How to Prepare for a Graphic Designer Job Interview

Your career as a graphic designer starts with strong interview skills. Experienced hiring managers look for graphic designers who are flexible in their vision but hold strong convictions about their talents. You need to prepare for a graphic-design job interview with your long-term career goals in mind.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Portfolio
• Resume

1. Head to a potential employer's website to prepare for questions you will face in a job interview. You should pay attention to recent press releases, high-profile projects and job descriptions for the graphic-designer position, becoming familiar with the company's approach.
2. Contact your references around the time of your interview. You should inform former supervisors and colleagues of upcoming interviews to prepare them for phone calls from a potential employer.
3. Organize your graphic design portfolio in a way that allows an interviewer to see your progress in a clear way. You can place prints and sketches in a large binder, including a sheet of paper for each sample, with production notes and the date of production.
4. Show your professional side in an interview with experienced designers by donning clean and simple attire. You should avoid the temptation to dress in bright colors, allowing your samples and your interview answers to show your creativity.
5. Review your resume to prepare sufficient answers to questions about lapses in your work history. Periods of self-employment, unemployment and illness will be addressed in an interview to determine your work ethic.
6. Keep searching for positions as a graphic designer while you prepare for an upcoming interview. Your approach to the graphic-designer job search should include continued pursuit of new leads until you have received a job offer.
7. Separate your credentials from the competition with a simple statement of purpose on your resume. Your statement of purpose should explain your reasons for applying for a graphic-design position. A simple sentence showing your ambitions, without grammatical and spelling errors, may send your resume to the top of the list.
8. Highlight your leadership and group-work skills in your interview for graphic-designer positions. Design firms, publishers and engineering firms look for graphic designers who are able to work with diverse groups faced with tight deadlines.

Tips & Warnings

• Pitch ideas to interviewers on how to improve on current firm practices. Most graphic-design firms have online portfolios of past clients, including the results of the projects. You should offer your own sketches and ideas on ways to keep large customers coming back for more.

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