Looking for a New Interior Designer Job? Then Create an Impact

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Looking for a New Interior Designer Job? Then Create an Impact

If you’re looking for a new interior designer job, you know it's tough. So many interior designers, so few interior designer job opportunities. Worse still, seemingly all job adverts demand decades of experience for even the most junior roles.

Despite the fact it all seems stacked against you, there are things that you can do to make a difference. That leaves the hiring manager with a great impression of you. And in this article, we focus on how to make an impact when applying for an interior designer job.

You Need to Stand Out to Get a New Interior Designer Job

To get that elusive interior designer job, you need to stand out. And to do this, adopt the fundamentals of marketing. Namely, specialise. Because if you specialise, you present yourself as an expert. That is, compared to other interior designers applying for the same job.

And there are many ways to stand out, come across as an expert, when seeking an interior design job. Including:

• Focus your efforts on particular types of firms.
• Direct your attention to certain sectors of the interiors industry.
• Seek out firms whose brand values and company ethos resonate with you.
• Target distinct parts of the design process.

It's so important that you stand out. As it forms the foundation upon which you can create an impact. And you'll read about this in a future article.

It's Not You, It's Me

'It's not you, it's me,' is a sickening, cliched line. Yet in the context of getting a new interior designer job, it's unfortunately very true. 'Me' in this context is your potential employer. 'You' is you, the hard-working, gifted, clever, super quick learner, job-seeking interior designer. That potential employers don't notice.

Because in life it's all about 'me'. We strive to satisfy our own needs. Our own wants. Struggle to solve our own problems. And we all have lots of needs, wants and problems. In fact, more than we can manage. As such, potential employers don't think about your creative talents going to waste in the local supermarket.

To summarise, I'll butcher John F. Kennedy's famous quote from his 1961 inaugural address:

?"And so, my fellow Interior Designers: ask not what your potential employer can do for you – ask what you can do for your potential employer."

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Put another way, what is the outcome the studio gets when they employ you?

Can You Get to the Point?

Can you get to the point? Something that recent graduates struggle with most. As a result, present to potential employers a 40-page design portfolio covered with teeny-tiny text. Universities want the detail such a presentation offers. By virtue of their support of your journey to become a qualified interior designer. Which means they need to assess your progress. To do that, they need to know the process you followed when you created your designs. To use another phrase, how you created your design.

Outside academia, the interiors industry is notorious for tight margins and even tighter deadlines. People in the industry are unlikely to have the time, or patience, to rigorously evaluate lots of big portfolio presentations.

So, you need to completely change the way you present your creativity. Instead of describing the 'How' in fine detail, consider you’re presenting to people who place much less emphasis on your design journey. If they even care at all. Rather, they want to know about the outcome. Therefore, What you did. More than that, what the outcome can give them. To give this a different phrase, the 'So What'.

But don't worry, you can rise to this new challenge. Convince your potential employer that you will solve their problems. Satisfy their needs and wants. And to do this, you simply need to get to the point.

Get to the Point

Get to the point, and land that new interior designer job. Let's start with the number of slides in your portfolio. Ten or less. Yep, ten:

• ?One introductory slide. Something like "Alison Bliss, Interior Architecture and Designer, seeking a retail interior designer role". As you need to stand out, be specific about the role you're looking for. And briefly describe anything that helps make you stand out. For instance, awards won or shortlisted for.
• One or two slides for your CV. Use concise wording. And scrub out anything that isn't relevant. Highlighting hobbies on your CV is controversial. My view, if your hobbies make you stand out, include them. Otherwise, leave them off. Run-of-the-mill pastimes, such as sport, reading, going out, films, and so on, won't make you stand out.
• Four to six slides to represent 2 projects. Of course, you want to show off your best work. On the other hand, remember it's about what you can do for them. A commercial project is unlikely to strike a chord with a firm that services private resi clients.
• Finally, one contact slide. Repeat your introductory text. And add a call-to-action. Something like 'If my portfolio resonates with you, then I'd love to be considered for a role at [firm name].' Provide your contact details. Add links to any professional social media accounts and / or website at the bottom.

Similarly, interior designers tend to use far too many words when applying for a new interior designer job. To illustrate, using a real-life example. Although to protect the interior designer’s identity, I've changed the brand and advertising campaign. The first image is where we began:

Our start point was to identify what's important to a potential employer. What's likely to interest them. Furthermore, not interest them:

To make sense, it needs rewording:

Already with this approach you used half as many words. However, using the ‘So What, What, How, How’ method will achieve you even more. I alluded to this method in 'Can You Get to the Point?' above. To explain further:

• ?So What: what it means for the person receiving the service.
• What: the physical outcome.
• How x 2: the process followed to achieve the ‘So What’ and ‘What’.

The order is important. That’s to say, a potential employer will likely care much more about the ‘So What’ (Red) and ‘What’ (Green) than the ‘How' (Blue). Using this approach, we get:

Not only is it less words again, it’s also punchier. More importantly, it shows a potential employer what they get when they employ you. And that’s a happy client of their own.

Yes, a portfolio presentation is more images than text. But the same principle applies to visual presentation. One image for 'So What' - the final design, or a visual of it. One or two for the 'How' such as work in progress photos or representations of what inspired your design. Conversely, adding images to your introductory and contact slide is great. Ours is a visual industry after all!

Create an Impact to Get a New Interior Designer Job

To sum up the key take aways:

1. You need to stand out. To do this, specialise to present yourself as an expert compared to your competition. Other interior designers.
2. It's not about you. It's all about them, your potential employer. And what your employment will give them.
3. Get to the point. Limit your portfolio presentation to an absolute maximum of 10 slides. Communicate effectively using the 'So What', 'What' and 'How x 2' method.

Do You Want to Improve Your Chances of Getting a New Interior Design Job?

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