How to Get Your First Job as a Designer
Practical tips from a UX Designer (me) that have worked in creative app studios, as a consultant, small startups, huge companies, and now I’m a UX Designer at a AAA video game studio!
I will go through:
- How to design your portfolio
- What to add in a CV
- How to write a great Cover letter
- What to say and ask in the interview
- Extra tips on how you will succeed when got the job
👋 Hello Designer Friend!
I know a lot of people are soon going to come out of spring & summer looking for an internship or a job! Maybe you have already started thinking about what the future hold and what you want to create! I also know it can be very scary, stressful and you might even feel a bit lost in it all. (Why didn’t anyone teach me this in school?!)
But fear not friend! I had the same experience after school and I’ve learned a lot from all the jobs I’ve applied for since! Some interviews lead to a job, some not so much. I have also helped interview other UX designers! Here I’m going to teach you what I have learned and what I wish I knew when I first started.
Why do I say Designer and not UX, UI or Product Designer? The titles of designers are changing and being updated a lot and I know that some jobs out there have different titles for slightly different skills. So to make the tips I have here apply to as many of you as possible, I will refer to it as ‘Designer’.
My Background
My name is Anna Wikström and I’m a Video Game UX Designer! I want to tell you how I got where I am today and the journey that gave me the knowledge to get a job as a UX Designer!
(You can skip this if you want and jump straight into the tips, I won’t judge)
I started studying photography and photo editing in my teenage years and worked as an assistant to Photographers. But after a while, I wanted to do something else with my life. So I applied for schools in the digital design field and got into Hyper Island in Stockholm Sweden, to one of their design programs. I learned about Design Thinking, app/website design, UI design, user needs, and user research. For my internship, I wanted to go somewhere new so I packed my bags and traveled to an app development studio in Brooklyn, New York. There I worked on the UI Art side for several products, but once back in Stockholm, I got into more UX/UI mixed roles, which made it easier to become a UX Designer when I stepped into a consultancy firm. It was through them that I got my first role in the games industry at DICE, working on Star Wars Battlefront 2! I have also made the move to England to work at Creative Assembly, where I am now working on a new video game!
🖥️ UX Design Your Portfolio!
Let’s start with how you should present yourself and your skills! A portfolio is an important tool for the designer to show their work in an easily accessible way. But how do you make one that gets you a job?
I’ve seen any designers forget this obvious thing; that the best design portfolios are the ones that have a great design (duh)! If you are using the site to market yourself and all your design skills, I can’t think of a better way to demonstrate that skill than by creating a seamless experience on your portfolio!
10 Guidelines For A Great Portfolio!
1. 🤔 Treat Your Portfolio as a Design Task!
Yes, your website is the primary space where you should show off your design projects. But the website itself is also a great opportunity to show off your UX/UI design skill. Use your awesome skills to design your website as if it’s a client website. Because this is also part of how a potential employer sees you as a designer for them.
️2. 👁️ WHO is Looking at Your Portfolio?
This is the USER you need to design your website for. I can tell you now, the recruiter or lead designer looking at your portfolio will not read through all your texts, descriptions, and details to get an understanding of what your projects are about. What they are searching for are key skills, your role in projects (school or work), if you solved the problem you set out to solve, your design process, the user feedback, and learnings on how the project was used in the end.
3. 💎 Show Your Top Designs
If the person just has 5 minutes to scroll through your website to get an idea of what you do and make a decision to interview you or not - what do you show?
This is how you need to think to boil down to your core content. 3 is a golden number to get a good understanding of your experience and skills. So make a list and design your portfolio around your best projects and think about how you should structure your website to make sure those are seen!
Less is More, Quality over Quantity
4. ✨ Ease of Use
To craft a good user experience, make sure that the site has clear and intuitive navigation. Make it super easy and obvious to find the most important information about yourself. There should not be any questions about what is a link or not, what each page contains etc. Follow the basics of UI design here, this is not the time to reinvent the UI-navigation-wheel.
5. 🏋️ Clear Challenge(s) & Solution
An important thing Designers do is solving user problems, and this is something you want to show an employer that you can do. By clearly stating what the problem(s) are you set out to solve with your design, you will show that you look at user problems and can design with this focus in mind. It’s also important to state the outcome and feedback you got from your solution.
Did it work? What did you change from the feedback?
6. 📘 Text Structure
Yes, I know you want to explain the full project, design process, research done and how good your design is. But I’ve seen many designers do the mistake of overwhelming their portfolios with long texts. Whatever the reason, the result is the same; it’s time-consuming to read it all and the person might miss your great skills because it was buried the long texts! Use clear headlines, bullet points for structure, good use of simple fonts and sizes, and start clearly with the most important information.
The employer is looking for some key things, so make sure you highlight that clearly in short texts.
6. ✏️ Mockups & Sketches
Not all work and skills of a Designer are easy to show off. We don’t all have beautifully finished apps with perfect UI or cool 3D animations in an easy show showreel. So it’s important to include mockups, sketches, and wireframes to show your work process and your steps to get to a good solution. Show the post-its wall, the structure, paper mockups, and sketches that took you to the end result. They want to see that you can fit into their project workflow.
7. 📱 Side Projects
The designs you show in your portfolio do not have to be from school or paid client work. It’s wonderful if you show that you have gone beyond the school formula and are driven to learn for yourself, not just when people tell you what to design. Just clearly write what the project was for, don’t try to hide it or lie about it being for the real {Insert Company Name Here}. We understand that these are your concepts and that you don’t have 10 years of work under your belt.
8. 📸 🎭 🧶🎨 Showing a Bit of Everything️
Make sure that what you show is relevant for the job you are looking for. Yes, you might also be a Photographer, love clay sculpting, knit hats, and draws lovely cat illustrations. But don’t include them in your main portfolio if they are not relevant for you to be the best person for the role. Adding too many different things muddles your message.
How do you know what is relevant for the job?
Read through job openings for the type of role you want to have. Identify the most common skills they list and make sure you show them clearly in your portfolio.
9. 👩👩👧 Your Contribution to the Group Project is Unclear
The person reviewing your portfolio doesn’t know all the details (most probably they know nothing) about your education, what the courses, and projects you have done means in terms of skills, and what your contribution to those group projects was. Clearly list what you did to greatly help the reader understand to see how you can fit into their team.
10. 📥 Don’t Make them Download Things
Your portfolio needs to be easily viewed on a website. Don’t send your portfolio images or details in an email, a PDF document on your website, or making them download something to see your designs. This only signals that you don’t have a good understanding of tech, it’s a bad experience for the person you want seeing your portfolio and it gives out an unprofessional look.
(CV and Cover Letter are different. You should send them when it’s needed.)
UX is about designing for the User, Clarity, Simplicity & Guiding the User to the Best Outcome for you Both! (preferably to hire you)
🔍 Finding Jobs
Use all the platforms available to you in your job search:
- LinkedIn: There are a great variety of design jobs to find on good ol’ LinkedIn. (It’s how I have found some of my jobs!) While you’re there, make sure that your profile is updated! Some employers want a link to your LinkedIn profile as well as a CV, so it’s good to be prepared by updating your LinkedIn page.
- Twitter: Follow relevant people in the design community is not only a good way to connect in design discussions and learn new things, but many people share links to open job positions that come their way (like I do!).
- Post on your social profiles: Share that you are looking for a job in Design on all your social accounts. Use a link to your LinkedIn profile, your website, and a clear message about what you want to work with. So people can easily share it with the right people (a friend of a friend can lead to a job).
- Company websites: Go to the website of the specific company you are interested in and look through their career page to see if they have any role open for you. Most bigger companies have a career page like this and it’s always good to read up on the company before applying.
- Other Platforms: There might be more regional platforms that you can use for your area and some design schools even have a career page where companies post jobs directly for students to see. Look around and apply everywhere so you don’t miss your opportunity into the industry!
💯 Apply for multiple jobs
This will increase your chances of getting a job and you get a better understanding of different roles and companies if you apply to several at the same time. You could wait for weeks (or months) before hearing back from some (if you get a response at all, sometimes I didn’t). So don’t put all your eggs in one basket and just wait for them to respond.
What helped me was to think: “I will get an answer back from 1 out of 10 places I apply to”
✅ You don’t need ALL qualifications to apply!
This is something more often women do than men. We think that we need to fill 100% off the job descriptions to even apply for a job. While you should know some of the skills they are looking for, you don’t to be an expert in them! (or have 3 years of experience doing XYZ). Find a job you would like to have, read up on skills and software you’re unsure of, and apply anyway!
You miss 100% of the chances you don’t take!
🚩 Job listing red flags to look out for:
“ninja, unicorn, fast-paced, work hard, play hard, rock star, team player, family, multiple hats, disrupt, entry-level job + 5 years experience, earning potential, self-starter, the possibility of, guru, must know” — insanely long list of stuff that isn’t even part of design.
🚀 The Application
What do you write so they want to interview you?
📝 CV
The CV does not need to have to be a grand thing or look fancy. But it does need to look professional and clearly show the most important information about your contact info, education, and work experience. There are many good basic templates online so go with so pick one to copy and it will be fine.
👍 Do:
- Professional photo to make a good first impression.
Do this for the CV, LinkedIn, and other platforms you are sharing for employers to see. - List relevant education and work experience.
What and who it was for, the brief or problem you set out to solve, time period, and your role(s) in the project. - Start with your latest experience.
Instead of starting at the beginning your CV should list your latest relevant experience (school or work) at the top and in falling order go back in time.
👎 Don’t:
- Progress bars and % numbers with your skills.
This was a trend that almost everyone jumped on (I did too). Instead, simply list the knowledge and experience clearly. You can then elaborate on when and how you used this skill in the project descriptions. - Use an unprofessional email!
Save CODgamerXL or Iloveanime for your personal life.
💌 Cover Letter
The cover letter is something a lot of people don’t put much effort into, or they just elaborate on what is already listed in the CV.
No! The cover letter is your opportunity to show who you are, what drives you, and how great you would be to work with!
👍 Do:
- Use professional language — with a personal style of you.
Reading something that sounds like it was written by a robot, or if it’s too unprofessional isn’t going to leave a good impression. It is a fine balance to get right so it’s worth it to take some extra time to work on it. Show it to people with more experiences to give you feedback on it. - Write for the company you are applying to.
Being specific about why you want to work at this company is a better approach than having a generic text you send everywhere. Show that you know what the job means and that you match the company culture (what they write about themselves on their website). Yes, this takes extra time but it’s worth it! - Soft skills are very important!
So please do include situations where you’ve worked in teams, any extracurricular activities, and hobbies that required communication or organizational skills. People want to work with nice people because being a designer is teamwork. You won’t be working alone in a vacuum.
👎 Don’t:
- Make it too long. Half a page is a good golden rule.
- Make excuses or use words that diminish yourself such as: “I just, sorry to bother you, or I ‘think’ I can do X”.
- Write about the same things that you already have in your CV.
The cover letter is your chance to dazzle the person and talk about what drove you to design and to apply for this job! - Forget to check for spelling errors! Before you hit send, it’s always good to take the time to read everything one extra time for spelling errors to show a professional level. You can use tools like Grammarly to make spellchecking easy.
💁♀️ The Interview
Ok, so they liked your portfolio, your CV and you got an interview! Now the nerves start to kick in and you are probably (over)thinking about perfect answers to all their questions!
Take a deep breath! I’ll break it down for you to make the interview (hopefully) less scary!
😬 What Do I Say When I Have No Experience?!
The best advice I ever got before an interview (my interview at DICE for a Game UX Design role) was that:
- They have already seen your CV, your education & work experience, and they still wanted to take the time to talk to you! So they now want to get to know YOU!
- Prepare an answer for the question(s) you dread getting asked. There is probably something you feel under-qualified in or you don’t want them to bring up something from your CV or portfolio. Think about that question and prepare an answer to it before the meeting!
This will make you feel more at ease in the interview because you’re not sitting on pins and needles thinking about that question you don’t want them to ask.
💎 My other tips
The interview is NOT meant to be just a checklist where you just reiterate what’s already on your CV. They want to connect with you, see your personality and your thought-process on solving design problems to understand how you would fit into the team.
But, it’s also your chance to see if you want to work for them! So, when they ask you “do you have any questions for us?” I highly recommend you to have some prepared questions! So pick up a pen think about what you want to ask them.
🙋♀ ️My Top 3 Things You Should Ask
Q What are the traits and skills that will make me successful in this position?
This is what you will need to learn at the job and what the company expects from you to do a good job. This is also a better question than just asking about the team structure and skills as this gives you insight into what they don’t have in the team and where you fit in.
Q What are the biggest challenges the team faces at the moment?
This will give you insight into the teams’ strengths and weaknesses and if you can see yourself helping out in these areas. If some of these challenges are things you have faced before this leads to the perfect opportunity for you to tell them how you can help them solve them. This will also tell you if they have a plan for you, and if this is something you want to be working on.
Their problem = YOU are the solution (and they should definitely hire you!)
Q Ask the interviewer(s) what they love about their job and the company.
This is a great way for you to see if people actually like working here or not! If they hesitate to answer or give you a dry/robotic answer; you will know that the company perhaps doesn’t value its employees as they claim to on their career page on the website.
But if they answer the question with enthusiasm and true passion, you get a good glimpse into the friendly and empowering structure the company has towards the employees.
😊 Message After the Meeting to Thank Them!
I got this tip from a photographer after an interview.
After an interview or meeting you should send them a or email; Thanking them for the time, that you found the chat very interesting and that you are looking forward to talking more about the job.
That’s it. No big paragraph or a long list of questions. Showing good communication skills is not just useful to show your interest but also a nice gesture. Who knows, if you are not the right person for them, maybe they can connect you with another job that you are perfect for!
Don’t Respond Rudely if Rejected
Everyone gets rejected at some point. I have been rejected from jobs many many times!
You can’t make someone hire you, you can only control how you react to the situation. No matter how sad or frustrated you feel that you didn’t get the job, you should always be professional and polite to recruiters. If you want you can ask them if they have any other job they know about or tips on how you can do better next time. (Note that they don’t have to give you a long answer or answer at all.)
Learn to see REJECTION as REDIRECTION
😺 So you got a job as a Designer! Now what?
Well first, congratulations! I know how hard and stressful it is to look for a job, write applications and go on interviews.
Here are my tips on how you can have a good work experience!
🤝 Seek out How You Can Help the Team!
Sometimes it’s not all creative and glorious to be a designer. Being a good designer is to make sure that the team delivers a good product and meets deadlines.
In the beginning, you’re not a pro and you don’t have all the answers. Embrace that! Yes if you got the job title of “Designer” it’s your responsibility to make useful designs for a product to meet client expectations. But you don’t have to be the only person coming up with creative solutions.
🦜 Ask for Feedback
When you first start, you need to be open to getting feedback on your designs and other work efforts. But don’t expect your manager to be great at giving feedback. Sometimes you need to ask for it. I recommend testing out Stop, Start, Continue if you want to want to give them a framework for your feedback. (Google it to get the full explanation on how to use it)
❤️ Be Friendly
Don’t fall into the stereotype of the pompous Designer that thinks they know best and that they are the best creative person in the room, as often seen in movies and tv shows. That is not a smart move in real life. Simply, people want to work with nice people that make them feel included and valued. Go over and hi and chat with everyone about life, talk about their ideas for work and make friends. The connections you make might lead you to be recommended for future jobs!
📚 Keep Learning
A good way to not stress too much about getting in the way of you having a good experience at work is to keep the mentality of a student. What I mean by this is that just because you got ‘Designer’ in your title, doesn’t mean that you have to know everything. It’s ok to say *I’m not sure, but I’ll look it up for you* instead of getting stressed thinking that you need to have the perfect answer to everything about design.
- It’s your job to spend time figuring out answers about design and make sure that designs are being created.
- You’re not expected to do everything perfectly or know all the answers at the top of your head.
💙 Thank you for reading!
Follow me on Twitter for more UX design & video game chats: https://twitter.com/ichianna
Further learnings:
Read this if you are interested in getting into the video game industry!
📚 Read my Reviews on popular Design Books to find what you should read to sharpen your design skills!
