11 tips for getting that next graphic design job
Applying for a new graphic design job can be tough: from the covering letter and the portfolio to the interview itself, there are infinite ways to screw up. But for more than 10 years I’ve helped coach people for interviews and for the last three seen and written about the hiring process inside Moskito Design.
With these insights, here’s a list of 11 tips for any candidate hoping to land their next graphic design job.
1. Do your homework
If it’s been said a thousand times before it’s only because there are still job candidates out there who aren’t listening. Start with a close-reading of the job ad so you know exactly who they’re looking for. If that’s you, then check out the design agency’s output: their public work, their website, their blog, their social channels. What can you find out about the agency? Where do you see yourself fitting in there? What could you contribute?
Say it in the cover letter and, if you get the interview, come ready to communicate a compelling vision of yourself in that specific agency.
2. Don’t skip the introductory email (cover letter)
Design talent is one thing, but personality is everything. And the cover letter is the first chance to show you’ve got one. Write your email, keep it friendly, and tell the prospective employer why you want to work with them.
It’ll also prove you can write, an essential skill for communicating your ideas to clients and other stakeholders.
3. Stick to the essentials
Select the few projects that best represent the work that the agency is looking for. It’s good to show breadth of course, but a few quality projects targeted to the agency’s client portfolio will do what no quantity of unfiltered, unfocused projects ever will. They’ll show not only your best work but also your power to select and curate for what a prospective client may want.
4. It’s never just details
Your portfolio and application materials had better look like the work you’re promising to turn out: immaculate and error free. Even better than that, really, as you’re not under deadline and in theory you’ve had all the time in the world to get them ready. Don’t let your future employer suspect you of laziness, carelessness or ignorance of design fundamentals.
Make sure your portfolio looks impeccable and your cover letter is grammatically unimpeachable and you’ll let them know what they can expect from you once you land the job.
5. Be on brand
If you’re fresh out of design school, your projects can afford to be more uniquely, creatively you. But with a few years’ experience working on brands your work should show off what you can do for your clients.
You may be working on a diverse portfolio of clients all of whom expect you to carry on their work, in their style, on their terms. Show the agency how you can apply the best of you to the work you do for others.
6. Get ready to talk about it
Your portfolio might have helped get you in the door, but now you’ve got to talk about it. Be prepared to describe your past work, just as you would if you were presenting your agency’s work to a prospective client.
Why did you select these projects? What role did you play on the project? How do they show off your talents? Rehearse your spiel and come ready to talk.
7. Get your story straight
Beyond your portfolio, there’s a host of intangibles the agency will be looking to find out about: teamwork, communication skills, how you give and take feedback from clients and colleagues. The best way to show them is through storytelling.
Think of real, concrete experiences that best show off your soft skills, and make yourself the hero (even if the hero is sometimes the one who learns a lesson from a mistake). Then practice telling your stories, because they’re always better the nth time through. The more rehearsed they are, the more naturally you can adapt them on the fly to a variety of different questions.
8. Keep it positive
There’s no faster way to not get a call-back than complaining about a former employer. While agency directors and managers as people may be happy to commiserate with you over a coffee, in their professional roles they’re more likely to give your former employer the benefit of the doubt when you’re talking bad about them in the interview.
You don’t have to lie, but focus on challenges rather than problems and cite what you hoped to gain from moving to another agency rather than what you hoped to escape from your old one.
9. Brush up your Shakespeare
If the agency is asking for someone with strong English skills, they’ll probably be ready to test you on it. Depending on their needs, that might mean simply writing something, but in many cases that will involve an interview.
That doesn’t mean you have to submit your portfolio and cover letter in English. You can, of course, but if your English is less than perfect you’re better off submitting everything in your native language ― an interviewer will be a lot more forgiving in an oral interview than reviewing error-filled writing.
Take all the rehearsal you’ve done for the other stages of the interview and work out ― and practice ― how to say it in English.
10. Ask the right questions
With a few years experience, you should have a good idea of what goes on in an agency. Which also means you should know what you’re looking for in a new one. Salary and other contract details are important, but the questions that will make you seem smart are about all the intangibles creative output won’t always show.
How does the agency work? What are the processes that help them succeed? What does the agency value? You may or may not have gleaned some of that info from doing your homework, but by asking about some of those things now you’ll show you’re keen and discriminating in who you select to work with.
11. Know what comes next
Make sure you’re clear about what the next steps are, whether it’s a call-back, a second interview, a trial period or project or straight-to-contract. If you’re not willing or able to work around their timeline, then they might not be the agency for you at that moment.
Then send a follow-up email or letter. There’s been a lot of debate over how effective post-interview follow-up notes really are, but a nice, simple and non-annoying email or letter is a polite way to put you back into their minds while they’re in the decision-making process.
Now it’s your turn. Armed with a great portfolio and following these 11 tips, you’re sure to get yourself in great fighting shape for the next round of your job search. Good luck!
