Applying for a design position - Is a single click application enough?

Recently, I am was on the hunt for new a Digital/UI designer to come and work with me.

And not so recently, I used to give an annual talk to final year Swinburne design students on 'How to get at design job'. Over the years, a lot has changed. But in many ways, a lot hasn't and I find the same things undoing what could have been a great application.

You see as designers, you should care about the detail. The words, the spelling, the alignment. As a UI/UX designer, you should also care about the experience someone like me, your 'user', has navigating their way through your channels. And more often than not, it's the detail that let most candidates down.

Based on the applications I received (about 45 & hundreds more over the years), I thought I would share what I consider to be very 101 design job application tips. Now some of you may disagree and think this is arrogant, judgmental - possibly biased. Sorry, I'm human. And not a very perfect one.

LinkedIn has made it super easy with a one-click apply to put your profile in front of a lot of people like me with very minimal effort. That's great, we're all busy, but it has also opened the door to some very lazy errors popping up that at least with me, stop you from getting further down the recruitment process. And, OK maybe it's a bit old skool, but I think to apply for a new job, no matter what level, should take a bit more effort than one click.

So here we go, the top three are...

A cover letter

Ok, not mandatory but only one applicant took the time to look at our company and articulate their thoughts in a cover letter. If you want to stand out, here is a good place to start.

A CV that looks good and easy to read

Only about half of the applicants had a downloadable CV.

Of the ones that did, most looked bad and nearly all had an error of some sort.

But it's all in LinkedIn so why the CV? At the recruiter side, having a CV makes it easy to share your application with other people. It's you on a page or two. And it's another great opportunity as a designer to stand out from the pack.

Ok, maybe I am a bit biased but in my experience, I have never had someone with a badly formatted or hard to read CV have an excellent folio. Ever. Most of the time, I won't even look at the work if the resume is bad. "Why?" I hear you ask. Because you're a designer. And good designers care about every single output. They like to make things that are easy to read or use be it an app or a CV.

Check, recheck and then get your Mumma to take a look. Mistakes look scrappy.

As I like to say - everything communicates.

Folio

Have one, it's a design job. Your folio will open the door to the next stage of the process. 15% of the applicants to my recent design position did not supply a folio (or I couldn't find it)

Have a folio link that works. 6 out of 45 had a bad or broken URL (that's a bit over 13%) Apologies for not heading to google to try and find a real working link.

That is unless you are Christopher Doyle, which you're not. His 2008 CV is one of the greats and to this day, I still remember it landing on my desk. No need for a folio. Hire him! If you don't know who or what I am talking about just do yourself a favour and click here. No one-click apply there.

Or this, for copywriter Jo Coleman. Ok, he has a folio but the landing page alone got Jo global exposure. It showed creativity and an understanding of his audience all wrapped up in one brilliant idea. You're hired!

Bonus Points

1) Make the folio link (or any links) in your PDF CV clickable. Small thing but just means the user (the person you want to work for, doesn't have to cut and paste the link in a browser)

2) Have a website folio instead of a PDF folio. We live in a digital world. With many free options such as Adobe Portfolio, there really is no excuse to not have an online folio that looks good.

3) A cover letter. Ok, it's not mandatory but as mentioned above, if you knew that less than 3% of applicants to my latest position did one, would you change your approach? At a minimum, it does show that you have taken the time to review what your prospective employer is looking for, what you can offer and articulated why you see a fit.

4) Interesting Interests. Another bias of mine but interesting, creative people are generally interested in lots of things, not just design. And I believe good designers are usually interesting people. Drinking coffee is not an interest.

5) If you do get an interview, prepare for what you might be asked. Remember, the interview is not about your work, it's about you and how we might work together.

6) After an interview, no harm in sending a followup email. People are busy. Thank them for their time. Maybe there were things you forgot to mention or questions unanswered. Interviews work both ways. What did you take out of the experience?

Finally, the process of hiring or being hired is like all UX/CX processes. It can be reviewed and improved. Someone is trying to buy someone like you. You are trying to sell you. People like things that are easy to buy. Take a look at the experience of buying you and see if you are easy to buy.

This is far from an exhaustive list so if you have any other tips you would like to share, please put them in the comments!