2. Strong Portfolio and Branding
Employers look for a great portfolio, and a strong branding that conveys
your personality and skills.
What makes a good portfolio?
- A strong logo that sets the mood for your personality
- A tagline that creatively states what you do
- Large high quality images of all of your work
- A list of your skills or services
- A strong about me section that really conveys your personality
- A call to action that guides users to the most important sections of your site like your portfolio and contact
- Social networking
- The overall writing tone to your site is friendly and personable - don’t sound like a corporate business
- Your site is w3c validated
- Case studies
- Link your images not just text
- Have a portfolio piece to display that is either for a client or benefits the real world like a downloadable
icon set or a wordpress theme - most employers will not be impressed by only school work unless it is top
notch.
- more info here http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/02/26/10-steps-to-the-perfect-portfolio-website/
3. Strong Case Studies
What makes a strong case study?
- Multiple screenshots
- Client background information
- Project overview
- A list of specific services provided
- Client testimonials
- Consider a dedicated page for each case study.
- View http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/09/20/showcase-of-case-studies-in-design-portfolios/ for
more details and links to sites with great case study examples. You can also check out Cabedge’s case
studies for ideas.
4. Be Memorable
Make a lasting impression with a leave behind or another creative
memorable experience. A strong leave behind is something the employer
can interact with, keep on their desk, or actually use in their office (like a
coffee cup).
5. Know Your Minimum Salary
Crunch some numbers and figure out how much can you comfortably live
on so you know what salary to ask for. Make a budget of all of your
expenses that you will have post graduation. Make sure you include your
student loan payments, and factor in taxes from your salary.
If you have to fly to another city for an interview, or move somewhere for a
job be sure to ask the employer if they have it in their budget to help with
these expenses (most companies do, but may not tell you if you don’t ask).
Upon your interview be sure to discuss raises. Most companies will give a
raise after 3-6 months, then another after 1 year. You should not be
working for a company that still pays you your starting rate after 1 year.
6. Where are you willing to live?
Decide what cities you are willing to accept jobs in. If you just limit
yourself to one area you are greatly reducing your chances for more job
opportunities. Make a list of all of the cities you are interested in. Then
make a list of all of your wants and needs for a city. Be sure to research all
of the ones you are interested and make sure they meet your needs. Do
not even bother looking into firms that are in areas you know you don’t
want to live in.
7. Know what you want in a job.
Make a list of wants and needs for your ideal job. Consider things like
salary, holidays and vacations, 401k, health care, do they provide you
equipment, what your ideal work environment is (relaxed and fun, they
have a keg, ergonomically chairs, they are dog friendly, ect.), remote
working, monthly activities, their work flow is similar to yours, ect. This will
help eliminate firms from your list. You do not want to settle for a job that
doesn’t meet your needs list unless you ABSOLUTELY have to. I’m talking
no other job offers, last resort or you will move into a cardboard box.
8. The Job Search (aka weeks of research)
Researching for your ideal job should not be a quick thing. You don’t want
to accept your first job offer until you’ve looked into a few other options.
You should be browsing several firms and doing thorough research.
Ways to find firms: http://www.similarsitesearch.com, twitter, linked in, see
who is hosting meet ups and what company they work for, check for
companies who’ve one addys, pick up the local city’s business journal, get
on the city’s chamber of commerce site.
As you find firms you are interested in, make a list with the firm’s name,
website, and contact information. Put notes on there for what you do and
don’t like about the company. This will help you decide on your top picks.
9. Research the Firms You Like
Research the firms you are interested in. Get a feel for their personality,
see what kind of clients they work for, and look up their employees
portfolios, twitters, ect. Make sure your personalities will mesh well. If
you’re not a religious person, you probably don’t want to work for a
conservative firm that does mostly non-profit work for churches.
10. Network!
Network everywhere - twitter, linked in, facebook, go to conventions, meet
ups, take your business cards to bars, ect. You never know where you will
meet someone who can give you a connection to a great job. Always be
searching for opportunities to be around people in your field.
11. Call the firms on your list.
Call every firm on your list. Tell them you are a student about to graduate
and that you are interested in working for them. They will be more willing to
help you if you say you are a student. Have your portfolio and resume on
hand to email to them. Take notes on your list about what was said on the
phone, and what actions you took. These will be important to reference
back to when firms start contacting you back.
12. Follow Up
Make sure you follow up with every firm you speak to, and everyone you
meet from networking. Maintaining a strong relationship with others in your
field is important. Be sure to send a hand written thank you note (and
maybe a cool leave behind) to any firms that take a peek at your portfolio or
consider you for hire. Even after you land a job, stay in contact with the
other firms who interviewed you. You never know what great openings they
may have down the road.
13. Meet with Patrick. Seriously.
Take Patrick for coffee or lunch, and pick his brain for input on job
searching. He has some great tips for this whole process. He really helped
me figure out where to start. Don’t be afraid to ask other connections you
have for advice or to critique your portfolio.
14. The Interview
If you land an interview make sure you have a list of questions ready to
ask them. You should be interviewing them as well. Again you do not want
to settle for just any job.
Questions to ask:
- What will I be doing each day?
- How long do your projects usually take?
- What will my hours be each day?
- What is the dress code?
- Do you offer parking?
- Do your employees usually have to stay late?
- Are your projects ever past due?
- How many employees do you have?
- What’s the turnover rate?
- Can I work remotely some days?
- Do you offer benefits?
- How many projects will I be working on at one time?
- Are there senior designers (or developers) who will be working with me as I gain experience?
