Comments on: You are More than Your Portfolio

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 08 May 2009 11:22:07 +0000

I totally agree with you, but this is wishful thinking. We live in a world where a human is assessed only after his economic applicability. You need good relations in order to be perceived. If everybody do the same, the requirements grow at the same time. At the end nobody wins. Always just the same. ;-)

Therefore it needs a little knowledge of human nature.

What is a good or a killer portfolio? Is it worthless because you had no chance to work with well-known clients? Bad luck? Are portfolios basically nothing else than an Â»old hatÂ«?

By: Puharteago

Puharteago — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 07:47:55 +0000

Late post here but designing is NOT story-telling. I dont know where you got that from. Its simply organizing visually and making something interesting and adaptive to its environment. Its improvement graphics.

That bugs me just as when designers are referred to as artists, or design is art. Its not. Its got elements and sensibilities but its not. Its instant guides, not something you stare at and ogle over.

And Spiekermann’s “they hire the person” is a bit off too. I look at a portfolio and its immediate that the work will show all those qualities you list out. It should make me want to close it up after three pieces and take a deep breath with excitement because you’ve simply rocked me.

The questions I will ask are to simply verify what I can see are the solutions in the design work. I’ll weed out those hipster designers who’ve borrowed the portfolio.

Other than that I’m hiring whomever rocks me WITH their design work. Not just the person. Thats just not fully accurate.

By: exurban001

exurban001 — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 01:58:50 +0000

None of the design jobs I’ve interviewed for have really asked anything about activities, hobbies, or mentoring anyone. This must be in the really high end of design jobs. Most of the one’s I’ve interviewed for haven’t cared nearly as much about your potential as much as how close you dovetail into the job position. Thats been the entirety of my experience. For example not that you’re a creative problem solver and learned to do xyz, but do you have large format experience, yes or no.

The average person conducting an interview is always going to care more about what you’ve done. A major function of human resources is risk management. If you’re throwing it as “I’ve never done it, but I can easily learn because I learned (other thing)” you still constitute a risk.

By: Cesar

Cesar — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 18:44:46 +0000

I totally agree with the four traits in the article and the fifth in the comments.

In great interviews, we just talked, sometimes about stuff that wasn’t even related to the job, then we looked at my portfolio, as if they forgot they were interviewing me. It should feel like an afterthought; a formality almost (obviously here’s where things like competence and potential kick in).

In bad interviews, since there’s no chemistry or common ground, there’s too much awkward silence and there’s nothing to do BUT go through a portfolio.

Really good articles coming out of here now. I’m loving the higher frequency of content. Keep it up!

By: Pepe

Pepe — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 13:52:44 +0000

Great post, Chanpory. That is exactly the way it should work. In my opinion there is no better way to find out whether the cemistry between the boss (et al.) and someone who applies for a job is as it should be.

And, an interview that focuses on this points should be part of the application procedure at the art academies as well.

By: Alex

Alex — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 18:29:15 +0000

This is one the best posts I’ve read here. I completely agree. It took me a lot of interviews to figure this out. People hire people they want to work with, and there’s a lot more factors that go into it than a portfolio.

The place I’m working now didn’t even look through my whole portfolio. I thought that was a bad sign, but I got a great feeling form the interview. We just talked for quite a while. Our personalities just clicked.

By: Chanpory

Chanpory — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 18:02:48 +0000

E.T, I totally agree with you on potential encompassing all of those attributes. You’re also right that there’s no guarantee that someone you hire will be great. My point is that hiring decisions should not be based on portfolios alone, it some cases you might not want to look at them at all.

Designers, too, should not hinge their self-worth on how beautiful their portfolio looks. They should invest in honing the skills and traits that show off their smarts—in addition to what they can produce.

By: pmc27

pmc27 — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 21:48:37 +0000

Excellent post!! And it comes very handy to me, because IÂ´m hiring designers for the agency IÂ´m working at.

I think potential is very important too, what can you do with the things you learn. You can learn a lot of things, but can you apply it to work? Can you solve problems in real time? When you do a portfolio, specially with design-for-fun works you take all the time in the world to do it, but in real life times are others…

By: E.T.Cook

E.T.Cook — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:45:12 +0000

I think you are missing one item that encompasses all the others that is vital.

Potential.

Let’s be pragmatic. Not everyone has what it takes…and even possessing the above attributes does not a good employee make. I’ve known many that could articulate themselves well, they got along with others, had an analytical mind, and were passionate…however, they just didn’t possess the framework to be successful for whatever reason.