Rookie Portfolio Mistakes

First, I'd like to reframe your perspective. A common rookie mistake is to think that your portfolio is about you. It's not. It's about them. You are a Brand and you need to know how to behave like one. As a reminder, I like using Marty Neumeier's definition of Brand.

A Brand is a person's gut feeling about a product, service or organization. – Marty Neumeier, The Brand Gap

If you accept that it's not about you, but rather your potential employer, then it makes sense to look at your work from their point of view. Now if you have little professional experience, hence the rookie part, this might be a little harder for you to do, but you have a wonderful imagination, so let's use that skill.

Try to imagine what it's like to be the person at the other end of the table or the screen. My assumption is that you are a designer (print, interactive or motion), but you can use this type of customer profiling for any potential client.

Let's start. Here are some pretty safe assumptions–

• They're busy. If they're in a position to hire you, chances are, their company/organization is growing and needs help. Their time is very limited. Be mindful of this.
• They're looking for someone with a very specific set of skills, likely to help them with a project they currently have. If you don't demonstrate and make that clear at the very beginning, you will lose them right away.
• They've seen lots of portfolios before. It will be difficult to remember you unless you do something that stands out.
• They've had bad experiences with talented people before who are difficult to work with– as in, pretentious, know-it-all and more focused on their own portfolio than doing a job. Unless you're working off site, your demeanor/personality will have a big impact on the office. Recruiters take that into consideration. They will imagine what it might be like to spend 8 hours a day with you.
• They have a budget and need to work within it. What do you charge and what are the terms? Ambiguity and indecisiveness don't help here.

That's not a complete profile but it should be sufficient to guide what you should do next. Look at your work and see how you are positioning yourself as not just another candidate, but the candidate for their specific needs. I've posted a video on this very subject if  you want to skip reading this post.

Now, let's work on some actionable steps to address the list above.

1. Put your best work up front. Edit everything else out. Believe it or not, within about 3 sample pieces, a recruiter will know if you are a good fit. In motion terms, you have about :30 before someone will stop and move on. Saving your best work for last or the bottom of your site increases the odds that it will never be seen.
2. State what you do and don't be ambiguous. What are you? I am a Strategist, User Experience Designer, 3D Modeler, Texture Artist, Compositor, etc... Believe it or not, mislabeling who you are/what you do will sabotage your chances of getting a call. At most, present two skill sets. That's it. This sounds like common sense, but many students feel compelled to label themselves as animator, for fear that being any more specific will be detrimental to their prospects of finding a good job. They're casting a wide net. Presenting a little bit of everything says that you are unsure of what you are really good at, and if that's not your core competency, they will find someone else.
3. Align your body of work to support your positioning. Once you've made the claim that you are a 3D Modeler, show beautiful, optimized (low poly count), untextured models. A simple turntable of your model is more effective at demonstrating your skills than a finished shot that has been composited. Again, hide or remove everything else that doesn't support your claim. When companies are looking, they want to go with the safest bet– the person most likely to get the job done.
4. Undifferentiated. If your work looks like what everyone else is doing, it will be hard to remember you. If that's the case, it's anyone's guess as to why one person will get the job and not another. The solution to this problem is more complex than shuffling some pieces around.
5. Be a great listener. During an interview, demonstrate your ability to listen, process and ask great questions. Don't try to be clever and finish someone's sentence. Often times, you'll get it wrong, but worse is that you create the impression that you're not actually listening. If you don't understand something (a term or reference) ask a clarifying question. It will make you more likable and show the employer that you're not like to make assumptions or pretend that you know something. That's a person they can trust and shows a great deal of maturity and self assuredness.
6. Inconsistent. Your portfolio should show a consistent level of work and establish a pattern of excellence that supports your positioning. Don't include work you are not proud of because you feel compelled to have a certain number of projects. This degrades your credibility.
7. Process books. No one has time to look at this. Most recruiters can identify talent within 3 portfolio pieces. The rest is about curiosity. Their time is precious and should be treated with respect. Only show process if asked.
8. Sloppy work. Entry level design positions are all about craft. How well have you mastered the fundaments? Do you know how to use tools that relevant to prospective employers? Some obvious mistakes like spelling can be avoided just by running a spell check and proofreading.
9. Poor targeting. Applying to companies en masse with little alignment between what you do (area of expertise) and what they do (based on body of work).
10. Don't over promise. A sure fire way of starting off on the wrong foot is to make promises that you won't be able to deliver. This can be in the form of A) Charging a rate that is well above your skill level and B) Agreeing to do whatever is asked of you despite your inability or inexperience doing it. A better way is to be completely transparent and say that you have limited experience doing "x", but will do your best if given the opportunity.

If you can shift the focus towards what your employer needs, you will have a much higher chance of getting the job you want. With that understanding, start building a brand that will generate opportunities for you.

Chris Do
Chief Strategist/Founder Blind
Cofounder The Skool