If you’re considering preparing for a career as an interior designer, you undoubtedly have an array of questions. You may wonder whether working as an interior designer may permit you to develop a skillset and garner experience that can be used in other lines of work. The reality is that an experienced interior designer can develop skills that are useful in other professions.
Overview of the Profession of Interior Designer
The basic definition of interior design is the art of altering, decorating or enhancing the interior of a building to enhance it aesthetically, functionally, and in other ways, including improving the health is a space. Interior designers tend to work in a number of specialized areas that include residential interior design and commercial interior design.
Skillsets Enhanced as an Interior Designer: How They Translate to Other Jobs
There are a number of specific skillsets that are enhanced when a person embarks on a career as an interior designer, according to the American Academy of Interior Designers. These skillsets can be highly beneficial in a relatively broad array of different jobs or professions:
- Communication and Professional Relations
- Organization
- Budget Management
- Time Management
- Technology
- Creativity and Creative Processes
Communications and Professional Relations
One crucial skill set and area of experience associated with a career in interior design is solid communication abilities as well as enhance capabilities at forming meaningful professional relations. These skillsets are valuable in nearly any other type of professional setting. This particularly is the case if you desire a leadership or managerial role in a particular industry or profession.
Organization
Because of the nature of interior design, a person in this profession must have strong organizational skills. This represents another attribute of a successful interior designer that translates into nearly any other type of job or profession.
Budget Management
A considerable number of interior designers are self-employed or independent contractors. Consequently, they must develop a solid ability to manage a business’s budget. In addition, in many projects, an interior designer occupies a role that is quite akin to a project manager. This necessitates overseeing an overall budget for a project.
Having the ability to manage a budget, including a complex one, is a valuable skillset in a myriad of professions and jobs. These include positions in the private, nonprofit, and governmental sectors.
Time Management
A key attribute associated with people who succeed in their profession is outstanding time management. Refining time management skills via a career as an interior designer is a skill that translates into nearly any other profession. This includes jobs that demand precise personal time management. It also is vital in an occupation or company that is involved in complicated projects that necessitate the timely accomplishment of key milestones and the ultimate achievement of a project goal in a timely manner.
Technology
An interior designer needs to utilize an array of different types of technologies in pursuit of a career. This includes everything CAD software to different types of presentation and display applications. As is the case with a multitude of professions and jobs, being well versed in a broad array of different types of technology is invaluable.
Creativity and the Creative Process
Finally, a skillset invaluable to an interior designer that translates across many other types of professions is creativity and an understanding of the creative process. While this type of skillset and focused experience is crucial to an interior designer and in other creative professionals, it can be helpful in other jobs as well. Creative thinking and understanding, implementing, and managing the creative process can prove a useful attribute in a wide array of professions.
The bottom line is you certainly can repurpose an array of skills associated with experience as an interior designer. Indeed, experience as an interior designer can have broad applications in a wide spectrum of different jobs.
Related Resources:
What Degree Do I Need To Become An Interior Designer?
Do Different States Have Different Requirements for Interior Designers?
What Does an Interior Designer Do?
What is The Difference Between an Interior Designer and an Architect?
What Skills Does an Interior Designer Need?
Where Are the Best Paying Jobs With a Degree in Interior Design?