Interview Rules for Designers

Technical Recruiter at Omniture; passionate about leveraging technology to improve people’s lives

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Interview Rules for Designers

By Robert Merrill ⋅ February 27, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

Since I’m currently recruiting for a Web UI & Graphic Designer, the following caught my eye and I thought to share.

Jessica Petersen, Senior UI Designer at local tech company Omniture, posted the following to the local Utah Graphic Arts Foundation email list, which I think is a great set of rules for interviewing if you’re a graphic designer or otherwise vying for a creative position. With her permission, I share what she asked of the group. Your feedback is appreciated!

I have interviewed candidates for design positions within my organization for quite some time. It is my opinion that every good designer should always follow these rules when interviewing:

1. Always send samples of your work when applying for a position. Your design is what sells you!
2. Prepare yourself. Be ready to think on your feet.
3. Bring a copy of your resume.
4. Bring your portfolio - preferably in print format. (Yes, even web material. Don’t assume your interviewer will have a computer on hand.)
5. Consider bringing a giveaway so that the interviewer will remember you. (Business card, CD, etc.)
6. Always send a thank you email/note after the interview.

I have performed numerous interviews outside of Utah, in which all of these items are quite standard. So, I was shocked to say the least, when candidates did not come prepared.

Has anyone else had this experience? What are your thoughts on interviewing for a position? Do schools in this area prepare students for interviewing for a design position?

Thoughts? Comments? Please leave them!

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Tags: arts foundation, business card cd, design position, design positions, email list, graphic arts, graphic designer, graphic_designer, how_to_interview, interviewer, Interviewing, interview_tips, jessica petersen, omniture, quite some time, Resume, ui designer, web material

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Sheri Bigelow 8 months ago 1 point
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Hmm. Without reading Jessica's advice, I probably wouldn't have considered bringing a printed portfolio to a web designer interview. At my last interview though, I took a summary of my recent work. It was like a portfolio, it had small images showing my work, but it also had a lot of text explanation. I wouldn't consider it a full-blown printed portfolio. It went over pretty well. (I did get the job.) One cool thing to do might be to get a few little portfolio books printed like the ones available through iPhoto or PhotoWorks. And, if you printed one of the nicer books, you wouldn't necessarily have to give it to the interviewer--you could just show it. It might be a nice keepsake to have later anyway.

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