Tips For Success In The Fashion Industry
The Rewards Are Great, But So Are The Challenges
A successful career in the fashion industry is a dream that inhabits the minds and hearts of many fashion professionals. What some don't understand is that beyond the glitz and glamour is an extremely competitive, and often times very difficult, world to navigate.
Here are a few tips for a successful career in the fashion industry:
Self-Knowledge - Who Are You?
The journey towards career fulfillment, self-actualization, and success begins with a focus turned inward. Years of vocational-psychology research has shown that there are three principle characteristics people need to understand about themselves in order to meaningfully proceed to design their careers.
These important qualities are the person's Interests, Values, and Abilities.
Exploration - Who Will Reward You For Your Unique Set Of INTERESTS, VALUES, And ABILITIES?
There are many ways to explore this important question. Some of the techniques used by Career Center professionals include counseling, experiential learning (i.e. internships, mentoring, shadowing, and volunteering), networking, researching, and availing one's self of presentations by fashion industry experts. Finding a successful match results in greater success and happiness in your career and life in general!
Marketing Yourself - Telling Your Unique Story In Compelling Ways To Employers
The challenge of presenting one's self as a strong candidate becomes less daunting once you have successfully applied the first two tips I stated above and have engaged Career Center professionals in providing assistance. They are well equipped to assist you in presenting your "hard skills" (those such as self-marketing plans, resumes, cover letters, and thank you notes that one can touch) and "soft skills" (such as networking, interviewing, and negotiating).
Professionalism - How Should You Behave In The Workplace?
In our ever-changing and increasingly global workplace, it is of paramount importance to conduct one's self professionally, be strong contributors, and promote one's self sensitively. You need to learn professional etiquette, communication and listening skills, and how to build strong allies, advocates, and references. You also need to learn how to assume responsibility for social contacts and how to network for the mutual benefit of individuals and organizations.
Qualities Fashion Industry Professionals Must Exhibit
- A lot of flexibility about many things related to the world of work
- Ability to multi-task
- Significant computer skills
- The company or organizations IDEA ( Innovation, Design, Emotion, and Art) abilities
- Participation in the culture and knowledge about what's happening in the world; they can't live/work in a vacuum
- Well-rounded professionalism with well-developed workplace skills
- Ability to innovate, evolve, and experiment - ability to go beyond what sold last season
- Ability to see/hear/observe trends and assurance that they and their organizations benefit from them
- Willingness to accept, and incorporate in a useful way, supervisory feedback and criticism
Current Industry Need
You need to be a "generalist" in today's marketplace. It is required that you think about how to institutionalize "lifestyle" interests. These are big issues in the fashion industry! In essence, people are moving to a whole new set of values. this includes how they value products and services. This transformation is not just about the retail business and consumers - buying and selling. It's about real peoples' values changing and forcing changes in the world around them, specifically in retailing.
Do you have any additional tips for a successful career in the fashion industry?
