It is said that one in two people in the world wants to be a freelancer, to work when they want, and to determine their own level of income. Let's not argue now that such statistics are fake, but rather focus on those people who are comfortable working for hire.
Let's say you are a novice designer, you have only 1-2 completed projects or 0 at all, but you feel motivated to develop in design further and want to get a job. Before you run out and register on Behance, let's figure out what a good, selling portfolio should be, whether resume templates will work, and how not to present yourself.
What to do with a resume?
Let's start the conversation with a resume, since it is often requested along with a portfolio.
Many designers don't pay attention to this file because they think no one looks at it. They look, more often than not, to find out your skills, places of work and study, availability of professional courses taken, and personal preferences for projects and salary levels.
You can use this for your application:
- Ready-made resume templates. No, it's not embarrassing, although a resume is a demonstration of your skills. But in it, the text is more valuable and important than the design, plus a well-chosen template can demonstrate a prudence and good taste.
- Own resume templates. A good tone is to customize this file for each job or company. Yes, it takes time, but it shows your serious approach to the job. When you have a template in Photoshop or Figma, all you have to do is tweak or delete, add some information, and you're done.
- Special services that offer different resume design options. Often some of their functionality is free, but most features are paid. They are good for a one-time use.
Can I use resume templates in my portfolio?
Let's say we've got the whole resume thing figured out. What about portfolios and can I make them small and add them to my resume? You can do it, but it's not a good idea. This is acceptable for an internship or internship (free) with a company.
Will resume templates work? The situation is similar to the previous one. Resume templates, after all, are created under the resume with a certain, generally accepted structure. A portfolio has a different purpose, respectively, other requirements for the structure and design. Therefore, it is better not to use resume templates.
What should be the structure of a portfolio?
The best way to present the work is to present it as a case study. In other words, the portfolio should follow the scheme "purpose, challenge, or problem - your vision, your solution - the end result. So a potential employer will see that for you design is not only about pretty pictures, but about developing solutions that solve specific problems, about functionality. It also demonstrates a serious approach to work and understanding of marketing, business tasks.
You can structure a portfolio in different ways:
- By topic of work. For example, designs for cars, weddings, toys for kids. This method is appropriate if you have a lot of work in different areas (at least 2-3 in 1 direction).
- In terms of volume and complexity of projects. This option is appropriate if you do the work at different levels of complexity - for example, 5-7 blocks of banding and 10-15 with animation and gamification.
- By type of work. This is when you are engaged in the development and one-page, and business card sites, and multi-page online stores, and portfolio sites. Sort your work by these categories.
You can also order a service from online resume services, where they will create a resume for you according to your needs and requirements. This will maximize your time and add to your chances of getting hired.