Overview

It’s down to the wire. You’ve done the work, you’ve poured it in, you’ve updated your resume, you’ve put together some samples, and…nothing.

Where did you go wrong? Why do tech recruiters keep ghosting you? Why isn’t anyone hiring you? If this has happened to you, you’re not alone.

Today, we’re covering five big reasons you’re probably not getting hired and what you can do to fix it.

#1 Your portfolio is lackluster

This is, by far and away, the biggest reason you’re probably not getting hired. Your portfolio is the lifeblood of your operation as a designer.

It’s your calling card, your virtual sales letter, your proof of work, and what your skills will be measured by. If your portfolio does not slap, and slap hard, it will get lost in the shuffle.

Sure, your cover letter, education, and experience may get you in the door for the interview, but at the end of the day, your portfolio is what’s gonna get you shortlisted.

So what do you do?

• Build a portfolio that you’re proud of, not what other people want you to build. This keeps it real, and can lend a good deal to your authenticity.
• Showcase a wide-range of your work in a polished and clean way that doesn’t shy away from hard-hitting visuals.
• Let your portfolio prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that you’ve got what it takes to tackle any project that comes your way in your specific design proficiencies.

#2 You don’t curate your content

The next biggest mistake I see for designers in the UI/UX, product, visual, web, native, and tech spaces is that they don’t curate their content correctly.

You know what I’m talking about: you load up their portfolio and their work is all over the place without any rhyme or reason.

I’m not talking about displaying range, which is absolutely important; I’m talking about categorizing your work by section to make it easy for your viewers to find the type of work they’re looking for.

So what do you do?

• Take your work and organize it into distinct categories (Ex: UI design, UX design, Product design, Service design, Visual design, Graphic design, etc.).
• Showcase a good spread of your work, not just the best work, so that people can see your improvement as a design professional over time.
• Don’t be afraid to show areas where you failed as well, and what you took away from it, because it humanizes you as a candidate.

#3 You don’t showcase soft-skills

Another massive mistake that I see quite a few design professionals making is not showing off their soft skills.

How well do you communicate? Can you do it proficiently through spoken or written word? What about teamwork? How compassionate are you when your team is under pressure? How well do you take criticism?

These are the things that any employer worth their salt is going to be looking for when selecting a candidate, so we want to make sure that you’re showcasing your ability to go beyond design and be a part of the organizational ecosystem.

So what do you do?

• Talk or write about your experience working with teams or with other people.
• Let employers know that you both understand and value the importance of quality, honest, respectful communication.
• Show them that you know how to do it especially well by responding gracefully to your haters, or to other people who don’t share your points of view.

#4 You don’t have any credibility

This one ends up biting most juniors the hardest and I will admit that it got me bad when I was just starting out.

When you’re still cutting your teeth as an entry-level designer, it can be a rough go, because you have no credibility, no social proof, authority, accolades, or badging backing up your abilities.

You probably haven’t worked with any major companies yet, nor have you probably caught any big breaks yet. This can be a big challenge to overcome, but there are some things you can do to turn it around in your favor.

So what do you do?

• Join organizations like IXDA, AIGA, IxDF, and other professional design organizations that can help you become a better designer while allowing you to showcase your membership.
• Get on LinkedIn and hone your professional presentation until its razor-sharp.
• Showcase any certificates that you have, any badges they come with, and any proof that you have of your achievements.
• Write articles, tutorials, case studies, and more. Show what you know how to do, and prove it by giving away some (not all, but some) of your process away for free.

#5 You’re using the wrong title

But by far the biggest mistake that I see designers making is trying to be absolutely everything at once, and making that their title.

I could retire right here, right now, if I had a nickel for every time on LinkedIn I saw titles like:

“UI/UX designer | Product designer | Visual designer | Graphic designer | Enthusiastic Technologist | Photoshop guru | Serial Entrepreneur | Just doing me 💯✨ | 2Blessed2BeStressed | Please hire me”

In the words of the immortal Dan Lok:

“If you do a little bit of this, and a little bit of this, and little bit of this, then what the f*** do you do?”

No, if this is you, please do yourself a massive favor and pick a lane. Save the details for your bio.

I’m not saying that you can’t have more than one thing in your title, but you need to have a central focal point of your skills which you can use to drive home your value.

So what do you do?

• As a rule of thumb: you get one, count them, ONE pipe operator “|” in your title before people start suspecting that you may be padding your resume, so use it wisely.
• Keep it short, sweet, to the point, and speaking to your actual skills as a design professional. Whatever it is that you do the most of, or have the most experience in, should be your primary title.
• You can also leave junior, senior, or any other level-designation out of your title if you’re so inclined. There’s no law that says you have to put that in there, and in many cases if you’re just starting off, calling yourself a junior designer can actually hurt your chances of getting hired.

Bringing it all together

So what does this all mean for you? If you’re having a hard time getting hired, especially in the current economic climate, you’re not alone.

Here are a few things you can do to significantly improve your changes of getting hired on the open market.

1. Make sure your portfolio is complete, polished, clean, and showcases a good variety of your work.
2. Make sure your content is curated and categorized so that people can find what they’re looking for quickly.
3. Showcase your soft skills like communication, teamwork, and response to pressure by demonstrating them in your comments online.
4. Bolster your credibility by joining professional organizations, showing any accolades, awards, or certificates you hold, or by giving away some information about your process for free.
5. Keep your title short, sweet, and to the point, concentrated around areas of your greatest strengths, so you can more easily articulate your value to prospective employers.

Part 2

I will definitely be doing a part two, because I know how challenging it can be to land a job right now, especially in the design field.

To that end, in part 2 I will share some of the less common tips, tricks, and approaches to finding jobs that you don’t know exist, using Google to access harder-to-find information, and how to leverage faxing to get your application seen by the right people.