Graphic Designer

This is your chance to show off—but don’t overdo it. Of course you want to showcase your best accomplishments as a designer, as well as the positive qualities that you can bring to the workplace. But that’s where many people lose their focus—they forget about what’s important to the company they’re interviewing with. Frame your strengths in a way that they are relevant to your potential employer. Whenever possible, try to tailor your responses so that they match closely with what the company is looking for. For example, instead of just saying that you know InDesign, you might mention that you have plenty of experience designing multi-page materials if you’re interviewing with a company that puts out a lot of brochures.

Avoid using clichés, like saying you’re a “hard worker” or a “team player.” These are empty words unless you have examples to back up your claims—which you should. You want to sound impressive to potential employers, but you also have to present yourself in a way that makes you stand out over all the other candidates, who are likely just as “hard-working” and “team-playing” as you are.

Give a brief summary of your professional persona. Include who you are, any education or experience you might have, and maybe a few snippets of information on your career thus far. You don’t want to go into too much detail, just think of this as an introduction to who you are. You want to be friendly and open, with a focus on your accomplishments as a designer.

You don't want to go into too much detail, just think of this as an introduction to who you are.

It’s a good idea to hand over a business card at this point. Many people wait until the end of the job interview for this (if they have a business card at all), but it makes a better first impression if you offer your card during introductions. It not only shows you have a professional attitude, it actually gives your interviewer a first look at how you design (assuming, of course, that you design your own business cards.)

We’ve all made blunders along the way. Employers are sympathetic to this fact, but they also want to work with designers who have learned from their mistakes and improved their craft because of it. Be prepared with examples from your career that demonstrate your ability to bounce back from a mistake—without making you look like a total doofus.

Be prepared with examples from your career that demonstrate your ability to bounce back from a mistake—without making you look like a total doofus.

Employers also want to see that you’ve learned from your mistakes—not just that you’ve learned to avoid making the same mistake again, but that you were able to adjust the way you work or think. They want to know how this mistake has made you a better graphic designer, not merely that you were able to save face after the fact.

Perhaps making a mistake in a graphic design program inspired you to research and learn more about it, to not only prevent future mistakes but discover new ways to improve your craft. Employers see you as an investment, so you have to show them that you’ll only get better with time, and that the longer they stick with you, the more value you’ll demonstrate.

You know that lame thing where you try to make your “weaknesses” sound like a positive thing?

“Oh, I work too hard. I’m too much of a perfectionist. I’m too nice!”

Interviewers can see right through that act. When they ask about your weaknesses, they’re not trying to find out what’s bad about you, they’re trying to find out how you deal with your own shortcomings, and what steps you’ve taken to improve yourself as a designer. When you try to cover up your weaknesses, it demonstrates to the interviewer that, well, you try to hide your weaknesses instead of fixing them.

When you try to cover up your weaknesses, it demonstrates to the interviewer that, well, you try to hide your weaknesses instead of fixing them.

Give a few relevant examples of your greatest weaknesses, but also provide examples of ways in which you’ve tried to work on them. Once again, you should back up your claims. Suppose your biggest weakness is that you have difficulty managing your time. Instead of just saying it’s something you need to work on, mention how you got a new app for your phone that’s helping you better manage your time, or that you’ve started writing out a schedule before working each day.

When interviewers ask this question, they’re trying to find out if you’re able to use their in-house software, or how quickly you’d be able to learn if you’re unfamiliar with it. Obviously, your best-case scenario is to know ahead of time what kind of software they use. If you already know how to use their preferred software, this will be a pretty straightforward answer.

If you don’t know their software or you have no idea what they use, this can be a tricky question to answer. Tell them what you do know, and try to include any program you think they might use. If you use something that’s similar to another program, that can also be a big help and the interviewer might not always be able to make that connection, so be sure to do it for them. For example, if you use one of the many Photoshop alternatives out there, you probably understand the basics of Photoshop too.

Express a willingness to learn new programs—this is a good idea even if you’re familiar with their in-house software. You never know when the company might upgrade to new software, so designers who can make the switch without taking a long time to adjust are always favorable candidates. If you’ve ever had to learn new software for a job in the past, be sure to mention this in your interview.