So, you’re a creative, hands-on person with a love of all things interior design? Now you’ve decided that you’re going to take your love for interiors to the next level and make a career out of your passion. But what do your job prospects look like once you graduate? Will you have much of a choice when it comes to niching down and choosing a lucrative career path? The following are some opportunities you can benefit from once you leave college.
Retail Sales Associate
Retail sales associates sell products to customers in retail stores. Candidates must have strong communication and people skills and they must be very knowledgeable on the products they’re selling. Duties will include helping customers as they shop, answering questions, and helping out with general store responsibilities.
Retail Merchandiser
Your job as a retail merchandiser is to ensure all stock is in the right place to maximize sales. Using market research, psychology and branding, you will be responsible for the shop layout and enticing customers to buy more products. Extra duties might include controlling stock inventory and monitoring the sales performance of products.
Production Designer
Production designers are responsible for the visual concept of a theatre, television, or film production. Duties include identifying a style for sets, locations, camera angles, costumes and lighting. Successful candidates should have strong written and verbal communication skills, exceptional organization skills, and technical artistic talents. Most high earners in this field have got degrees in 3D design, art, theatre design, theatre, or interior design. The more qualifications you have, the stronger your prospects will be so don’t stress about taking out student loans now to go to college as you’ll have much higher earning potential once you graduate.
Lighting Consultant
Lighting consultants do everything from fitting individual fixtures in residential homes to designing large-scale lighting plans for big commercial spaces. In this role, you’ll be working alongside architects, real estate developers and interior designers to make sure the client gets exactly what they’re looking for. You will even work on extremely detailed requests like which lampshade allows for the most light in a room. Seems farfetched, but never underestimate the potential needs of a client.
Bath & Kitchen Designer
Do you love the idea of creating styles and functional kitchens and bathrooms? Becoming a bath and kitchen designer might be the best career choice for you. Spend time becoming an expert on building codes, contracting, plumbing systems, and cabinet installation for the best chance at bagging big clients.
Interior Designer
This is another career option where having a degree from a reputable college will increase your job opportunities and rate of pay. As an interior designer, you’ll work with clients to make the best use of their space – both visually and functionally. This role is all about understanding the art and science of people’s behaviors to create functional spaces. You’ll see the project right through from concept to completion and it’s your plans that will be used by all other professionals who will be involved in the project. Choose to specialize in hotels, office spaces, commercial buildings, residential homes, aircrafts, or public buildings – the options are endless.
Design Consultant
The duties of design consultants include evaluating client requirements and developing products and prototypes based on those needs. You can work for a company or work as a freelancer to offer your expert opinions, analysis, and recommendations to a wide range of individual clients and organizations.
Art Director
Art directors take control of the visual aspects of advertising and media campaigns. Duties include working with the creative team and other staff members to coordinate their work into a successful campaign. This is a rewarding role for creative people with strong organizational and communication skills.
Project Manager
Your job – as a project manager – will be to ensure all aspects of planning are going according to schedule. Creating a detailed plan that includes technical models and timelines will be part of your job spec. You’ll work alongside creative teams, clients, construction firms and other professionals to ensure everything runs on time and within budget. Those who excel most in this position have great communication, time keeping, leadership, negotiation and organizational skills.
Interior Decorator
Once the interior designer does his/her job of laying out the plans, an interior decorator comes along and brings those visions to life. Your job role is similar to that of a personal stylist – you’re hired to create an atmosphere within a space that matches your client’s needs and personal style. Duties include advising the client on maximizing space, layout planning, color coordination, materials, and choosing fittings and fixtures to create a cohesive look. Depending on who you’re working with, proficiency in using Photoshop and AutoCAD will be a major advantage. Unlike other career options on this list, there’s a huge variance in salary within this role. Become one of the higher earners by perfecting your skills, gaining experience and working with a wide range of high-end residential and commercial clients.
