How to find a craft job
If you have a crafting talent and you want to utilise it in getting a job, these are a few things you can do and places where you can look. Many crafting businesses tend to be a one-person operation. So you want to be looking for slightly larger craft businesses that are open to hiring outside help. But this does not mean these businesses need to be big names and large commercial enterprises. Even small and mid-sized craft businesses often hire extra help.
For example there is a seamstress who makes outfits for dolls and sells them on eBay. Over the years her business has grown enough so that she hires a few more people to sew for her and an extra designer as well. Similarly, a woodworker hires skilled labour to deal with large projects that he gets frequently. Now the question arises obviously, where do you find such businesses that hire other crafters. Here are a few great places you can start looking.
1 – Locally
This is perhaps the best option you have of finding any kind of crap job. Depending on what you like to do, be it woodworking, sewing, pottery, sculpture etc, look for a business locally that sells the things that you make. Visit the markets, go thorough the Yellow Pages and do a local online search. Keep an eye out for local advertisements as well. Visit the local crafts show when one takes place. You are likely to meet several local crafters, many of whom maybe open to hiring more help. In any case, leave your visiting cards with the people you met in case they want to contact you in the future.
2 – Crafting factories
You may be lucky enough to be living in a place that has a large manufacturing unit for sewing, woodworking etc. These spaces hire a lot of people. But your skills need to be up to the mark.
3 – Consignment work
Working on consignment is not like a permanent craft job. But if you can establish a good working relationship with another business, it can be a regular and a steady flow of income.
The advantage of selling on a consignment basis is that you can work from home, keep your own hours and work for multiple businesses which allows you to do more work and make more money. And you will not have all your eggs in one basket. There’s that too.
To get consignment crafting work, contact several craft stores. They might already stock the crafts you make. In which case they might be happy to get more of it. On the other hand, they might be happy to get some more variety in, as long as they like your craft and believe that it can sell.
Consignment selling works on a lot of levels. You are left free to make your own craft and the selling is taken care of by someone else. You can work with as many craft stores as your work output allows.
There is, however, one disadvantage. The stores that you keep your staff can ask for as much as 40% of the selling price as their profit share. This leaves you with two options, raise your price or cut back have your own profit margin. Crafters mostly do a little bit of both.
4 – Widen your horizons
Since we are speaking of consignment sales let’s see if we can get you to widen your net a little bit. Instead of looking just locally why don’t we broaden the search. Start looking online for craft stores and crafting websites. You will find that many of them have a “work for us” or a “hiring” section. This will not be prominently displayed on the website in most cases. The link will be in the footer at the bottom of the website somewhere, so look for it.
5 – Subscribe To/Buy craft magazines
Try out a few issues of your favourite craft magazines and see if you can spot a business you can apply to for a job. Lots of craft businesses advertise in popular magazines. If any one of them strikes your fancy, contact them and see if they are hiring crafters locally or to work from a remote location.
6 – Set up an account on Fiverr.com/Etsy
Fiverr.com sells all kinds of gigs starting at five dollars minimum. Everyone does all kinds of things there. It might seem odd to hear this but you can create a crafting gig as well. “Will knit a pair of gloves for $20”.
Etsy.com is a crafters haven. You can list a few of your items there and specify that you will take orders on them. I know this fits more into the category of freelancing or a small craft business rather than a job, but that’s how most of the crafting world works. If you can do it independently then there’s nothing like. More than 90% of craftspeople sell their own things or own a small business.
7 – Start looking
We have given you a few ideas of how you can find yourself a job, but the trick is really to do more of looking. Brainstorm and be open to crafting opportunities. And do try and take our advice and start selling your own crafts and services.
How to apply for a craft job
When you do come across an interesting opportunity for crafting work you should be good and ready for it. These are a few pointers that will increase your chances of getting that craft job.
Be ready with a sample of your work to show. It can be a physical sample if you are applying locally all very well taken pictures if you happen to be applying for a remote crafting job.
- Create a portfolio
It’s a great idea to keep a record and keep taking pictures of the crafts you make. Just like a photographer has a portfolio of the work they have done, so should you. - Prepare a resume/cover letter.
Write a cover letter. It’s just a nice way to write about yourself and letting the other person know what you do.
A letter is something a person can read at their leisure. It is specially helpful in a meeting as you are not under the pressure to show your things and talk about yourself at the same time.
If you are sending the applications remotely through post or email then obviously you need to send in a resume and a cover letter. We are not going to speak about how to write a resume as that is beyond the scope of this particular post. There is plenty of information available online so just go to a search engine and search for it. - Bottom line
If you can find work with a local craft business, that’s great. But it’s difficult to find craft jobs otherwise. 90% of the crafters run a small business of their own where they sell their crafts and offer their craft services. We highly recommend that you do the same.We also highly recommend that you download the “craft income secrets” as it will take you all the way to from nothing to making your first sale in just two weeks from now.
As always thank you for reading and post your questions, observation and commence below. We wish you all the best.
