Interviewing for Design Firms
What makes design careers different?
Your portfolio.
You got into this because you love it. We know you love design. So do we. It is lovely to share your passion but there is no designer in the world who is going to graduate from an educational program and design new construction, affordable, sustainable housing with a green roof and curved terraces in a major US city within the first five years of their career. That is an incredible goal. It does not help employers understand the skills that you can currently offer to the office bathroom renovation they are currently working on.
Your portfolio can include some of the aspirational concept designs you want to build someday, but the majority of it should be the skills you are selling right now!
In this post, let’s explore the priorities for your portfolio.
Design
In terms of design, a lot of the advice from the post on resumes can be transferred to this topic as well. Incorporate white space, use structure and organization. Share the valuable information in as concise a package as possible. Unless you are sharing an entire construction set, it does not need to be over 20 pages. Your portfolio should give employers a sense of your style and your skills. Tell the story of the kind of design professional you aim to become.
Work Type
A school portfolio rarely resembles anything that actually happens in an active architecture firm. If that is all you have, so be it. If you have any work experience though, even an internship, ask if you can have even just one detail, one presentation, one rendering to help you acquire future employment. We would rather see boring real work over a beautiful conceptual sketch from third year.
It is also beneficial to have project examples you can swap in and out of a portfolio based on the work types of the firms you are applying for. Yes. This creates more work for you in the application process but it increases your chances of landing an interview if your work matches what the firm is working on.
Quality
More important than the type of work you show, is the quality of that work. If you have a full construction set you did completely on your own, make sure to get another set of eyes on it before you show it to potential employers. If you had help, say so. Be honest about what you actually did and what you did not do. Exaggerating about your skills can backfire down the line.
understanding
Know your own work. Be prepared to walk them through whatever you are sharing. Having short stories about what you learned while working on this particular section, sharing a mistake and how it was corrected, all give insight into your skill set and what you are like at work.
The Practical stuff
Most of us are not walking around with a huge binder of 11 x 17 portfolios. You send a pdf. Please. Please reduce the size of the file. Please check the settings so it does not take over our entire screens. If you send a link, make sure it is not password protected. Consider the user experience. Make it easy for us to interact with your materials.
Bottom line:
this is a skills-based industry. Everything covered in previous posts are what get employers to the stage where they open your portfolio: resume, cover letter, internet presence – but your work samples are the most important element in this package.
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If you are a recent grad or still in school, your school work is great! Just be sure to prioritize quality over quantity. It should be well organized and tell a clear story of what skills you are showcasing with each project.
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If you have enough work that you have to choose what to include, consider offering samples of work instead of a complete portfolio. Separate by project type, software, or firm at which the work was done. Prioritize work from the past 3-5 years as that will most likely represent your skills.
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This is so common! Highlight your very best work in your portfolio and use your cover letter and your interview to communicate what skills are transferrable and where you are hoping to grow in a new role. Enthusiasm goes further than you might think!