At the beginning of my DPS year, I rated Communication, Agility and Storytelling as my most confident creative attributes. I felt confident in my written, verbal and visual communication skills, after my 2nd year on the BA, especially after presenting my unit 8 work and my work being selected for exhibition. I also felt my storytelling ability was strong at the start of the DPS , after sending the summer iterating my portfolio and rewriting my cvs and cover letters.
As a person, I think my agility and adaptability to change is strong. Having moved from Manchester to London, working in different environments like retail and hospitality and meeting new people and facing challenging personal circumstances, I am proud of my attitude towards trying new things and giving things a go even if its not exactly what I want to be doing.After my DPS year, I still feel most confident in my agility, having undertaken 5 very different placements this year. From screen-printing, styling, marketing and product development, I have adapted and used a wide range of different hard and soft skills. I have embraced these changes and have adapted well to each work environment which have ranged from working with 1 other person in a close knit environment, to a larger office with multiple different teams. Reflecting on my year, I think I’ve handled these changes really well, even when it has been tough. This will help me in my professional future as I will have confidence in my ability to take on new tasks and make career moves.
At the end of the DPS, I have also rated myself most confident in my resilience, as I have navigated negative situations in my professional and personal life this year, and remained motivated and positive in my work life. During my DPS, I have sent off many applications and cold emails, often with no response at all or faced with rejection and handled this with a constructive attitude. On reflection, I recognise that I could have been more organised in my approach to applications; returning to a structured application tracking spreadsheet is something I intend to prioritise during job search after final year. Although I feel that I am resilient, that’s not to say I haven’t had times this year where I have really struggled with my motivation, especially when feeling unfulfilled during some placements, for example at Christopher Farr Cloth, when I spent weeks organising fabric samples, but I still carried on and did my best job.
And lastly I rated proactivity as one of my top attributes at the end of the DPS, This is a quality I have not always given myself credit for, but I recognise now that my drive to show up, take initiative, and follow through on tasks is a genuine strength that I realise is not a given.
One attribute I would like to continue to work on in my final year and beyond is my self-efficacy and confidence in my creative and design abilities. I want to take more risks and apply for positions I know I can do. I know I have talent and this year at times I have felt unfulfilled and bored or like I could do more which also leads me to doubt myself. I want to improve my confidence so that I can apply for more challenging roles and push myself out of my comfort zone and really show what I can do. Building this confidence is a priority as I prepare to enter the industry and demonstrate what I am genuinely capable of.
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