Landing That Dream Job: A Web Design Graduates Checklist

Landing That Dream Job: A Web Design Graduates Checklist

Posted on a web design blog by Jordan in Articles

When studying at University, it’s easy to forget about what you plan to do after you graduate and to just concentrate on the next piece of work that needs submitting for your course. However, planning ahead and working throughout your University course can help put you ahead of other graduates and save a ton of time playing catch-up after graduating.

Let’s take a look at some things every web design student should have ready when graduating.

Your Degree

First things first, you’ve got to knuckle down and get that all important degree to help open those doors to your dream job. Lets take a look at what elements make up that all important qualification.

Always remember, there's light at the end of the tunnel!

Good degree work

A lot of students can breeze through their University course, doing the minimum amount of work for those all important pass grades, but this does little to help you when graduating. Although some pieces of work you produce on your course may not be suitable to show potential employers, it’s imperative that you have some work to display in a portfolio when you leave (it’s even more important if you aren’t planning on doing any kind of freelance work whilst at University).

A lot of design courses help students find real life clients for their final projects, this is a fantastic opportunity to show potential employers that you can work on a ‘real’ project for ‘real’ clients and for a lot of graduates, will be the most important thing you’ll produce whilst at University.

If the work is of a good enough standard, this can also be presented in your portfolio.

Good degree grades

If you’re doing good work, then good grades will follow. Chances are, if an employer is asking for a potential employee to have a degree, their next question could be what grade you achieved. While it’s certainly better to have a degree behind you than not at all, a degree with a poor final mark can look poor on your resume and could really put potential employers off.

There has been a lot of debate around grades lately however, take a look at some interesting links:

Degree grades ’should be replaced’ – Telegraph

Good degree attendance

University isn’t all about waking up at 1pm in time for your afternoon clan meeting on Call of Duty, it’s also about making sure you’re in class for important lectures and not missing vital learning time. There aren’t many students coming out of University with 100% attendance records but a decent attendance rate makes sure you aren’t missing a lot and can look impressive to employers should they ever ask.

Good degree attendance can help reinforce learning and impress employers

Your Portfolio

People say degrees open doors, if that’s true then I’d like to think that portfolios help you walk through them. In my opinion, there’s nothing more important to an employer than the work you produce and display on your portfolio.

Your website

Your portfolio website is the most important item you’ll take with you into any interview, it should contain your best work, display personality and show the viewer just how much you know about web design.

We’ve already spoke about using some University work in your portfolio, but chances are if you haven’t completed any freelance work during your time at University, there will only be one or two examples of work you’ve produced for actual clients. This can be a problem when it comes to applying for jobs as employers may be hesitant to hire graduates with minimal commercial experience.

This is why it’s always important to be doing as much work as possible in your spare time to help grow not just your portfolio, but also your skills as a designer and developer. While at University I created websites free of charge for friends and some small local businesses, while many people are against this type of free or ’spec’ work, these types of projects can be invaluable to a design students future prospects.

Presentation

Of course, it goes without saying that your website should reflect the type of work you’ve been creating for University and clients. There are no right or wrong ways to present your web portfolio, but lets take a look at some great examples of online portfolios.

Brian Hoff uses a great minimal design that really catches the eye

I'm a big fan of Daniel Guillans website. It's clean and gets the job done.

Oscar Barber has a really simple, textured design with all of the content at hand.

Clients

It’s not always possible to get some real clients on board your portfolio while at University, but any sign that you’ve completed work for even the smallest of clients can really impress potential employers.

How To Get Paid Freelance Work While You’re Still A Design Student

101 Ideas to Get More Freelance Work and Generate New Client Leads

How to Get Freelance Work with Twitter

Your first dealings with a 'real life' client can be daunting, but you'll benefit from the experience.

A Blog

With the ever expanding market of easy to access content management systems, starting and maintaining a blog has never been so easy. A blog can give you a space to discuss design topics that may not fit into your standard portfolio as well as give you a platform to showcase your work on a scale your portfolio may not offer.

Although you cant be expected to maintain a huge design blog while undertaking your degree, a few posts a month on certain design topics, such as the ones you’re covering in your modules for example, can give you a chance to showcase not just your work, but your understanding of the theories behind it.

Here are some great examples of designers that use their portfolio site together with a blog:

Chris Wallace uses his website as a hub for his portfolio work, blogging and WordPress themes.

Kyle Steed uses his website to showcase his work as well as video blogging his thoughts.

A Blog case study

A great example of someone using a blog as a platform to both showcase and attract work, is Jacob Cass of Just Creative Design. Jacob launched his blog in November 2007 and it has grown into one of the biggest and most well known personally run designs blogs on the Internet with over 20,000 subscribers.

Although Jacob is posting a little less lately, you should certainly subscribe to his feed.

Jacob, hailing from Australia, has used his blog as a platform to secure a full time position at a New York based design agency. This is a fantastic example of how a blog can open many doors for you if you’re prepared to put the work in.

A Résumé

Of course your design work is the most important thing for a web designer but what about your CV / résumé? A lot of graduates spend a ton of time making sure their online portfolio looks perfect, but often they will attach a standard word document or hastily created PDF to their email as an afterthought. This can instantly undo all of your hard work with some employers, so take time when creating anything you’ll pass onto potential employers.

Contents

So what should you look to include in your résumé? Well, of course put in your qualifications, relevant work experience (they don’t need to know about your paper round when you were 11) and a little about your hobbies. A résumé is supposed to act as a brief synopsis of what you’re about, so try not to overload the reader with too much information.

How to write a successful CV

Design

You’re a designer, so why shouldn’t your résumé look as good as the work you produce! You can head on over to www.misterstevenson.com for a look at what some great designers came up with for a generic CV design. Lets take a look at some great résumé designs:

Christa has a really unique and clean design to her CV.

Julien incorporates some nice graphics into his CV design.

A really unique CV with a nice, high quality image.

Conclusion

Hopefully we’ve gone some way to giving students and graduates a helping hand in what they can use to help prepare themselves for life after University. Although all of the above will certainly help prepare graduates for future employment, there is no substitute for good work and ensuring you produce a high standard of work throughout University will give you the best possible platform in which to achieve everything you want to when you graduate.

Have we missed anything? If so let us know!

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23 Responses to “Landing That Dream Job: A Web Design Graduates Checklist”

  1. Glenn

    08. Jan, 2010

    Thanks so much. This is exactly the article I needed at the moment!

  2. Jordan

    08. Jan, 2010

    No problem Glenn, hope it helped!

  3. Jacob Cass

    10. Jan, 2010

    Wow, that was a surprise. Was scrolling through and saw my mug there, thanks for the post and you are right, it really is amazing what can be achieved with a bit of blogging added in with hard work.

  4. Jordan

    10. Jan, 2010

    Thanks for the comment Jacob, I think you’re the ideal case study for any graduate looking to establish themselves and give them a different way of showcasing their knowledge.

    Good luck with the new job!

  5. Gelo

    10. Jan, 2010

    This really helps me prepare for the real world while I still can. Thanks for this great article!

  6. Jan

    10. Jan, 2010

    Great. I really like your article. I am 20 years past my graduation and posts like yours keep me updated.

  7. Seán Mongey

    10. Jan, 2010

    If anybody ever gave me a resumé that looked anything like the resumés above I’d laugh in their face.

  8. Jordan

    10. Jan, 2010

    They’re not everybody’s cup of tea Seán but I think they stand out because of how unique they are, which is why they were chosen for the article.

  9. Kim Woodbridge

    11. Jan, 2010

    Thanks for linking to my article about using twitter to find freelance work :-)

    Great article!

  10. Landing That Dream Job: A Web Design Graduates Checklist | Design Newz

    12. Jan, 2010

    [...] Landing That Dream Job: A Web Design Graduates Checklist [...]

  11. Jordan

    13. Jan, 2010

    No problem Kim, it’s a great article!

  12. cchana

    13. Jan, 2010

    those CVs have given me some inspiration to go off and create something a little more special for myself! great post!

  13. Lee Simpson

    13. Jan, 2010

    Don’t waste time with a CV. They’re pointless.

    There is nothing you can say in a CV that a potential employer can’t find out from your website, blog and LinkedIn, especially if you’ve just graduated.

    Spend that time contacting employers, building up contacts and sending them towards your website.

  14. Link Collection #2

    15. Jan, 2010

    [...] Landing That Dream Job: A Web Design Graduate’s Checklist – A Web Design Blog [...]

  15. Richard

    16. Jan, 2010

    I have to agree with Lee Simpson, fancy CVs may stand out but they’re not for everybody.

    HR personnel are also notorious for using any reason to throw any given CV in the bin as soon as possible to get the pile down.

    Take the risk at your own peril and make sure your portfolio online is top drawer.

  16. Jordan

    18. Jan, 2010

    Although I agree that there are more important things than a CV, I think it’s foolish to neglect any piece of work an employer will see.

    Yes, some may look at it for a split second and move on but there is always the chance that an employer will look at your CV and wonder why you’ve rushed it. I’ve picked very extreme examples of CV designs but something a bit more subtle is perhaps the best solution for most.

    Thanks for the comments Lee and Richard.

  17. Link Collection January 2010

    06. Mar, 2010

    [...] Landing That Dream Job: A Web Design Graduate’s Checklist – A Web Design Blog [...]

  18. matt

    08. Mar, 2010

    i think the most impressive thing on a cv is experince you have had but of course if your a designer you need to show you have a creative style

  19. Ed

    20. Apr, 2010

    I’ve been in the biz myself for 7 years. If I were to throw in a few cents worth of advice, here’s a few tidbits.

    First of all, your portfolio needs to show useful, professional products. That sometimes means design that is sometimes more functional than beautiful. When you are a designer you’re actually more of a visual salesman. Your site should reflect this. You should also learn the business model of the various companies you want to work for.

    Secondly, the job market is very challenging right now. I have been at 6 companies and freelanced for probably 10-12 so far. Even so, I lost my job and it took my over 4 months to land a new one, and this was after applying to some very junior positions and submitting 150 resumes at least. Don’t get discouraged. Just keep sending in those resumes. All it takes is one job and you’re in!

    Lastly and perhaps somewhat unrelated is where you plan to live as a graphic designer. Most might say places like NYC, SF, Washington, etc. Indeed these places have more jobs but at the same time they are extremely expensive cities. You might not think about that much when you’re 22-25. But when you get married and want to buy a home, then it becomes a little problematic. I’m experiencing that myself as a married guy. Moving when you’re older and settled can be a challenge. Thus if you can make it as a designer in a smaller/cheaper city, you might actually be better off later on. I guess the word is economic sustainability.

    Good luck!

  20. Corey Zeimen - Omaha Web Design

    14. May, 2010

    Does a degree really matter these days when it comes to getting a job at a firm?

  21. pooja

    07. Jul, 2010

    Thanks for this useful artical can you suggest any web designing website to enhance my skills?

    Thanks

  22. Denizli WEB TASARIM

    30. Jul, 2010

    Excellent! I’ve got this bookmarked for reference. I was searching like this article. It’s awesome, thanks for the great post

  23. Web Design Hippo

    04. Aug, 2010

    Cheers for this, I wish I found it earlier, but I had most boxes ticked!

    I landed a web developer job about 2 months after graduating.

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