other freelance sites to find quick projects to make a little money and build your portfolio!

Boise City – Department of Arts and History: Find creative and artistic opportunities in Boise, as well as elsewhere in Idaho, online, and nationwide! Opportunities include competitions and contests, gallery exhibitions, portfolio reviews and more.

5 Opportunity Sites Every Artist Should Know About: Curious as to how to get started selling your art? Well, it helps to have some competitions, awards, and exhibitions under your belt! This article lists popular websites to find opportunities for you to get your work known.

5 Ways to Jumpstart Your Art Career: Now is a great time to start thinking about how you want to jumpstart your art career. Whether you are looking to sell your art, getting a position as a graphic designer, or working in a museum, it’s going to be helpful to get your name out there. This resource provides easy ways to start developing your work and your career through creativity, inspiration, and business.

Resources for expressing and articulating your story through your resumes, cover letters, interviews, etc.:

Resumes and Cover Letters: Crafting solid resumes and cover letters is an artwork in and of itself! Use this resource to help you articulate your experience via effective resumes and cover letters. For additional assistance and feedback, chat with one of our Career Counselors or Advisors or visit our Virtual Career Center!

Interviewing: The interview is where you get your chance to shine! If you have landed an interview, the employer sees potential in you, and you have already cleared a lot of the hurdles in the job search process. In addition to determining whether the company and position fit what you want, the interview is your opportunity to confirm for the employer that you have the right skills and qualifications they need, AND that your personality fits the organization.

Building Your Personal Brand and Networking: Telling your story and sharing your work through your online presence is important for building connections in the community. Use this resource to build your LinkedIn profile, show off your work, and connect with employers or peers with similar interests.

Building an Artist Resume: It’s important that your resume showcases the content as best as it can – this might mean foregoing some of the more creative details in place of content! This resource discusses what can go into an Artist resume, whether you are applying for a gallery, museum work, etc.

The Muse – 43 Resume Tips That Will Get You Hired: A Career Counselor in a listicle! This is a quick and easy resource for when you are starting your resume or if you just want to make sure you are on the right track.

The Balance – How to Write a Cover Letter: Use this as a complementary tool to the cover letter tools above in Boise State Resources. This resource provides extra details for making your cover letter the best it can be. Your cover letter is a little sample of who you are – make sure you are authentic, detailed, and excited about the position.

A Designer’s Guide to LinkedIn: Not only can LinkedIn can be a great place to connect with peers, employers, and alumni, but it can be a great place to showcase your creativity as well! This article, created by John Luu with the Professional Association for Design, discusses how to use a designer’s lens to build an informative and creative LinkedIn profile that stands out from the crowd.