Design Portfolios, Resumes, & Interviews
As a designer, looking for a job in the industry can be difficult at times. Without the right knowledge and skills, a lot of jobs probably won’t hire you. A great design portfolio is the main focus to showcase your skills. In this blog, I'll be discussing design portfolios, job interview questions, and the importance of a well-written resume.
Job interviews can sometimes be nerve-wracking, especially if you’re going for your first solid job as a digital designer. I researched a few of the most commonly asked job interview questions by employers. I found that from almost every source I used, the MOST commonly asked interview question was “Tell me about yourself.” This question is very vague and can be answered in so many different ways. I think the best way to answer this question is, to be honest, polite, and don’t boast about yourself. The last thing an employer wants to hear is your entire life story and how big your ego is. The second most commonly asked question is “What are your strengths and weaknesses?” This is an easy enough question to answer if you represent your strengths on your resume, for example. As for weaknesses, I wouldn’t sound dwell on any negative traits you may have, but instead, find a way to turn those weaknesses into improvements. “Why should we hire you?” or “why do you want to work for us?” are mainly more personal questions about how you will represent the employer. I always suggest answering these kinds of questions in a determined manner, showing that you’d be a great fit to support and represent the brand. Employers will ask you why you’d be a better fit for the job role than other candidates. Providing specific examples to answer this question such as things you’ve accomplished or learned is an exceptional way to show what you’re capable of that others may not be. Though not usually worded like this, “Describe a difficult situation and how you overcame it,” is one of the harder questions to answer in a job interview. A good way to respond would be by providing an example that involves tackling an obstacle to get to that interview. This shows how valuable it is to you to be there. “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?”…Another difficult question to answer. You know where you are going to be in 5 years, and although you should be honest, you should not share too much information. Talking about serious business goals and career improvements is the best way to answer this without being too much. Overall, these questions are really good to know if you are about to go into a job interview, especially for digital design.
My design portfolio showcases the most important and best work of my design work. In this day and age of technology, I think that digital portfolios are the best way to go. Most people look things up on the internet rather than physically going to a place to view printed work. This is because it’s not only easier to have a digital portfolio, but there is a lot more creative freedom to design it.
Talking more about my design portfolio, it’s still a work in progress, but for now, I am pretty proud of it. I use WordPress and its’ themes to conveniently and easily design my portfolio, with GoDaddy hosting. Compared to professional designers who have been working in digital designs for 10 years, I can confidently say I do not stack up. However, I think I’m pretty close because of how simple my portfolio is and the decent work I presented there. In terms of my weaknesses, I need to work on improving my work overall and getting inspiration from others. My strengths in my portfolio, I think, are my creative skills and the work I’ve done for others more so than for myself.
I can say that with more practice and time, I will continue to grow and become better with digital design. Pretty soon, I will be coming back to this article to follow my advice for the job interview questions and portfolio. As usual, I hope this has helped you!
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