Job Interview FAQ

You’ve landed an interview, now what in the hell are you supposed to do?  Well, generally speaking, if you have gotten your foot in the door, you’re ok. So don’t psyche yourself out with all the worry over the interview process.  Here are 5 things you want to keep in mind during the interview.

1. Take a hint from the FreeCreditReport.com Guys. Dress for the job you want. It’s important to keep in mind that with designers, you’re judged on far more than just your resume. From the shoes you wear, to the way you style your hair, every aspect of your image is being judged when you are being interviewed.

I’ve interviewed probably 100 people in my time owning a company.  Of those, not one single person sticks out in my head as being “uber-stylish”, BUT, a number of them do stand out as being frumpy and thrown together.  Wear clothes that fit you.  If your suit looks like it’s wearing you, not the other way around, don’t wear it.  And don’t wear a suit anyway. Wear clothing that is comfortable, stylish, and represents a stylish and professional image.

2. Dust off the old resume. So, the age old saying about designers is this

Designers are judge on their portfolio, not their education, what do I need a resume?

It’s true, you are being judged on your work, but an important part of your work is your experience. When I look over a resume, I first check it to see if they have any glaring mistakes.  Then I go straight to work history. I don’t read any of the other crap.  Because, come on, let’s be honest, it’s all crap!

But that leaves the question, what kind of resume?  I’ve seen all types. Crazy designed resumes, hand written (really cool by the way) and then your standard word resume. From my perspective, I’m just looking for info, I don’t want to see that you know InDesign on your resume, I want to see that in your portfolio.  So for me, I prefer a standard plain jane resume.  Wow me with your portfolio. Which leads me to my next topic.

3. Wow Me With Your Portfolio: Quite possibly the most terrifying task for any designer is putting together their portfolio. I’m sure I’ll go into more detail on portfolios in another post, but the number 1 key to a portfolio is quality. Quality, among all aspects, is the key to a great portfolio.  Don’t put everything you’ve ever done in there, just what you like. Make sure it’s clean (i’ve seen them with rubber cement boogies and nicks and marks all over), make sure it’s current (I don’t like seeing things from 10 years ago) and make sure it’s your work.  I literally saw a portfolio the other day with a logo I designed in it.  Speechless.

Don’t stress out over your portfolio.  It’s your work, and it’s who you are as a designer. Make sure and show as many people as you can your portfolio, and ask them for feedback.  And listen to that feedback.

4. Be Persistent. Don’t worry about annoying them, the worst that will happen is they won’t call you back, which was probably the case anyway.  But make sure they know who you are, and why you want to be there.

5. Check in After: After you have interviewed with someone, give them a couple of days to digest what you said to them, and then give them a phone call.  I’m not a big fan of sending thank you notes, but in this case, it’s ok.  But save all the cliché crap and write something meaningful.  PLEASE.

6. If at first you don’t succeed…..be patient: Look, you’re not going to get every job you interview for.  In fact, you’ll probably not get the first job you want. What is important to realize is that there is more than one job out there, and be patient. You don’t want to take a job you are over-qualified for and make the mistake of being stuck somewhere.

So this hopefully will help you tackle the interview.  Just whatever you do….don’t do anything close to this.