Why you didn’t get that design job
Applying for a new job is never easy. It involves putting your work and yourself out there. Whether you’re seeking an escape from a negative situation or currently unemployed, it can be disheartening when you don’t hear back from a company or receive a rejection after making it through part of the hiring process.
How one candidate gets chosen over another can be a mysterious and confusing process for many designers, especially if you’ve never been a hiring manager. Many designers see this as a reflection on their talent, but many ingredients go into a good match — talent being just one piece. Having served as a hiring manager for several dozen designers in my career, and having been involved in the hiring of hundreds more, I hope I can shed some light on everything that goes into you getting that next job.
Your work may not have been seen
In many companies there are filters in place that prevent your work from reaching the hiring manager. Automated systems scan resumes for specific keywords. Recruiting partners may focus excessively on education or past experience without fully understanding what makes a great designer. Sometimes, the task of screening portfolios is delegated to art directors or even junior designers who may not recognize a candidate’s future potential. And in the current state of the industry, there may be so many qualified applicants that the hiring manager just stops looking at new applicants.
Within my team, I’m actively working to break down these barriers. I prioritize sharing job opportunities when I come across them, and I’m readily available through direct messages and office hours to personally review portfolios for Adobe Design jobs. Additionally, Adobe has excellent design recruiters like Chris Hickey, who possess deep knowledge of what makes a designer successful.
Your portfolio doesn’t represent you well
Not all talented designers have great portfolios. After doing portfolio reviews for years as part of the Behance team, there are a few issues I see over and over:
- Show your best work: Instead of showcasing everything you’ve done, focus on highlighting your strongest pieces. Show fewer, better things.
- Show the kind of work you want to be doing: People often hire based on what you’ve done before, so make sure your portfolio reflects the type of work you want to do in the future.
- Keep your website simple and accessible: Place your work front and center, avoiding the need for hiring managers to click through multiple pages before getting to your work. And think about your audience — make sure it works on mobile.
- Prioritize the final outcome: Emphasize what you were able to deliver to customers. Your process is important, especially the challenges you had to overcome, but the tangible results matter most.
Remember, hiring managers are often looking at dozens or hundreds of portfolios, sometimes in their off time or between meetings. Make it easy for them to choose you.
Your skillset may not match the requirements
You can be the best visual designer, but if I’m looking for a motion graphics designer— you’re not getting the job. This isn’t a reflection on the quality of skill, but the type of skill. For one job you could be the perfect candidate, and the next I’m looking for a different tool set.
Hiring is entering into a relationship, hopefully a long term one. I’ve seen designers apply for jobs for which they are overqualified because they are out of work, and it’s clear our team would just be a pit stop on the way to something else. People on both sides of the hiring process need to take stock of what they want and make sure it’s a good fit for everyone involved. Sometimes when designers describe the job they want, and I know it’s not the job I’m hiring for. This may mean saying no to a great candidate.
Your personality isn’t a match for the team
Also known as the no assh*le rule. The team leader is the chef and and every person they add to their team is a different ingredient. New hires needs to be considered in the context of everyone else on the team and how change will impact them. Good hiring is about diversity of experiences, personalities, viewpoints and backgrounds — not everyone is right for every team.
You never had a shot
This can be a tough realization, but sometimes you were simply not in contention from the start. Sometimes an offer has already been extended to another candidate, but not accepted. Many large companies require jobs to be posted publicly even if they already know who they want to hire. Sometimes the hiring manager forgets to take down a post and it stays up indefinitely. Several times in my career the job I’m hiring for has gone away — budget cuts claim an open job or the needs of the team change and the search gets rebooted. No one gets the gig and silence can appear like rejection.
Managers make mistakes
Often, managers are great designers who get promoted into positions they were never trained for. Because of this, there are instances when managers rush the hiring process and hire the first candidate they interview. It’s easy to hire someone who has already done a job before and to feel safe in that choice, but they might not bring new ideas to the table or might bring a toxic way of working along with them. People hire friends or designers have worked with before, even if they aren’t the best candidate. There are times when finding any person seems better in the short term than finding the right person.
I’ve had hiring managers who call me 6 months after I’ve accepted another job. I’ve talked to multiple recruiters in a single company who clearly aren’t talking to each other. And hiring managers often don’t actually know what they need, or may have no experience hiring. There is no omniscience here — we’ve all hired people we wish we hadn’t and bad luck may be the culprit.
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I hope these insights provide some clarity for those who haven’t experienced the hiring process as a hiring manager. If you’re interested in learning more about how Adobe Design hires and builds out great teams, check out our site. Keep producing excellent work, be prepared, and keep putting yourself out there. Silence, or even a no may not be about you, sometimes it’s about them.
As always, reach out to me on Twitter or on LinkedIn and I’d love to talk about this post, or anything else.
Eric Snowden is the VP of Design Adobe, and gives talks around the world about health and sustainable design teams. In the past he’s worked for Behance, 99U, Atlantic Records, Warner Music Group, Parsons School of Design, and Anderson Ranch Arts Center.
