Applying for a design job

Part 1 —Landing the first interview

The design industry is becoming more competitive than ever, and especially during times of economic uncertainty. As someone who’s been a hiring manager building brand design & creative teams for several years, I’ve reviewed countless resumes and portfolios, and interviewed hundreds (thousands?) of candidates.

In this post, I’ll go over everything I look for and prioritize as I’m reviewing applicants (before they even get to the first interview), provide tips & recommendations, and also include examples of portfolios that hit the mark. I’ll also pepper in suggestions from other leaders and hiring managers, in hopes of making this a well-rounded guide for those looking to land the initial interview.

Hiring managers working at a companies designers are drawn to are likely tasked with sifting through hundreds, if not thousands of applicants per open role. There was a time (before working with internal recruiting partners) where I was looking through each application that came through Greenhouse one by one to ensure I was approaching the process equitably. Since this was extremely time consuming, I formulated a process that helped to somewhat accelerate the initial review phase in helping decide who to have initial hiring manager interviews with:

1. The resume review
2. The LinkedIn review
3. The portfolio site review

1) The resume review:

At many of the companies I’ve worked at, we used a tool called Greenhouse which helps organize and track the inbound candidates coming in from the job posting application. What I typically do first is start at the top of the applicant list in Greenhouse and open the resume PDF attachment.

To some, resumes may seem like an archaic part of the hiring process these days, especially given platforms like LinkedIn and Read.cv essentially displaying the same information.

For design roles in particular, one’s resume is the first opportunity to demonstrate & prove a strong grasp of visual design fundamentals.

I’m probably the only person who’d appreciate the irony of a resume typeset in Papyrus

When reviewing resumes, I’m of course reading them to assess experience, but also to review how they’re designed. If I see a poorly designed resume, it’s an automatic pass, and at that point I’ll move on to the next applicant in the Greenhouse list.

What I’m looking for when reviewing a designer’s resume:

1. Does the applicant have a strong grasp of typography, grid, and layout?
2. Hierarchy of information: Is the resume easy to scan/read?
3. Is the candidate’s experience & expertise relevant to the role we’re hiring for?
4. Bonus points for creativity

If the resume design doesn’t reflect a strong grasp of design fundamentals, then I won’t go on to review the rest of the application. If however it does, then I’ll go on to assess the candidate’s experiences, and then of course move on to the next step in the application review: the portfolio website. I’ll also likely take a look at their LinkedIn profile to see if they expand on their past experiences, as well as to see if they’ve received recommendations (more on LinkedIn recommendations down below).

If you’re applying for different types of roles (ie Brand Designer vs Art Director, vs Illustrator, vs UX Designer), I highly recommend tailoring your resume to the roles you’re applying for. If you’re applying for a Brand Designer role, make sure the title on your resume reflects that same title.

I’ve often seen resumes come in where the candidate’s title has absolutely nothing to do with the job they’re applying for. Don’t be that person :) Remember, good resumes often get rejected because they don’t have the “right” keywords related to the job.

Typewolf has great (and free) typeface recommendations and even type pairings, if you’re unsure which typeface to choose for your resume, or are suffering from decision fatigue.

This Figma resume template file by Joey Banks is another excellent resource to get started with.

Here’s what a few other hiring managers have to say regarding design resumes:

Below is an example of a resume by designer Purvaja Patel. When I first look at this, I can instantly see that there is a clear hierarchy of information. This tells me that Purvaja has strong type and layout sensibilities. I also appreciate the unique typeface her name is typeset in, while the rest of the resume is typeset in a sans-serif, with thoughtful decision making around type size, weight, and caps when appropriate. This resume design gives me enough confidence to continue on to look at Purvaja’s LinkedIn and portfolio website.

Purvaja Patel’s resume

Another example of a well-designed resume is this one by designer Ka Lee. I love how Ka introduces his personality here in the resume’s header section (and it’s an animated Figma prototype=skillz). If you click in to see the entire design, you’ll see the information itself is clearly organized, and also succinct: giving just enough information to describe their experiences and skills.

Ka Lee’s Resume as a Figma prototype

2) The LinkedIn review

LinkedIn is not only an incredible resource to find jobs, showcase your experiences, and of course network with others, it’s also a way to seek out recommendations from those who you’ve worked with in the past. “Social proof” is one of the strongest currencies when it comes to hiring managers initially scanning LinkedIn profiles, especially since this information doesn’t tend to live within a typical resume PDF.

LinkedIn recommendations won’t make or break an application, however it will certainly help, and will also give an early preview of what it’s like to work with you.

Asking for a recommendation can feel intimidating. However if you’ve had good experiences working with certain people, you’ll be surprised how willing they’ll be to go to bat for you. I love this TED talk by Jia Jieng on the power of asking called 100 Days of Rejection:

3) The Portfolio site review

Congrats! You’ve passed the resume and LinkedIn review. Next up I’m going to your portfolio site, and before diving into specific projects, I am very much scanning the homepage in a similar fashion as the resume.

Portfolio Homepage

I’m typically able to gauge a lot of what I’m looking for from the applicant’s portfolio site homepage, except this time I already know the applicant has a strong grasp of basic design fundamentals (from the resume) and here, I’m expecting more of the candidate’s creativity and personality to shine through (these are the areas that will help you stand out!)

When going to create your portfolio site, I recommend not rushing it, and if anything, treat it as you would any other design project. And remember: if the overall homepage design doesn’t reflect design quality table-stakes, then the hiring manager likely won’t go on to reviewing the the actual projects you’re showcasing.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when designing your portfolio website’s homepage:

• Password: for any password protected projects, be sure to include the password in your resume, or somewhere that’s easy to spot in the job application. I’ve come across so many candidate sites, where I’m initially excited by their resume, but because of password protected pages or projects I’m unable to make progress in my initial review.
• Load time: If a site takes more than 5 seconds to load, you’ve already lost my attention. Be sure to optimize your images in a way where quality isn’t compromised. TinyPNG is a free and easy optimizer, and one I’ve used for years. If you’re building in Webflow, Optily is a great plugin you can use (powered by TinyPNG) that allows you to batch compress & optimize your CMS images all at once. For any video or motion work, you might want to look into converting the files to WebM to optimize for high quality and fast load times. CloudConvert is a quick, easy and free tool for WebM conversions.
• Hierarchy of information & design fundamentals: On the homepage, you’ll want to strike a balance between the right amount of words and images. Homepages I’ve gravitated towards the most when reviewing applicants [for brand/visual designer roles] are those with visual previews/thumbnails of their projects. This helps me get a quick visual overview of all the projects you’re showcasing, along with a high level understanding of your design capabilities (Yena Jeong’s portfolio homepage is a great example).

Yena Jeong’s portfolio homepage

• Accessibility: All design hiring managers should be prioritizing accessibility when reviewing portfolio websites along with how candidates have thought about accessibility with the projects they share. Here’s an helpful checklist from Webflow’s Brand Studio team to ensure your site meets important accessibility requirements. And if you’re designing your site in Figma, I highly recommend Stark’s accessibility plugin.

Webflow’s Accessibility Checklist

• Make it responsive: Back in 2007, we were able to design static sites for desktop web and call it a day. Fast forward 15 years later and we now have many breakpoints, devices, and browsers to design for. It’s important to ensure your portfolio site works well on mobile, tablet, and across different browser types. Luckily, with products like Webflow, responsiveness comes built in and especially with the many portfolio template options you can start using & customizing right away.
• Personality & creativity: what types of design (or copy) decisions can you make that reflect your personality? Check the beautiful site of Lise Kyle Chapman. Lise’s visual project previews as cursor actions are a clever and memorable approach. Gregory Taxerman’s portfolio site has two sections “Work” and “Play.” This clear divide allows hiring managers to get a peek into Gregg’s creative projects outside of the 9–5.

Gregory Taxerman’s portfolio website

Portfolio site: Project pages

There are many different schools of thought when it comes to how to showcase the actual projects on your portfolio site.

On your website, though, I think it’s OK to keep the project pages simple and give just enough of a taste of what went into it. If you divulge a full-on, detailed case study on your website then you may not have much more to share in the portfolio presentation stage of the interview process. Also, many hiring managers might not take the time to read incredibly long project pages.

Purvaja Patel’s project pages strike the perfect balance of written storytelling and visuals broken up down the page:

Purvaja Patel | Coda

A few additional pointers for your portfolio project pages:

• List out who else worked on the project and what their (and your) role was
• Give enough context so it’s clear what you were trying to achieve
• Keep it brief
• If showing web work, link out to the live sites

Here are some great recommendations from other design & creative leaders:

Portfolio site alternatives:

• Dribbble or Behance as website supplements: Dribbble and/or Behance pages can serve as strong supplements to portfolio sites. If candidates share both a portfolio URL and a Behance or Dribbble link, the latter have an opportunity to showcase more of a variety of work, and in a more casual way: sketches, experiments, personal work. Typically by sharing both a website and a Dribbble, hiring managers can get a well-rounded view of the applicant’s capabilities and skills.
• Dribbble or Behance instead of a portfolio site: Sometimes design applicants will submit their Dribbble or Behance links in lieu of a portfolio website and this is totally OK (especially for visual/brand/illustrator/motion design roles). As a hiring manager, scanning through a Dribbble page typically gives me the information I need to have an introductory conversation. That being said, the work you’re sharing there has to be strong. I can typically spend 30 seconds on a candidate’s Dribbble page and accurately assess if I want to move forward [or not]. Take a look at Ka Lee’s dribbble portfolio, as well as Diane Lindquist’s and Emma Zhang’s Behance. It only takes a quick scan for me to get a solid grasp on each of their strengths as designers, enough so to warrant a first conversation.

Diane Lindquist’s portfolio on Dribbble

Emma Zhang’s Behance portfolio

• Google slides / Figma prototypes / PDFs: Not enough time and need to quickly start applying for jobs? These mediums aren’t necessarily recommended, however can be acceptable ways to get your work shared. The one thing I’ll say about using one of these mediums though, is that the work itself needs to be SO incredibly strong, that the hiring manager doesn’t even notice how they’re experiencing it. Take a look at Leeya Rose Jackson’s portfolio site homepage, for example: you start on a landing page, and when you click on [PORTFOLIO] you are taken to a Google Slides deck filled with absolutely stunning and memorable work.

Leeya Rose Jackson’s portfolio in Google Slides

If you’ve made it this far, thank you! I hope this becomes a helpful resource for either you or someone you know who may be in the process of applying for design roles. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. I am a mentor on ADPList and would be more than happy to continue the conversation there.

I’ll be continuing this series with subsequent posts covering tips & recommendations around the designer interview process, and portfolio presentation.

Many thanks to the designers who agreed to be featured in this post: Purvaja Patel, Ka Lee, Diane Lindquist, Leeya Rose Jackson, Gregory Taxerman, Yena Jeong, Lise Kyle Chapman, and Emma Zhang.

And many thanks to the design & creative leaders and hiring managers who shared their LinkedIn recommendations as replies to this post. I am so grateful for this incredible network and community 🙏🏼