What hiring managers want to see in your online portfolio

Two business people reviewing content on laptop

Ever wondered what a hiring manager looks for when viewing your online portfolio?

Get the answers from the ones looking at your portfolio.

Below are questions people like you have when it comes to an online portfolio.

And the answers come from individuals who are the ones viewing hundreds of portfolios: Jenn Wolf, Director of Customer Experience, and Karen Medina, Senior People Strategist. Both work at Nav, Inc. who works with small businesses in securing financing. (You can view the YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1F7mlXiGmI)

What format should my portfolio be in?

The format isn’t as important as the accessibility of your portfolio. Do not hide your portfolio behind a password. Recruiters and hiring managers don’t care so much about the medium, just that it is easily accessible to them. However, don’t have it in a pdf.

Does having a free domain have a negative impact?

No! Again, it goes back to having online portfolio that is easily accessible.

What does the hiring manager need to see in a portfolio?

They want to see:

  • that you understand the problem you are trying to solve
  • how you solved it
  • what you learned

What else does the hiring manager look for in an online portfolio?

  • What is your process?
  • How do you think?
  • What is your approach to the work?
  • Did the product/feature create measurable results?

If your project did not go live and you don’t have measurable results, show that you thought about what success looks like. Mention how you would measure results.

What does storytelling mean in a portfolio?

Start out with the goal, defining the project, your role

Step through the process from beginning to end, make sure all the pieces connect.

If you did research, how did you leverage the research? How did it affect your strategy? How did it affect your project?

How did you work through the design process and how did you connect metrics to that?

What do you want to see first in a case study?

Images of the final product provide a quick visual of what the project is about. The intro frames the story of the project. Centralize on the customer problem first.

How long and how much detail do I need in my case study?

Approach it with balance. Have enough visuals to keep the viewer involved and enough context to explain the process and the steps of the project.

Make the high-level key points stand out in some visual way. Make the project skimmable and able to dive into the details if the viewer wants to.

Are there some things you often see in portfolios from junior designers that aren’t necessary?

The explanation of the process. We already know the process. We want to see the process demonstrated throughout your project. In other words, don’t share what user testing is; instead, share how you performed user testing.

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