Mary M. Burns ⋅ Denver, CO Kellogg School of Management Career Management Team; AdviseU (private coaching practice) ⋅ 25 years experience

Good morning Marina,
I can appreciate your concern about finishing your degree and not landing a full time role yet. If your job search is in the private sector, the most likely way you'll land a position is through networking. Here's a way to approach your search: 1) Build a target list of companies; 2) find networking connections within the firms; 3) do your research/learn more about the company, design projects, etc.; 4) apply for open positions -- with an advocate who can refer you. I would be glad to share more about how you can find some connections within the firms of interest. Please feel free to reach me at mary@adviseu.net for some complementary coaching. Thank you for your service.
-Mary

June Webb ⋅ Chevy Chase, MD JWebb Inspire ⋅ 17 years experience

Hello Marina,

Graphic design is a creative field. You can start your online business at any point on Fiverr, Canva or Godaddy. These APPs allow you to sell your designs as templates. There are not that many in house graphic designer that works on a W-2 employment any more so you may want to do the math in investing more money in your education and what kind of return you can obtain from paying for another degree.

June Webb

Jennifer Polhemus ⋅ Santa Monica, CA Precision Research (self-employed) ⋅ 25 years experience

Are you thinking of add'l education because you feel unprepared, or is it because you think it will help you obtain employment? Assuming it is the latter, if you post a request here for resume review or interviewing help, you'll probably get some helpful responses.

Richard Byrne ⋅ Hillsborough, NJ Intel Corporation ⋅ 53 years experience

Log onto the ACP webpage,
click on the ACP Advisor-net tab, & select the "Community" icon.
Under the "Advisors" tab, select "Arts & Entertainment" from the "Refine by" pull down box.
(Other selections include: Business, Government Policy & International Affairs )
Look for the "Show More" box at the bottom of the page.
Examine the advisor profiles, & use the ACP message feature for advice.

Alternately:
I've added links to information & videos to these sections of my EE webpage that might be useful to you:
http://eehot.com/ee.html#gjobs - Government job search
http://eehot.com/ee.html#jobs - Commercial job searches
http://eehot.com/ee.html#networking - 1 yr. FREE LinkedIn premium, also Upwork freelance
http://eehot.com/ee.html#va - see VRRAP
http://eehot.com/ee.html#training - page down to Skill-share
http://eehot.com/ee.html#resumes

Do job searches, target resume versions emphasizing job requirements.

Commercial job search location unspecified (537 jobs)
https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=graphic%20artist&sc=0kf%3Aexplvl(ENTRY_LEVEL)%3B&vjk=45c486c8626ae1a8

Fed Gov job search (19 jobs):
https://www.usajobs.gov/Search/Results?soc=Graphic%20Designers

Commercial, your location (1 job)
https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=graphic%20artist&l=Pulaski%2C%20TN&from=searchOnHP&vjk=01ac7299bbf39c59