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Create an online portfolio Unless you are a web-designer, creating your own website is not essential, although it does give you some advantages. A website will help you to communicate your portfolio via email without sending attachments (clients will be suspicious of emails with attachments from unknown addresses—a link to a website is preferable). A website is also a good opportunity to sell yourself with some hard-working copy. Good copy can help you to win new clients, so buy yourself a good copywriting manual and learn the basic copywriting tricks of the trade. If you have no experience of designing websites, or you don’t have time to create one, don’t be put off, you can buy inexpensive templates online as a temporary solution. www.templateshome.com is a good place to start, where you can buy smart website templates for around $60. Buying a dot.com address and uploading it onto a website browser should cost around $25.

oday everyone is using social media in their job search. People make connections and share their work on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter — and with the recent explosion of Pinterest, there's a new player in the game.  The visual nature of Pinterest, which allows users to create virtual boards onto which they can pin images, is perfect for showing prospective employers what you've done so far.  Tons of users have pinned web images of creative resumes for inspiration. But a few innovative souls — graphic designers, photographers — have already started using Pinterest to extend their personal brand, uploading their resumes, linking to their work and creating an online portfolio. We got permission from these 7 people to post their resumes on Business Insider.

Graphic designers generate the visual presentation and design of goods, including websites

, detergent boxes, album covers, and dog food cans. Their work is usually done on a project basis. Designers must be able to work under extreme time constraints and very defined financial and design limits to produce quality material. A graphic designer must be able to synthesize feedback from a number of different sources into a distinctive image

The majority of graphic designers have a four-year degree, usually in product design, art, or art history. Graphic designers must have talent and an understanding of the business world, including issues of finance and production, and should be familiar with computer software such as InDesign, Quark XPress, Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and other painting and graphic design tools. Graphic designers must be able to work in a variety of media and meet deadlines, sizing limits, and financial restrictions, especially those designers who wish to work as freelance graphic designers rather than in-house salaried designers. Basic pre-professional coursework should include design, drawing, computer artwork, and specific knowledge (for example, anatomy for medical graphics designers) relating to any area of specialization. Professionals must assemble a working portfolio to approach companies for work of any scale. For individuals who wish to pursue further study, more than 100 schools offer accredited graphic design programs, according to the National Association of Schools of Art and Design, and each addresses issues of the working life of the graphic designer along with issues of design.