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In an interview situation I have always felt quite fortunate to be a graphic designer, unlike many other jobs you have your prop, your talking point – your portfolio. This being said I think your portfolio must be ready for the interview and you must be ready to sell your work to a potential employer. They don’t just want to see the work, they want to know your thinking and reasoning behind it and probably how long you spent on it. I think this is even more important for students, for what you may lack in experience they should be able to hear in your enthusiasm for you work.
In my career I have been for many interviews, getting that first job is the difficult one, once you have a job and so the pressure is less in my opinion, interviews become a lot easier. I have a terrible sense of direction, I have often done a test run to find out where to go prior to an interview. There is nothing worse than being late, even if you ring and let them know you are lost it immediately puts you in a panicked state of mind. I think I am probably a little odd as I rarely worry about the actual interview, but will worry about finding the place.
When I go for freelance interviews I tend to adjust the order and what is in my portfolio and make sure I know roughly what I will say about each piece of work. I make sure I show examples of different types of work, I will show my creative stuff, but also heavily corporate work just to prove I am able to adhere to tight corporate guidelines when required. I also often include a piece of my personal work. I recently went for an interview with a reasonable sized printers who was looking to outsource design from freelancers. In my portfolio was some of my personal children’s characters and book I had designed, a few days later they called me in and asked if it would be possible for them to pitch my children’s characters to a large hotel chain in view of using them for branding their children’s menus, with the book as a kids giveaway. Unfortunately the pitch didn’t come off, but it was a possibility that wouldn’t have emerged if I hadn’t included the characters in my portfolio.
It is always important to have a little prior knowledge about the company you are going to see. As most companies have an online presence there is no excuse for not knowing at least a little about them.
I think its important to be honest in an interview, by that I don’t mean tell them all you weak points, but if someone asks you if you can do something and you can’t say so (unless you can learn it very quickly). If you got the job you would soon get found out anyway, so in my opinion its better to admit to it and say you are a quick learner. Be yourself in an interview too, the good about most of the design interviews I have been to is they are relatively informal, and the employer wants to know they can’t get on with you (and visa versa) as much as if they like your work or not.
What are your tips for an interview for a design job?
(see my related post What Do you Put In your Portfolio? )
Also worth taking a look at is Asgeir’s 15 resources for design students
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21 Comments
Conveniently timed article, I’m going to an internship in about an hour!
Better get your skates on, you don’t want to be late
good luck!
What kind of things do you put in your portfolio? Do you put rough sketches in and show the progression of your ideas, or do you concentrate on putting the polished final product in?
Hi Aaron
I have written a post called What do you put in your portfolio?>
This article was encouraging! I agree with every point you made. I’m in the process of looking for a full time position (even though I am currently employed) and you are right, it is less stressful because I have my current job in case things don’t work out at the interview. When I interviewed for my first design job, I was only about 2/3 of the way done with my degree. I think it was exactly my enthusiasm for design that got me the job, just like you said!
And you are not odd to worry about finding the right place and not the actual interview. I’m the same way! My husband always bugs me about needing to practice for the interview (responding to questions, going through my portfolio explanations, etc) but I find that makes me more nervous!
Hi Lauren
I’m glad it was helpful. I am like you, I go through my portfolio (by myself) but don’t over practice as it makes me nervous too. I think its important to have an idea what you are going to say but if you over practice you can also come across as unnatural.
Good luck with the job hunting I am off to have a look at your new “about” page now. Thanks for the suggestions too
Thanks for the mention, and for a great post. I will post a follow up to the list, and will make sure both this post and your portfolio post is on it.
I’m beginning to think that looking for a job will be fun.
One thing that I’ve been wondering about, is the importance of a degree? Will I have a better chance getting a job with a Master’s instead of a Bachelor, or is the portfolio more important? What about a degree from prestigious schools such as Pratt?
Hi Asgeir
I honestly don’t know of how much importance degree is, I guess it depends where yo want to work. A big prestigious agency would probably be more concerned about it (they have more high caliber people to choose from) than a small one, who would be more interested in what you can do. Once you have a few years of experience I think your portfolio means more and qualifications mean less.
I had an internship interview yesterday with MarcUSA (one of the top advertising agencies in the US) and it went really well.
To answer the question about degree; I think it is quickly losing importance, at least, here in the US. I say this because I’ll be graduating with my Associate Degree in Graphic Design Oct. 10 and have had no problems. In fact, MarcUSA literally told me that they were looking at possible interns from 4 year Universities and my stuff was way better and exactly what they wanted.
I feel that yes, you might run into problems somewhere, but most of the time if you have the right attitude, the right personality, and a good design sense you will not be judged by where you went to school. One of the employees at MarcUSA was actually from PTI.
I think most employers understand that it’s not where you went to school, it’s instead how you decided to utilize the opportunities and resources provided at that school. I think I’ve accomplished millions more than your average university graduate because I love what I do and challenge myself.
To add to this discussion about degrees. I’ve asked this a lot to designers I work with and I generally get the same response: they are more interested in the portfolio.
In this country (UK) a lot of designers start work straight after HND, which is kind of equivelent to a degree althrough not a BA. Many will stay on to get the BA, but a further post-grad qualification isn’t considered valuable in terms of finding work.
From what I’ve found in my job search, it’s only government positions that require a degree, most other places say it’s nice and they may use it to help narrow down possibilities, but I think if you have a solid portfolio and they like interacting with you, that is what really matters.
The portfolio is really what gets the interviewers attention, but the degree backs you up. It tells the employer that not only do you have the talent, but also most likely a stronger foundation.
What if the prospective employer has allready seen your work?
Im going for an internal job as a designer with my company. It would be my first design job.
Would you still take a portfolio in with you to the interview?
HI Nia
I would, especially if he/she hasn’t seen all you work.
Good luck
Tara
I was late once, at the interview, and I agree, it’s a lost cause, even if you let them know! Ah well, you have to hope for the better to the next one.
Quite inspiring article and now I will explore your website
Some categories are very interesting to me like logo design and illustration.
Your article is very well written and shows what you have to take care if you have to “sell” yourself. I mean there are a lot of possiblities which can go wrong only because you are not well prepared. Today emplyers demand more then good skills in e.g. graphic design. The human component is also important like – are you a team player or not?! I enjoyed to read your article – thank you for that.
…for what you may lack in experience they should be able to hear in your enthusiasm for you work – this sounds to me that professional are working. When I started to work as a graphic designer I borrowed some work from an older friend who had plenty of experiences with graphic design. For me it worked at that meeting – I got the job – but on the other side the guy who gave the job to me relied too much on “my” work and nearly nothing what stands behind.
Your post was rock!
I agree with every point you write here. I’m in the process of looking for a full time position (even though I am currently employed) and you are right, it is less stressful because I have my current job in case things don’t work out at the interview. I got a lot of idea after read your post. Great…
- Jacob
I am happy that this process is over for me because I found a fix job. But I can remeber when I worked as freelancer and tried to confince my clients to have face in me. Sometimes it worked pretty good but sometimes … Well nevertheless your post was informative and had good tips. Was a pleasure to red it – thanks.
Great points! Also, I find that being able to build rapport with your potential client is a great advantage. Most people tend to opt for those they are most comfortable with. Such a positive relationship can sometimes get things done faster and more accurately. Thus, being too formal/professional and stiff won’t always cut the deal. Lighten up a bit and show your client that you are approachable, flexible and open to ideas and suggestions.