The thing that I regularly find is that designers might be good at putting together a portfolio to showcase their work, but are not as skilled when it comes to writing a CV.
I want to take this opportunity to share my experience of the way that companies look for new employees and give a few pointers on what I look for when I read through CVs and portfolios.
When you respond to an advert, there should be three things that you send in with your application: (1) a covering letter, (2) your CV and (3) your portfolio.
(1) Your covering letter is an opportunity to make your application relevant to the job in question. Your CV will probably be quite generic, but your covering letter can take the facts from your CV and show how these relate to the role you are applying for. This is one of the ways that you can differentiate yourself from everyone else applying for the role.
(2) Your CV tells the company about your experience, skills, education and interests. This is an important document - as much so as your portfolio - because it tells the company about how you work, what you've worked on, what you know, how you learn and what you want to be. Remember to include everything here. If your CV is too brief, it can appear as though you have nothing to put into it. Your CV demonstrates your commercial and academic performance. HR people will be looking at this to check that you have enough relevant experience, qualifications and skills to make you a viable candidate.
Your covering letter and CV together serve to show the person you are and your goals, drive, personality and approach to creativity.
(3) Your portfolio shows that you can actually do what your CV says you can do. But there is something significant that commonly gets missed: your portfolio needs to be relevant and needs to show some commercialy viable work. I regularly see people applying for a job as a designer by sending a portfolio that contains artwork. Whilst it's good to see that you are so creative (and on the strength of some of the work I've seen recently, take time to only pick your best work), I need to see that you can use your creativity to communicate information in a commercial context. Make sure you include at least a few examples of brochures /adverts / posters / branded items / stationary. This stuff is essential to show your ability to work within the constraints given by the requirements of the project, brand and format. It doesn't really matter how you send your portfolio - real print, PDF or website. As a personal preference, I like PDF because I can print it if I want to and I know that I'm seeing the work as intended, rather than how my web browser has chosen to implement it.
These three elements work together to show how you as an individual fit the role as a designer and how you fill the requirements of the advert, but there is one other thing that you can do: phone. Taking the time to make a call for feedback will always count in your favour and can help you fine-tune your CV and portfolio.
Good luck with your job hunting, and please do send me your CV - I keep them on file in case I need either permanent or freelance staff.
Alan
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