​Do I need a portfolio to be considered for a design role?

The response from all our interviewees was a resounding YES, especially in today’s highly competitive landscape. Without a portfolio, you may sacrifice your chance of even getting a first-stage interview. Hiring managers need to see that you’ve got the knowledge and experience required, and even at senior levels, some level of portfolio is expected to show how you design and create products.

“CVs provide you a taste of what someone can do, but you don’t know if a candidate has the right skills for a role from this alone. Putting a portfolio together can be time-consuming, but see it as an opportunity. With a CV, you’re measured against where you’ve worked and a short description of all that you did there, whereas a portfolio allows you to really show off your skills.” –Caitlin Rich – Principle Product Designer, Freetrade

When putting together or updating your portfolio, try to ensure you’re answering the following questions through example work, case studies and recommendations:

Soft skills:

• How do you communicate with others?
• How well do you work in a team?
• How do you go about resolving everyday conflicts with a peer without escalating?
• What values are important to you?
• How do you contribute to organisational values and culture?

Hard skills:

• What software are you competent in?
• How do you use the software available?
• How do you articulate and present your design work?

“Spelling and grammar are extremely important for any candidate portfolio. Having a clear layout and imagery is also important for me because I need to see evidence from the designer that they can do the job at hand.” – Milon Harman – Head of Product Design, TES

What are the most important things to showcase in a design portfolio?

1. The design process

“Spend your visual real estate on the visuals and workings, not just endless shots of post-it workshops. Talk about the problems to be solved. Talk about who you worked with to get to the solution. Talk about the challenges and opportunities passed up, not just a chronology of the work. And show examples of the work with descriptions about why what each bit you are showing matters to the project.” – Charmaine Wyland – Head of User Experience and Design, Spotlight Sports Group

“Interviewers want to see a narrative: outline any problems and how you overcame them, then follow up with results. Be prepared to expand on how you came by those metrics, whether you’re happy with them, and what you would have done differently a second time round.” Steve Pearce – SVP Product Design, Checkout.com

“With case studies covering bigger projects, you often don’t know what the candidates responsibilities were. It helps if they are clear about the team structure and their contributions. Be upfront if you were the lead product designer, though had support from a strong UI designer, or partnered with a user researcher. If you had little support and covered the whole design process, make that clear too!” – Caitlin Rich

2.Relevant examples

“Look at the job description and pick out examples from your portfolio that fit the role you’re applying for – I like to see the link. Why are you the best fit for this organisation? What can you bring to us that no other candidate will have, and what’s that thing that will give you the wow factor? I like to see how you holistically think about how you connect everything else to your position.” – Milon Harman

3. Your design skills!

“The design of the CV and portfolio is very important. CVs that are poorly laid out or are difficult to read immediately signal that the candidate is not a strong designer. Same for portfolios, if it is difficult to navigate or doesn’t give me a clear idea of what they can do, can I really trust the candidate in making our product easy to use and understand?” – Caitlin Rich

“Interviewers are looking for evidence of visual acumen – a shabby, poorly laid out portfolio doesn’t show much skill or love for your craft.” – Steve Pearce

Can I showcase confidential work in a portfolio?

Before you consider using any past work in your portfolio, ensure you have permission from the employer or client. If the work is confidential, make sure you’re clear on the specific rules of distribution and legal rights for that project.

​If you can show work in an interview:

“Give a very detailed description of what the work is and why it’s directly relevant to show in the interview. If you are interviewing with a competitor, it’s a very small world, so be very considered in what aspects of the work you do show in an interview so it doesn’t land you in legal hot water later.” – Charmaine Wyland

“Bring in a printed PDF and be very specific about its confidentiality, noting that the work is only being shared for the purpose of advancing your application. I would never expect to leave the documentation with the interviewer, and if they ask, the candidate should refuse.” – Milon Harman

If the company you have done the work for has asked for you to not show the work publicly, but you are not under a strict NDA:

It’s advisable to omit this work from your online portfolio completely until the project is publicly launched, but an alternate option is to:

“Password-protect your website and try to utilise tech that disables someone’s ability to screengrab it. Do NOT send PDFs or screengrabs because you run the risk that someone at some point will show it to the wrong person. If you are interviewing with a direct competitor and there is any sensitivity around the work, don’t risk it – don’t show it.” – Charmaine Wyland

If you can’t show work at all:

It can be frustrating when all or most of your recent work is bound to confidentiality agreements, but you do have some options.

“Show what you can, even if it’s a top-level outline of a project, and clearly communicate why you can’t show the details. You can always go through your process, without giving too much information away. Though make sure you have other case studies that demonstrate skills you may have had to strip out. In some cases, that might mean showing hypothetical work, but this can only get you so far, so make sure any hypothetical work is balanced against real work.” – Caitlin Rich

“Companies with confidentiality agreements usually have large legal teams, so give them a call and ask for their advice on any ways you can get around this for interview purposes.” – Steve Pearce

Does it matter which format my portfolio is distributed in?

The consensus among the design leaders we interviewed was that each of the following formats has its benefits in different stages of the process, but that generally more than one is expected.

Website

“Websites or online interactive platforms are preferred, especially for those working in digital product. The site structure and navigation of your portfolio site will tell me more about how much you care and how competent you are at designing or directing the build of something that is all yours, compared to other work you might show where you can hide behind group contributions.” – Charmaine Wyland

“Websites are easy to manage and can showcase a lot of work, but they are difficult to tailor to a specific role. I often find that websites have so many case studies that it is hard to know what to focus on. Hiring managers often have limited time to review a portfolio and understand what you can do, so make sure they are seeing your best work.” – Caitlin Rich

PDF

“When I’m screening through a CV, I would expect an online portfolio for me to look at. In an interview, I expect a slimmed down PDF version with the best work from their most recent positions. If they can base their interview around that, that would be impressive to me.” – Milon Harman

“The benefit of PDFs is that they can be tailored to the job description. The downside is that it can be quite difficult to lay out complex projects into separate pages that make sense, but that does help you to be concise.” – Caitlin Rich

“I think these days it makes more sense to have your portfolio online or as a hosted PDF. It’s really your call but try to avoid a novelty page-turn style portfolio – think about what you’re trying to show and if it’s a true reflection of your skills!” – Steve Pearce

Online professional networks

“I would prefer a website portfolio, but if they don’t have one, I would expect them to have an online portfolio on Creativepool, The Dots or Behance.” – Milon Harman

“For visual design and UI roles, sites like Dribbble are okay, but for product design, there’s not really enough information to understand how people work through complex problems.” – Caitlin Rich

Thank you to Charmaine, Caitlin, Milon and Steve for their time – we hope you find this advice useful in your future job searches! If you’d like to learn more about standing out during the interview process, please read our recent article on Top Interview Tips for Designers.

If you’re currently looking for a new opportunity, why not check out our current Digital, Product and Design vacancies?

The post Top portfolio tips for designers appeared first on La Fosse.

5 key things hiring managers look for in top design candidates

​

Are you a ‘giver’, ‘matcher’ or a ‘taker’?

We’ve all heard the question ‘what can you bring to the team/business?’, but in reality, it’s much more nuanced than that. Hiring managers are looking for candidates who can not only bring their personal skills and ambitions to a company, but who plan on using their knowledge to help the organisation progress and succeed.

“To sort out which type a candidate is, I try to focus on asking for examples of how they helped another person’s career: Are they specific? Do they talk about helping people who could not directly positively impact their career? I ask about how they collaborate and see if they give any credit to other people on their team for a great contribution. People who give and match will help your team and company reach success – takers care about themselves and their own ambition; they can do a lot of damage if not carefully weeded out.”– Charmaine Wyland – Head of User Experience and Design, Spotlight Sports Group

Do you know the business impact of your work?

“Many designers (and researchers) don’t know the financial impact of their work -how much money their work has made, cost or saved the company – some don’t care. I look for someone who knows the potential business value of their decisions and contributions.” – Charmaine Wyland

From a senior or lead designer, hiring managers will likely expect in-depth understanding of how they can articulate their design thinking back to the overarching business strategy, so be prepared to discuss this.

Do you have the right soft skills?

“Soft skills are hugely important. How well can the candidate collaborate with others, and how well do they take on constructive feedback (and disregard when appropriate)? How confident are they in challenging ideas but not being disrespectful of anyone’s knowledge, expertise or role?” – Milon Harman – Head of Product Design, TES

This also ties in with being a good company fit. What values and culture can they bring to the organisation? Hiring managers will be keen on understanding where and how the candidate will fit in with the existing team and wider business.

Do you have the right hard skills?

“As well as how well they can use a package and how good their design thinking skills are, I want to see how well the candidate can work within an agile environment. Do they follow processes, and if so, which ones? Additionally, how well can they use quantitative data to better interact with users?” – Milon Harman

Have you got a strong personal brand?

“Personality, personal branding and organisation skills are all important things for a design professional’s website – I expect it to be spell-checked, well-written, and to give credit where due, for example if they have collaborated with another designer. I don’t want to see a lazy copy and paste job – this has led me to instantly disregarding candidates in the past.” – Milon Harman

Hiring managers also want to see candidates with a genuine interest in their field. Start considering how you follow and engage with UI/UX/product trends.

​Common design interview questions to prepare for

​

4 common interview questions for UX Designers

1. How have you approached business needs and balanced them with customer needs?
2. When and how have you challenged briefs from product or stakeholders when it came to identifying the user benefit or issue?
3. Have you employed mental models or empathy maps in your thinking as you work on a user flow?
4. How have you validated a design solution before, and what research did you base your hypotheses on?

4 common interview questions for UI Designers

1. How familiar are you with UX patterns and how they work in a large, complex UI ecosystem?
2. Have you ever designed a product that required a high level of accessibility consideration?
3. Have you ever designed a large, complex design UI system?
4. Have you ever had to evolve a UI design system from what exists on a complex, messily coded legacy product – if so, what was your approach?

4 common interview questions for UX Researchers

1. What different types of user research methods have you employed in your career so far?
2. Can you work both on your own and as part of a larger UX/research team?
3. How do you bring stakeholders and designers on the journey of the importance and value of user research?
4. How do you break down technical/academic research methodologies and research findings to be more easily understood by those in the company not as familiar with user research?

​How to stand out when interviewing for a design role

​Research the business

This goes much further than just finding out the general backstory. Make sure you’re able to ask detailed questions about how this role is helping the business – what do they want this role to deliver, and how can your unique skills or experience help the business fulfil their objectives?

Be prepared to give specific examples

“It’s very easy to say, ‘yes I can do this’, but you need to bring a situation to the table that you can talk through in detail. Even if things didn’t necessarily always go right and didn’t play out in the perfect way, you learn so much from that that you can bring to interview.” – Caitlin Rich – Principle Product Designer, Freetrade

The most important factor in all this is that you want to be memorable. Discuss one of your portfolio pieces and recount the challenges and successes you had from the project – what did you learn from this particular assignment? The more detail you can provide, the better chance you have of standing out.

Having trouble structuring your examples? Check out the STAR technique.

Shout about your skills

Don’t undersell yourself! Even if the role description doesn’t require you to have full-stack experience, it’s worth mentioning this (or any other proficiencies you might have) as having cross-functional capability is infinitely more valuable to both the business and your career progression.

“Instead of seeing UX or UI as separate skill sets, I consider product design as a whole. This is especially important when you are scaling – you need someone who is a full-stack product designer who can also deliver with mastery of their visual craft. UI experience is preferable as it’s monumental when starting out and harder to teach.” – Steve Pearce – SVP Product Design, Checkout.com

Ask targeted questions

An interview is the perfect opportunity for both parties to learn a bit more about each other, but neither you nor the interviewer can read minds! Don’t be afraid to ask if there’s anything the company wants to see from you that you haven’t discussed already.

“In an interview where I think the applicant is promising and I want to progress further, I’ll tell them straight away. In the same way, when they are a little under-qualified, I’ll ask them if I’ve made a fair judgement and give them a chance to respond or challenge me. Not only does this immediate feedback establish trust early in the process, it also allows the candidate a chance to provide further information which might change my opinion.” – Steve Pearce

Crucial questions to ask during the interview process

​The answers to these questions will usually be provided by the hiring manager during the application process, but it’s important to ensure you’re fully aware of the ins and outs of your new role before you accept a potential offer.

1. What is the level of the role within the organisation? (Junior, mid, senior etc.)
2. What is the salary range?
3. Who do I report into and what is my team structure?
4. What duties (and aren’t) are expected from my role?
5. Will my day-to-day work involve collaboration with other teams/departments? If so, who?
6. What progression opportunity does this role have?

​We hope this article is helpful in your future job searches! Watch this space for a follow-up blog on the importance of having a design portfolio, and how you can optimise it.

In the meantime, why not check out our current Digital, Product and Design vacancies?

The post Top interview tips for designers appeared first on La Fosse.

What is IR35?

IR35 legislation began in 2000. It essentially states that when a contractor provides their services via a personal service company (“PSC”), there are tests in place to determine whether or not the contractor would be deemed to be an employee, were it not for the existence of the PSC.

Inside? If the contractor would be deemed to be an employee but for the PSC, then the PSC must tax its income in a manner similar to employment income. A genuinely independent contractor is likely to be considered ‘outside IR35.’

So what are the reforms?

Traditionally, contractors working via their limited companies have been responsible for determining their own employment status.

But the IR35 reforms already introduced in the public sector have shifted the responsibility from the contractor to the client or hirer. If the client or hirer gets that decision wrong, the liability for any missing tax sits with them.

Who does it affect?

Currently it affects only the public sector. The proposed change is to make this applicable across all industries and sectors for any temporary or contract workers.

How will it affect Contractors:

If your engagement is inside the scope of IR35, then your agency or client will be responsible for paying you net of PAYE tax regardless of whether you operate through a limited company.

How will it affect Businesses:

If you have a large population of contractors in your business, you may encounter unrest and uncertainty around the turn of the tax year as people establish whether their engagement is classified as being inside or outside of the scope of the new legislation.

With the shift of responsibility from the contractor to the client or hirer, you will need to make a judgement call on where your contractors sit in relation to IR35.

What steps businesses can be taking now to prepare:

• You will need to determine whether your contractor’s status is within or outside of IR35, so it would be good to familiarise yourself now and start making these assessments ahead of time.
• HMRC have an online tool to help determine whether the contractor is within or outside IR35.

We hosted a breakfast round-table event for private sector hiring managers, sharing insight around the possible implications of IR35 for their business, and provided an open forum to discuss hiring strategies should the legislation move forwards.

For more information visit our IR35 hub.

Learn more about our private equity specialism.

The post IR35 in the Private Sector: What you need to know appeared first on La Fosse.