A positive side of the consumer products industry during these Covid days, is that people are connecting digitally more and more. Our ‘Tips’ series of ZOOM calls provide opportunities for job seekers to interact with industry leaders and hiring managers in fashion, home, and beauty.

Our recent virtual event focused on design portfolio tips and featured design veterans Keryn Francisco, Noreen Naroo-Pucci, and Sally Daliege. With a combined brand experience at Nike, Under Armour, The North Face, Fila, Calvin Klein, bebe, and more, this group had a lot of portfolio insight to share. This included the do’s and do not’s when it comes to portfolio presentations. We are here to offer three simple tips to help you make a great impression on your next job interview:

1. Have a digital portfolio.  Paper portfolios are a thing of the past, so it’s imperative to have a digital portfolio. Whether it is a PDF version or a website, make sure it’s updated and contains paid work more so than school projects.

2. Showcase your authentic, creative self.  As we have heard many times over, a lot of people can take pretty pictures. What is more important during an interview/portfolio showing is that you communicate to the hiring manager about who you are as a creative, and why your creative skill sets align with the brand’s needs. Noreen, a design leader, suggests to include a short one-pager in your portfolio that details out who you are as a creative.

3. Control the narrative.  It is always advised that you (the designer) walk the viewer(s) through your portfolio. This allows you to show the pieces that you’re most proud of and that speaks to your skillset, and also allows you to tell stories about your work and explain your creative process. Hiring managers love to hear about processes!

One last pro tip: always have your technological device charged and ready to go.

Hopefully these tips will help you to tweak your approach to showcasing your style and essentially marketing your personal brand. It’s a crazy competitive world out there currently, but your talent, hard work and attention to detail will pay off.