advice for applying for design work

Have a portfolio of work ready to show proepective employers.  If you don't have any work relevant to the poaition you're applying make up your own brief and do some, so you can prove your skills.

Try and find a way you can show you are able to work to deadlines and can work quickly.  You need to be able to show you have commercial awareness, so know how long a piece of work took.  Time is money.

Be prepared to knock on lots of doors.  Ask if you can do speculative work.  Don't expect money up front - many upcoming designers in London work for nothing just to get a foot in the door.

What's your background, education etc, and what exactly is it that you want to end up doing?