Have a job interview coming up? Here are my top tips to nailing it.
Don’t we all just love job interviews? The lovely anxious feelings of not knowing the questions that may come your way, if they’re going to like you and ultimately if you’re going to land the job you’ve been wanting. I’ve worked as a designer for a few magazines (both full time and freelance) and have had my fair share of interviews. From my experiences, I feel like I’ve cracked the code to making sure it goes as well as possible (I mean, we can only control so much). So here I have rounded up my top 5 tips to nailing that job interview you’ve been accepted for and whilst they’re focused towards graphic designers, there are some takeaway tips that can be applied to any interview!
1. Have a professional portfolio.
This is absolutely key as a graphic designer because I bet you 98% of job applications will ask to see a collection of your work alongside your resume. You want to make sure your portfolio contains a thoughtfully curated selection of the work you’re proudest of instead of being a place that holds everything you have ever created. I chose to create my portfolio in the form of a website as it makes it super easier to share as all I need is a URL (I made sure to make my URL something short, clean and catchy so people could easily remember it and look it up themselves). My advice for creating your own online portfolio is to use Adobe’s “Portfolio” tool that comes with their Creative Cloud subscription. This is how I created my website and it gave me all the tools I needed and more. Just remember, your portfolio is the first chance people get to see who you really are so while trying to look professional, also have fun with it and make it look like you! If you want to check out my portfolio, it’s karacreative.com.au.
2. Research the company you are applying for.
This is the first thing I do after I find out I’ve been successful in getting an interview and I cannot stress the importance of doing this. The company who is looking to hire you want to see that you are enthusiastic about their brand and understand what they’re all about. You want to be able to confidently answer any questions like “What do you love about our brand?” or “What drew you to this company?”. Researching the brand could mean following their Instagram account or visiting their website. For any magazine I’ve applied for, I’ve always made sure to read at least one issue so I have a clear understanding of their ‘look’ and target market. Doing this also helps to boost your confidence in the interview as you won’t be worried about being put on the spot.
3. Be prepared for tricky questions.
I have had interviews where I’ve been asked tricky and awkward questions such as “what’s your biggest flaw?”, “what’s one thing you didn’t like about your last job?”, and even “what’s one thing you would change about our company if you could?”. I personally don’t love these kinds of questions because they’re focusing on a negative quality about either yourself or the company. So my advice is to always try to put a positive spin on your answer and never be self-deprecating. For example, instead of saying your flaw is taking too long to complete tasks, you could spin in around and say that you like to finish your work at a high standard which can lead it to taking up more time (see what we did there?). I also always like to recognise that I’m working on improving these “flaws”. I think the people interviewing us try to throw us off with these loaded questions to see how we react so it’s always a good idea to prepare some answers in advance.
4. Have questions ready.
I can guarantee that at the end of your interview you will be given the opportunity to ask some questions of your own. Come prepared with some questions as this is your chance to suss out the job you’re applying for. You can ask questions about workflow, work hours or workplace culture, anything that you’re curious about. As well as finding out if the job and company are right for you, you’ll also be demonstrating your qualifications, your curiosity, and your interest in the employer.
5. Be yourself.
At the end of the day, just be yourself (as cliché as that sounds). You can prepare for weeks for an interview but in all honesty, I think authenticity beats any scripted answers or pre-prepared questions. While everything I’ve mentioned is definitely important to consider for an interview, you foremost want to be able to show and articulate who you are as a person and what unique qualities you can bring to the role.Because if they don’t want you for you, there are plenty of other jobs out there that do!