Jo Haemer:
That is wonderful that in your career you have not had to fill out
an application or submit a resume. I envy you. I hope I can get my
foot in this business before it’s too late-- I turn 40 next year. I
figure I will be “entry-level” for a few years before I can even
think of myself as a professional jeweler. But until I get a job in
the business, I will not make real progress toward making a living
as a jeweler. I looked at your website and was amazed by your work.
Also, I see from the Orchid gallery of your work that you are based
in Portland Oregon. I live there too. I tried to email you from your
website but I kept getting a message that said something like
"default mail client not set up" and so I was hoping that you’d
email me. I would be interested in apprenticing to you or taking a
class from you. My email is jessicascofield at gmail dot com and my
out-dated website is
Peter Rowe:
Thanks for your advice about including how long it took to make each
piece, costs of materials and such in my portfolio. Along with my
mechanical drawings that I often make before starting a piece, it
will show that I understand what I’m doing on several different
levels. ANd you’re right, it makes sense to just follow some of the
sample test projects. I have the discipline to do them by myself. But
it didn’t occur to me to do some of the test on my own and then
photograph the pieces for my portfolio. Thank you.
Someone noted that I have not said what my skill level is. My skills
are good, but not at professional level. I regularly repair friends’
jewelry, and I’ve done several commissions over the years, and I have
made my own designs (jessicascofield.com), but I am not very
confident about walking in to a jewelry shop and asking for a job,
because I have no professional experience. I would say my skill level
is such that I could pass the second level of the test, which is
supposed to be about the equivalent of someone who has worked
professionally for two years. I can do these task/projects, but I am
slow, I doubt I really perform the same as someone who’s been at the
bench for two years straight, forty hours a week. Perhaps I will
have to keep my grocery store job part time and apprentice to someone
who lives in Portland Oregon part time before I can work
professionally. I don’t know what an employer’s expectations are
going to be of me, so I’m not sure I meet them. Yet.
I am really getting the picture from the majority of you that what
counts is what you can do when the prospective employer bench tests
you. I need to prove that I have the skills then, and through my
portfolio. I am setting a goal of getting the portfolio ready by
July or late August, and going around to shops in Portland by
September. The worst that can happen is that they’ll a tell me no,
get out of my store. But I would be thrilled just to be allowed to
have a bench test, so I can see what is expected of me, but I realize
the economy is not good, and it’s worse in Portland, so I may have
widen my circle beyond Portland…