Use Your Talents
Career encouragement for the starving artists and creative types who are wondering if the working world has a place for them.
by Peter Harris, Monster.ca 
From my university days right up until today I've known many talented, gifted artists and creative people who for one reason or another felt that there was just no way for their personality to survive in the 'real world.'
Some try to remain 'professional students' dragging one or more degrees out over many years using reduced course loads and frequent program changes. Others stay hiding out in low-end jobs - cashier, waiting tables, telemarketing, bar tending, etc.
Too often it seems that lines have to be drawn, and people make black and white cases such as, "no company would let me be myself as an artist", or "working for a corporation would mean selling my soul."
Here's the wake-up call. Even outsiders can come in from the cold. There is a definite need for talents like yours. Applying your talents can lead to career success, and buy you the time and money to pursue your true passions. You can live well in the meantime - until, of course, that fame and fortune for your independent works finds you.
Your soul is in no danger. You'll find once you're on the inside, that corporations don't give such esoteric questions a second thought. What they are interested in is your ability to perform a task well. Your personal beliefs or attitudes are your business, just don't let them interfere with getting the job done. Is it really any more philosophically pure to wait tables to pay the rent than to create images or to perfect texts for two or three times the money?
Use your talents
In the Internet environment for example, every website out there needs well-written dynamic texts, striking images, original design, and creative coding.
So you're a singer. That means you have a strong voice and are at ease in front of a crowd. Many people aren't. This makes you an ideal candidate for giving presentations and leading seminars. Many companies need these demonstrative outgoing people as well as creative thinkers who can come up with new ideas and concepts both visually and in written words.
Some inspiring examples
I know a girl with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film who has coordinated local festivals and is now a production assistant on a home decor television show. It's the research and analytical skills as well as teamwork and documentation abilities picked up in university that make her such an ideal candidate for these positions.
I also know a singer/songwriter who puts her language talents as well as visual arts abilities to work to create banner ads and slogans for a well-known website.
Poets don't have to live on friend's couches. The very skills that make them the artists they are can apply all over the professional spectrum: technical excellence in the use of language, sharp ear for idiomatic expressions, and raw writing talent. Just about every business out there produces documentation of some kind, and much of it could stand a little improving.
And the best side of it all is, while the company benefits from your unique skills, and you get to escape from the fast food grill and live a little better, all this 'real world' experience makes great grist for the artist's mill.
For more information on working in arts and culture, check out The Cultural Human Resources Council @ www.cultureworks.ca and www.workinculture.ca.