You have lots of beautiful mockups and renderings of your design work, so why do you keep getting ghosted?
‍
When people tell me they're applying for jobs and never hear back, it’s often because they're showing images but not explaining their design decisions and giving context.

Your portfolio isn’t just a collection of projects, it's the main tool hiring teams have to decide whether you’re worth interviewing or not.

If recruiters, creative directors, HR teams, and anyone else who's hiring can't understand what you were responsible for in each of your projects, they won't see how you can fit into their teams.

Once you understand who your audience is and what they want to know (we break this down in the guide) then writing about your work becomes simple and your portfolio becomes much more effective.

This guide shows you exactly what to do to make your portfolio work for you. You already have the skills. You just need to communicate them the right way.

For many years I was on one side of the table, applying to design jobs, waiting to hear back. It was always a mystery when I wasn't contacted. I had the skills, I had the experience — so why didn't I get interviews?

Once I started joining hiring teams and interviewing candidates myself, I started to understand the other side's perspective and what my portfolio was missing.

It comes down to this:
‍
Hiring teams aren't just looking for your design skills, they want to know what you'll contribute as a team member.

They're thinking things like: How do you manage your workload? How do you solve problems if your boss isn't available? Why do you think your design solutions are right? Are you familiar with processes like ours?

This guide helps you answer questions like this and understand the bigger picture of getting hired as a designer.

You know you're capable of great things as a designer but you can't figure out how to make other people see that.

You get conflicting advice on what kind of portfolio to build, what to include, and how to structure it.

Your portfolio is filled with student work or projects that feel "small" and you don't know what to say.

You're ready for the next level of your career but you're not sure how to prove you can do the job.

You just want someone to tell you what to do so you can finally get your portfolio updated!