Required Skills

• Strong experience creating interactive web applications and interfaces using HTML5 and appropriate technologies including CSS3, Canvas, Offline Storage, SVG, Audio/Video media

• Strong experience working with MooTools, jQuery and/or other JavaScript libraries including AJAX.

• Strong working knowledge of Photoshop; able to slice up concepts provided by the creative team in PSD format.

• Experience in developing accessible solutions.

• In depth knowledge of creating maintainable, scalable and cross-browser layouts supporting all major browsers (IE6-9, Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Opera).

• Ability to work in a team environment, you will be required to work well with the existing development / creative teams.

• Familiar with source control principles and comfortable with Subversion.

Experience

We’re looking for somebody who has at least 3+ years of experience within the industry with at least some of it working in an agency environment. We will require example work that showcases your skills with HTML5/Canvas.

Fluid are always open to new ideas, new people, new talents and new concepts, so if you’ve got ideas and want a job where you can have a real impact, you’ve come to the right place.

To apply please send a covering letter and CV detailing experience and sample code/websites that demonstrate your skill set to careers@fluidcreativity.co.uk.

Strictly NO agencies

Fluid Creativity do not accept speculative CVs from recruitment agencies

Web development applicants MUST be eligible to live and work in the UK and may be required to attend an interview based in Manchester, UK.

The ideal candidate must have commercial experience of:

• Object Oriented PHP5 and MySQL 5 (although experience with other relational database systems would be sufficient).
• Compose strict HTML/XHTML and CSS conforming to current standards and semantics with a good knowledge of accessibility techniques

Ideally, applicants should also be aware of and know how to cater for SEO issues which need to be considered as part of web development at Fluid Creativity.

We are looking for someone who possesses a thirst for knowledge with an up-to-date understanding of current web trends, technologies, standards and techniques. Experience in any of the following would be a distinct advantage:

• Magento
• Zend Framework
• JavaScript
• W3C standards
• ASP (VBScript)
• Linux
• XML
• UML

Fluid Creativity is a small army of super creative coders, designers, artists, writers and relentless marketers. With an award winning, multi-talented team we combine our creative forces to develop original ideas, fantastic designs, wonderfully crafted websites and seamless web applications.

We’ve got a hard working but friendly culture, you can leave your shirt and tie at home unless the Queen is dropping by. The studio is pretty cool too with a large meeting room complete with a Nintendo Wii, there’s a small gym for all you fitness bods and we’ve even got a space agency trying to put a man into orbit right next door, how many digital agencies can say that?

Fluid are always open to new ideas, new people, new talents and new concepts, so if you’ve got ideas and want a job where you can have a real impact on the business you’ve come to the right place.

To apply please send a covering letter and CV detailing experience and sample code that demonstrates your skillset to careers@fluidcreativity.co.uk

If any of our lovely regular readers know someone that might fancy working for us please pass on our details.

• Strictly NO agencies
• Fluid Creativity do not accept speculative CVs from recruitment agencies and will not be bound by terms and conditions we have not signed over CV ownership.
• Web development applicants MUST be eligible to live and work in the UK and may be required to attend an interview based in Manchester, UK

Matthew says “I am delighted to join Fluid Creativity as they are very ‘real’ and not full of jargon. Fluid Creativity wants the best for their clients and I am proud to be a part of a team so committed to helping their clients stand out in this highly competitive marketplace.  As well as that they are a nice bunch and good to work with.”

Lee Turner Managing Director explains “Matthew brings with him a wealth of experience and will be an integral part of our Business Development Team which has had a fantastic start to the year with some great client wins. Fluid are extremely focused on building the best Digital Solution business and are looking forward to building our Search and Development teams over the coming months”

Matthew follows the arrival of Martin Proffitt, PHP Developer and Michelle O’Brien, Digital Strategy Consultant who both joined Fluid Creativity in February.

Fluid are always searching for new talent, and are currently looking to recruit a PHP Developer.

We are looking for someone who possesses a thirst for knowledge with an up-to-date understanding of current web trends, technologies, standards and techniques. Experience in any of the following would be a distinct advantage: Magento. Zend Framework, JavaScript, W3C standards, ASP (VBScript), Linux, XML and UML.

Fluid Creativity are a small army of super creative coders, designers, artists, writers and relentless marketers. With an award winning, multi-talented team we combine our creative forces to develop original ideas, fantastic designs, wonderfully crafted websites and seamless web applications.

We’ve got a hard working but friendly culture, you can leave your shirt and tie at home unless the Queen is dropping by. The studio is pretty cool too with a large meeting room complete with a Nintendo Wii, there’s a small gym for all you fitness bods and we’ve even got a space agency trying to put a man into orbit right next door, how many digital agencies can say that?

Fluid are always open to new ideas, new people, new talents and new concepts, so if you’ve got ideas and want a job where you can have a real impact on the business you’ve come to the right place.

To apply for this position with Fluid Creativity, please send a covering letter, cv detailing experience and sample code that demonstrates your skillset to careers@fluidcreativity.co.uk

If any of you lovely folk that read our blog know someone that might fancy working for us please pass on our details.

• Strictly NO agencies
• Fluid Creativity do not accept speculative C.V’s from recruitment agencies and will not be bound by terms and conditions we have not signed over C.V ownership.
• Web development applicants MUST be eligible to live and work in the UK and may be required to attend an interview based in Manchester, UK

Following from my presentation at Search School Manchester last month, it seems to me that there are loads of students looking for further information on how to enter the digital marketing industry. With digital marketing evolving at the pace is has and continues to, universities and other educational bodies appear to have struggled to keep up, focussing as they do on more traditional marketing methods. Meanwhile, an entire industry has cropped up and today’s students want in.

Since speaking at the event, a number of students have asked me how they can improve their chances of earning a job in digital marketing, including Ned – who posted the following question to the Search School Ning.

“Do you look favourably on candidates with specific skills such as coding or photoshop/creative suite, or is a passion to learn these skills enough at graduate level?”

I started to type my answer but it quickly morphed into a bit of an essay that could conceivably help others in the same boat as Ned, so I thought I’d post it here.

Realistically, ANY digital proficiency can be used to your advantage when looking for a job in digital marketing. How much of an advantage will depend on how proficient you are, and the relevancy of your proficiency to the role you are applying for. For example, coding skills might allow you to work directly on a site, while a flair for design or copywriting could help you to create content or images that people want to see, read and link to.

That said, if you want to be a marketer rather than a developer, copywriter or designer then some proficiency in one of these skills might not be sufficient to get your foot in the door, especially nowadays as competition for jobs gets fiercer and fiercer. Whether you want to go into affiliate marketing, paid search, social media, SEO or email marketing, you should get as much presentation experience as you can if you’re still at university (marketers tend to have to present to bosses and / or clients quite frequently). Set up a site (if you haven’t already got one) and get some experience using website analytics programmes. Google Analytics is widely used, free, and you’ll stand in very good stead if you can show you know how to use it to a relatively advanced level.

Aside from that, read, read, read. Most online marketers are self-taught to some degree, and we seem to be unable to keep it to ourselves. There are literally thousands of blogs, guides and e-books covering virtually every aspect of online marketing. Back over at the Search School Ning I gave the following starter guides for SEO (prepare for some heavy, but edifying, reading);

The SEOMoz Beginner’s Guide To Search – http://bit.ly/Pczt
SEO Revolution Google Best Practices Guide – http://bit.ly/9lxmHS
Hobo’s Google SEO Basics Guide – http://bit.ly/NyhcO
Google’s Search Engine Optimisation Starter Guide – http://bit.ly/11Xze

I can recommend these SEO guides as they’ve all contributed to my personal understanding, but there are plenty of great other blogs and guides out there to help you get to grips with other aspects of digital marketing, including…

The Digital Marketing Industry – http://econsultancy.com/blog
Pay Per Click Management – http://www.ppchero.com/
Affiliate  Marketing – http://www.affiliates4u.com/
Social Media Marketing – http://whatconsumesme.com/
Email Marketing – http://www.b2bemailmarketing.com/

The examples given above are a few of our favourites, but the list is far from exhaustive. Read around the subject by performing your own searches, or follow blog roll or comment links for more sources of information. Join in with conversations in the comments sections – be open and honest about your n00b status and more often than not you’ll find people falling over themselves to help (be smart about it though – if you have what seems like it could be a dumb question, JFGI first).

In his original post, Ned also asks about how useful diplomas / qualifications from bodies such as CAM, IDM or CIM are when applying for digital marketing roles. Having none of these qualifications myself at present, I hardly feel qualified to comment, but if anyone reading has any advice regarding this sort of qualification and the value it adds to a career in digital marketing, please feel do comment below! I do, however, have a relative at the CIM to whom I’ll pose this question, so watch this space for more info!

One final, indispensable advantage when applying for jobs is actual, real life work experience. By working in digital marketing with an agency or online business, you’ll see first hand, and experience the different tasks, skills, challenges and rewards that come with a career in this industry. Work experience stints can sometimes turn into fully fledged jobs, and even if not, you’ll go to your next interview with far more ammunition than before.

Fluid are always open to applications for work experience from anyone wanting to get a head start in this industry. As we’re a full service agency, candidates experience a wide range of disciplines, and see how they can feed into one another to create great websites and content. If you’d like to find out more, get in touch at info@fluidcreativity.co.uk. Let us know the kind of experience you’re looking for, when you’re available, and anything else about yourself you think might be relevant, and we’ll see how we can help!

“Good morning students. Today, we’re going to learn how to do SEO. Yes – that’s right, we’re going to learn how to make your web site generate quality visitors.

Okay – it’ll take about a day to learn this, t­­hen as a result you’ll all be great search engine marketers. Straightaway! Yes – that’s right, as soon as you leave the classroom today, you’ll be great SEO specialists. You’ll be able to walk out, get a job in an agency and then you’ll start doing great SEO from the minute you walk in.”

Hold on a minute. This isn’t some kind of SEO firm wet dream. This is a fictional account of the preferred scenario spelled out to me recently by a senior SEO executive in a local firm. “What I want from universities are people who can start in the firm on day 1 and start being productive SEO execs!”

I’m using SEO today as a vehicle for my story, but you can consider any digital marketing tool or technique here.

Now I’ve got a few things I want you to think about, and it is about the role of Universities in the creation of the future workforce. I am passionate about the need for my University to develop curriculum that meets the need of the regional wealth creating industries, but it’s also important to recognise what a university is not for. And that’s when we start to think about what the role of companies are in this process.

The bit of a university that deals with degree qualifications isn’t a training house. Many of you will have been to University, spent three years in which you “discovered yourself”. Many people may have resented your opportunity, and some of you will have done it all free. What did you learn? It’s quite funny talking to creative directors, MDs, and other directors who ask what’s University for – and I ask them: what was it like for you? What did you learn?

Training can take a day. You can do an SEO course in a day at Econsultancy, with another “Advanced” day later on. So it takes 2 days to learn SEO then? It might, but it does not make you a Master when you come out. I hear stories of it taking several years of daily SEO experiences before you could be described as “accomplished.” Moreover, do you need to go to University to learn SEO or can you bypass University completely? Well – once upon a time, we did.

When I was a lad, half of my mates left school at 16 to do apprenticeships. That really doesn’t happen much now, but imagine a world where kids leave school at 16 to become SEO apprentices (I like Manchester firm Democracy PR’s view of “The PR Apprentice”). After a couple of years, you’ll get a proper SEO monkey (this is a term I have heard being bandied about recently by hardcore SEOers).  But what happens after that? Where does the experienced SEOer go after that?

My view is that the Vocational University is about educating people in the context of the industry they are entering. I can educate them about SEO, but I don’t train them to be an SEO expert. They will understand the context of SEO in relation to other digital marketing tools. They will understand customer behaviour, recognise the difference between behavioural and psychographic segmentation. They will know why things are done, and why things shouldn’t be done. They’ll be the kinds of people who can identify solutions to problems. They’ll be able to explain why they made those choices. They’ll know the good and the bad in different solutions. They’ll be critical of any choice available to them. They’ll be sceptical. They’ll be creative.

Does that sound like what you’re after?

Amazingly many of us are already doing that.

You could take someone like that and then give him or her that experience (the training will only take a day after all). But experience is key and that’s something a University cannot offer. Sure, we can promote placements, internships and day-a-week releases: but they have to be provided by the places where experience is gained: the workplace.

So – over to you folks. It’s either time to flood your local University with those experience opportunities, so that when you look at those graduates – they have everything you expect. Or maybe you feel that part can wait until they have joined you as an employee. Your call.

Do′s

• Send examples of your work! Agencies love to see what you are capable of. If you are posting your CV and examples the sky is the limit, think about the presentation, printing and packaging. If you are emailing examples, please don′t send 10mb jpg′s for each piece of work, you should think about designing a PDF with quality work at a lower file size.
• Send a creative CV. Simple word docs just wont do. If you are applying as a designer, design your CV. We here at Fluid Creativity are real suckers for type so getting the type right on your CV works wonders for our saliva glands! We also love decent paper… please no loo roll print outs.
• Be different! Agencies will see many simple word typed CV′s with boring facts about what you like to do at the weekend and often these have poor quality designs thrown in for good measure, we at Fluid like to make hamster bedding with these CV′s so unless you are an animal lover, think about being different… but don’t over do it!
• Do your research. For example Fluid Creativity are a design studio with major project focus on the web. If you know nothing about the web, or hate designing for the web, then we aren′t for you. We also pride ourselves on producing high quality design, if we hire, we are looking for candidates who wouldn′t struggle to produce something to our usual standards. So choose an agency that suits your skills.

Dont′s

• Don′t send your CV without any work examples, at least include a link to a website portfolio. How will we know how good you are if all you send is details about who else you’ve worked for.
• Don′t send a link to a website that uses bad code such as tables or frames. The leading design studios will know about accessibility and web standards and are looking for people who know about modern web design without the need for using dated trends. You don’t have to be a web guru, but knowing about new trends such as social networking, blogging and media feeds helps.
• Don′t hand write your CV unless you have designed it to look handwritten. In fact, just don’t hand write your CV…
• Don′t list your skills as Dreamweaver, Photoshop and Illustrator these are programs you know how to use, not your skills. Skills should be listed separately to programs you are proficient in.
• Be enthusiastic without being scary. If you have received a reply saying an agency isn′t interested, please don′t ring or re-send your CV every week for the next month, they will contact you if they are interested. (Trust us, we do get a few)

Follow these simple steps and were sure you should get put on a few yes piles. Remember, being a great creative isnt just about what class degree you have or even if you have a degree at all, its about haveing a certain wow factor to the work you produce, if you dont think wow… we wont either.

Good Luck!!