5 Insider Tips to Get a Job in Fashion in 2022

Want to work in the glamorous industry but you don’t know how to get a job in fashion or you are confused about the steps to get into it? 

No worries, you are in the right place today. With a decade into fashion, both having worked in the industry at companies such as Yoox-Net-A-Porter and Alexander McQueen and as a full-time fashion career mentor for the past 5 years, I’m excited to share with you some insights about what the fashion industry is looking for when hiring. 

1.First thing first let me tell you that the first step to get a job in fashion is to decide what fashion job might be ideal for you. While it’s totally normal to be undecided between some career options, it’s better to do your research first so you know more or less what it’s made for you. 

While you might be excited about getting a job in fashion, it’s important to do what I like to call the pre-application work before you start applying for a job in fashion.

This pre-application work is mostly the research phase where you collect as much information as possible about the brand and also yourself. In order to understand what fashion job is made for you, you have to bring to the surface your passions and interests and where you see yourself at.  For example, when I was starting out in fashion 10 years ago I still didn’t have a precise idea of which role was made for me, so I started with the things I liked and didn’t like. As an introvert, I couldn’t see myself in a PR role and I couldn’t see myself designing clothes all day or styling looks, so I excluded fashion design, styling, and PR.

I knew that I wanted to get into a role that included numbers and management and I also liked the digital world so I ended up accepting my dream internship in the eCommerce department working for the online store of Alexander McQueen. 

The beauty of fashion is that it’s made of many career possibilities, and each of us has different passions and interests, so don’t base your decision on what you see on Instagram but look at what’s important for you. For example, when you read that Fashion PR was not made for me, maybe you were thinking “what is she saying??? It’s the best job in the world!” Well, that’s normal! We are all different luckily or there would only be fashion designers, pr, stylists, editors…the industry needs all the figures so trust your passion. 

Do you see yourself designing clothes or bags? Writing fashion articles? Styling looks? Taking fashion photos? Working in social media? taking care of the marketing activities? 

Understanding which department you want to go into fashion is important to start building a successful fashion job application. First of all, recruiters prefer candidates who have a clear idea about which department they want to get into, also because it means that you did that research phase. Even though it’s not necessary to go to fashion school to get a job in fashion, still it’s important to develop your own fashion knowledge. Nowadays with the internet, you have no excuse for not learning about the fashion industry. There are many online courses, books, podcasts… so do your research for yourself but also demonstrate to companies that you are serious about getting a job in fashion and that you know your stuff. Don’t be superficial and just dream of wanting to work in fashion because it’s a glamorous industry, but study the industry and demonstrate that behind your decision of wanting to work in fashion there is a passion but also a logic that goes beyond loving clothes that includes knowing about the industry and its history.  

Ok let’s see the step #2.

2.Usually when someone thinks about getting into the working world, they believe the first (and maybe only) thing they need to do is to write down a resume as soon as possible. But before you start building your first or next resume/CV, write down this important tip if you want to get a job in fashion in 2022: customize your documents to the position and the brand.

One of the most common mistakes that people make when they want to get a job in fashion is to create a general resume that they use for all the fashion jobs. This is a big mistake, so please don’t do that.  If you write your resume/CV based only on the skills you think you have developed so far with your school or past experiences then you are not really considering what a fashion company is really looking for in a candidate. Let me show you an example. If you want to get a job at a fashion magazine and you draft a general resume with the skills you believe you have acquired so far such as organizational skills or photoshop and you miss an important skill such as writing and excellent written and oral communications skills that are added in the job description by recruiters, then you are sabotaging your chance to get the job. Don’t just build your applications thinking about YOU, but READ what the company is looking for. Draft your CV by reading the job description first and making sure it contains the skills and keywords that are outlined for that specific job.   

Fashion companies want to know that you are specifically applying for that particular job and not putting down an application just to get one job. So do your research about the company by visiting their website and reading the pages such as About Us, Company, Values…go into the store of the brand if you can, and talk to the people in-store (ask questions about the brand, the values…) watch the fashion shows…

Make sure that this information is visible in your documents such as your CV and Cover Letter to show them that you did your research and that you are customizing the application specifically for that position. The idea isn’t to have just one CV, but a CV to match each job you’re applying for. You don’t have to change your template and overall structure anytime but play with the keywords inside your previous experiences and skills. Change the order, add, replace, remove them according to the job and company. Once you have mastered tailoring your CV to each job description it will take you only 5 minutes to update your CV according to the new job you want to apply for that day. To keep yourself organized I suggest creating different folders on your desktop, one for each position so you add inside the copy of your CV that it’s customized specifically for that job. 

Make sure your CV is one single page. Your ability to summarize everything in 1 page is something employers really look out for. Use a professional email so it’s a big NO for the old email address [email protected] or your university one.  if you don’t have one, create one that is professional [email protected]

Make sure there are no spelling or grammar mistakes. Check thoroughly before you hit send. You can check it out after some hours with fresh eyes or the day after if you have time. You can even ask a friend, sister or mom to proofread it. 

3.The resume is no longer enough

In 2022 simply submitting your resume to get a job in fashion is no longer enough. With all the platforms available today and knowing that you spend most of your days playing with the internet, recruiters expect you to be the candidate 2.0 that by having access to the online world has a super open mind and is creative. So please don’t just send your resume, especially if you are at the beginning of your career and it’s normally short and without experience. Give them other material to hire you: include a brilliant cover letter, even when it’s not mandatory. And if you want to go extra, prepare a pdf, a portfolio with samples of your work to demonstrate your skills (hint you can invent these works you add to your portfolio)

4.Use Emails

Most people go online to find jobs and internships. While it’s correct to search on the career websites, not all the jobs are posted there. So here is another mistake made by anyone who wants to get a job in fashion is to wait until their favorite brands post an offer online so they can apply. But if you wait for your favorite companies to post a job that suits your passion and experience you might be waiting weeks, months or even a year. And I’m pretty sure you don’t want to waste all this time to get a job in fashion. Luckily there is a solution here. You no longer have to wait for brands to post an offer in order to apply, you can email them and request for a job/internship! Cold emailing recruiters, editors and anyone is actually the best way to land your dream job in fashion. A job might have not reached the job boards online but it can be open internally or be opening soon and your spontaneous application will arrive at the right time! Furthermore, this strategy is excellent to impress recruiters and show that you think out of the box and that you are so resourceful that you have found their email addresses! The students of my online course Break into the fashion industry see extremely positive results with this strategy. 

5.Learn Excel

While the skills to work in fashion are different according to the job you want to get (for example if you don’t want to become a fashion designer then you don’t need to learn to sketch) there is one skill that it’s common in all the jobs in fashion: the Microsoft Office package and in particular Excel. If you try to do a quick research and you read the job descriptions of some fashion jobs and internships, you’ll find out that all fashion companies require the Office package and in particular Excel. To be honest when I first got into the fashion office with my internship I didn’t have any idea that Excel was so important, now it seems obvious if I think back, but when I was younger and at the beginning, I didn’t realize that. Only once I got into fashion, I discovered that anyone from stylists, designers, buyers, merchandisers, social media managers, editors… was using excel on a daily basis. Luckily I did an intensive course during my degree in Management Engineering and numbers were my daily bread so when during the job interview for my fashion internship they put me in front of a laptop with an excel sheet and data to organize and analyze, I knew how to do it. And I got the internship thanks to this skill. But it was a coincidence that I knew how to use Excel, no one ever says learn Excel to get into fashion. But this is the reality and since when I started Glam Observer 8 years ago my mission has always been to help you get into fashion, so here is the last insider tip for today: learn Excel.

The first Excel course tailored to fashion is coming soon in Feb 2022! Click here to discover more and join the waitlist to be the first to know when it gets released plus get a special discounted access!