As someone who loves animals, when I first glanced this “Graphic Designer wanted at Zoo” post, I was excited. I thought about applying.
But then my heart sank, and I became annoyed, as I read through the qualifications and stuff this employer was asking for.
First of all, they wanted someone who knows Photoshop, and I think InDesign. Which is fine. That is standard graphic design stuff.
But they also requested a graphic designer who knows “how to use power tools.” And I do mean they meant actual power tools.
“Power Tools” is not some kind of new graphic design software. They truly meant they want a graphic designer who knows how to use a nail gun and chain saw. I am not joking.
Here is an excerpt (all I have left from the original ad):
Layout Technician [at X] Zoo has an opening for an artist to produce graphics and also participate in departmental tasks such as the directed construction and installation of exhibit elements, props, and signage. Must be willing and able to use power tools and engage in lifting, climbing, and bending…
Hunh. Yeah. No, no I don’t think so.
In the ad, the position was called “Layout Technician” but this job wanted ad was classified on some job sites and in the local printed Sunday paper under “Graphic Design.”
This sounds like one of those “mixed ads” where they claim they want to hire a “Z” but toss in so many “Y” qualities that they negate the whole “Z” aspect of it.
In other words, their ad sounded to me less like a graphic designer wanted ad and more like, “We really need and want a professional construction worker to build fences and signs at our zoo, but it would be awesome if you also know a bit of Photoshop on the side, like if you have dabbled in Photoshop over the years.”
For frack’s sake. If you people need a person who has both skill sets – fence building AND photoshop, then hire two people, hire a 1. construction worker and also hire a 2. graphic designer.
Do not conflate the two skill sets (which are totally freaking unrelated) and send out an ad under the heading “Graphic Designer Needed,” but then toss out a whole bunch of “Bob the Builder” requirements under it, such as, “must be proficient at power tools and lumber cutting.” Which is exactly what they did.
At no point in my visual arts college education did I ever have to take a construction class, or a “how to use a drill, hammer, wrench, or chainsaw” course. Graphic design is about making graphics, employers, not about building fences or signs!
So ends Part 1. Please See Part 2,
Musings of a Graphic Designer 