The introduction post to this genre of “Job Not Wanted” posts at my blog can be found here, “Food Store Graphic Design Position – Job Not Wanted”
Basically just take my former post about the Food Store and substitute “Clothing Store” and it reads pretty much the same.
I unfortunately did not save a copy of the Clothing Store graphic designer job wanted ad, nor can I find it online at this point.
All I remember from the advertisement on a job site was that it was a graphic design position for a clothing store.
In addition to having to do things such as draw things in Illustrator, and maybe whip up ads in Photoshop on a computer at a desk in the store, the owner posting this job also said part of the graphic designer’s responsibility would be to act as a store clerk or sales associate during the day.
If I remember correctly, the person placing the ad made it sound as though you’d be on your computer working in graphics software, but if a customer moseyed into the store, you would be expected to get up and greet or assist the customer.
I think the graphic designer for this position was also expected to answer sales calls on the store phone, unpack stock, and so forth.
I’m a little tired of employers who either don’t understand graphic design, or who are too cheap to advertise for two separate positions, or who place these condescending ads, where they expect someone with a bachelor’s degree in art (or higher) to spend part of the work day on high school level menial tasks.
One major reason I bothered to go to college at all and major in the visual arts is precisely to abandon the sort of “stand on your feet all day, or most of the day, dealing with Average Joe Consumer, sweeping floors, and unpacking stock” type of unfulfilling jobs (and at very low pay).
It’s amazing to me that employers think it’s fine to place a qualified, educated graphic designer on menial tasks on a consistent basis, and especially since those tasks do not have a damn thing to do with graphic design itself.
It’s not okay. It’s condescending, insulting, and I think betrays a lack of knowledge of what graphic designers do and what graphic design is.
> Graphic design = solving visual problems.
Graphic design encompasses things like working in graphic design software all day on a computer. It revolves around creating logos, and perhaps brochures and book covers, or images for web sites, such as banners, ads, or buttons.
> What Graphic Design is not – spending all, half, or 3/4 the day on one’s feet; sweeping floors; throwing away trash left by the public in the workplace; answering queries on the phone from the public about sales on T-shirts or dresses; ringing up customers on a cash register; acting as a sales clerk in a store in whatever other capacities.
If you need a graphic designer, then hire one.
If you need a sales clerk, hire a sales clerk.
Do not conflate the two jobs, graphic designer + sales associate, so that you are advertising for a graphic designer to act as sales clerk.
I did not spend time in college and get a degree to work at what amounts to teenage- level experience, high school diploma level jobs, well into my adulthood, thank you.
Companies: stop being cheap skates about this. If you need a sales clerk, hire a sales clerk. If you also need graphic design work done, then hire a separate person for a position devoted exclusively to graphic design.
Do not ask for, nor expect, a graphic designer to also act in some other role totally unrelated to the field of graphic design, such as graphic design PLUS sales associate.
Musings of a Graphic Designer 