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- It's Nice That
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- 9 November 2026
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I Like Networking’s Isabel Sachs: “Make your own work, be proactive, and go and meet people”
It’s a tough time for people starting out in the creative industry right now. Together with Creative Lives in Progress we asked 28 people to predict what starting a creative career will look like over the next three years.
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Junior roles are disappearing, budgets are tightening, and AI is taking over many of the tasks on which new starters used to learn. Amid all this change we wanted to know – what will starting a creative career look like in the next three years? So we asked studio founders and educators, creative organisations and career experts, and emerging creatives themselves, to give us their best predictions.
What skills will matter most? How will the pipeline work? And what can people do to take advantage of new opportunities? Their answers will help shape how Creative Lives in Progress supports emerging talent in the coming months and years.
We’re also keen to hear from our community – if you have thoughts and ideas to share, you can email Will Hudson at wh@itsnicethat.com.
Isabel Sachs, director at inclusive creative career platform I Like Networking, shares her thoughts.
Every time I read job applications now, at least ten have the exact same answer, because someone copied and pasted from ChatGPT. Put that together with fewer junior roles and employers will stop trusting the application process, which was already broken.
So I think we will see more first jobs going to people someone has already met: on a course, at an event, through a freelance gig. Which is the old boys' club with extra steps, unless the industry builds more open ways in. I'm worried about unpaid work making a comeback because of this.
“In the short-term, my advice for emerging talent won't change much. It may just matter more: make your own work, be proactive, and go and meet people.”
Isabel Sachs, Director at I LIKE NETWORKING
One would hope (I sure do) that the industry will course-correct and change applications from CV and Cover Letter to something else and that we will see that without investing in new talent we are eroding our own futures. In the short-term, my advice for emerging talent won't change much. It may just matter more: make your own work, be proactive, and go and meet people.
This series has been put together in collaboration with It's Nice That's sister company Creative Lives in Progress; a creative careers resource, on a mission to transform the way emerging talent access, understand and connect with the industry. Find out more at creativelivesinprogress.com
Explore the full series
Creative Agencies and Studios
Caterina Bianchini, Co-Founder and Executive Creative Director at NARI Design
Joe Cooper, Head of Design at Represent
Dan Crowder, Founder and Managing Director at Craft
Simon Dixon, Co-Founder at DixonBaxi
Cat How, CEO and Founder at HOW+HOW
Jan Jensen, Chief Talent Officer at Residence
Joseph Lebus, Design Director, London Principal at Porto Rocha
Tadhg McCarthy, Co-Founder at Elsewhen
Max Ottignon, Co-Founder at Ragged Edge
Pali Palavathanan, Co-Founder and Creative Director at Templo
Lisa Smith, Global Chief Design Officer at Uncommon Creative Studio
Liz Stone, Co-Founder and Global Chief Creative Officer at OK COOL
Iain Tait, Founder at Food
Marcus Wendt, Founder and Chief Creative Officer at FIELD.IO
Education
Jay Anderson, Course Director, BA Graphic Design at Birmingham City University
Rachel Gannon, Associate Professor and Head of School of Design at Kingston School of Art, Kingston University
Dr Anna Kiernan, Associate Professor of Creativity and Literary Culture at University of Exeter
Professor Rebecca Wright, Deputy Vice Chancellor at Norwich University of the Arts
Derek Yates, Associate Professor and Head of Industry Integration & Curriculum Development at Ravensbourne University London
Organisations supporting entry level creatives
Oliver Benjamin, Director of Employment and Skills at A New Direction
Hilary Chittenden, Creative Learning Consultant
Paul Drake, Foundation Director at D&AD
Nik Gunn, Policy Adviser at Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre
Fran Plowright, Founder at Meet a Mentor
Isabel Sachs, Director at I LIKE NETWORKING
Emerging Creatives
Jacob Bjornson, Junior Strategist at Digitas
Mina Popa, Design Intern at Studio Moross
Anas Houssein, Designer at the chase
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This article was written by the It’s Nice That team. To find our editors and writers, please head over to our Contact page.
