Tips for Organizing a Portfolio Before Interviews

My last post about hiring went a little viral — and my DMs + connection requests have been flooded ever since. One question keeps popping up: “Do you have a portfolio I can see? I’m not a designer, but I want to show my work better.” Let’s clear something up: ↳ You don’t need a beautifully designed portfolio. ↳ You just need one that does its job. ↳ It’s not just for visual roles. It’s for anyone whose work is strategic, behind-the-scenes, or hard to explain in a bullet point. (& I’ve got to give credit where it’s due — Sidney Waterfall encouraged me to create mine, and I’m borrowing heavily from her approach. Grateful for mentors who stick with you!) ----- Here’s what I included in mine, and what I loved seeing from other candidates too: 1. Contact Info 2. Table of Contents ↳ Let people jump around easily 3. About Me (Professional) ↳ Your approach, edge, and TL;DR career story (not too long!) ↳ What you believe in and bring to the table 4. Experience & Impact ↳ Your 1–2 most relevant roles (link to LI for more) ↳ What you owned, how you thought through the work, and what changed because of it ↳ Performance results (even the ones you can’t post publicly (while still being compliant)) ↳ Visual examples — screenshots, anonymized decks, internal docs 5. What Others Say About You ↳ I included 7 testimonials from past managers, peers, direct reports, and leaders ↳ Ask people you’ve worked with to write 1–2 paragraphs ↳ It feels awkward, but it really shines — and they are more than likely flattered and willing to help! (Shout-out to my 7 who took the time) 6. Skills ↳ Grouped and easy to skim 7. Working Style: Leadership ↳ How you lead, what you value, how you develop others (if in a leadership role) 8. Working Style: Personality ↳ How you thrive ↳ What helps you do your best work ↳ This helps both sides see if the environment is the right fit 9. About Me (Personal) ↳ I included: Motherhood, Cooking, and House Flipping/Renovations ↳ It helps people get to know you, not just your output — easier to connect + build rapport Formats That Work Don’t overthink it. Try one of these: ↳ Google Slides, saved as a PDF ↳ Google Doc, saved as a PDF ↳ Squarespace/Webflow/Wix/etc., if that’s your thing ↳ Notion (mine was built here) ↳ Aligned Deal Room → Free for job seekers: https://lnkd.in/euYy5pXK. Organize your work, show examples, and personalize it. If it helps you land a role, imagine what it could do for your sales team. (Not posting this to push Aligned, it's just too good to not include 😉) ----- If you’re new to the job market or pivoting, try a hypothetical campaign or strategy. A few candidates did this in follow-ups — and it was more impressive than past experience because it was fresh and relevant. Your portfolio doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to help people get you. I know I'm missing good tips/sections in here (character limits!), so drop them below. Wishing anyone searching allllll the luck! 💛

Confession: While I've reviewed thousands of portfolios, I've never read a case study all the way through. I ALWAYS scan them. I just don't have the time to look through every detail. And I know that most other folks who are reviewing portfolios are doing the exact same thing for the same reasons. This means that your portfolio should: 1. Make it easy to scan 2. Use big, high quality visuals 3. Tell quick, concise stories 4. Most importantly, make that story easy to consume in two minutes or less If I were to build my portfolio today, here's how I would do it using these principles: 1️⃣ I'd have a top overview section that has a short blurb of what to expect/what I accomplished AND the final mockups/prototype of what I created. 2️⃣ I'd write out each case study using a word document first to make sure that my headlines told the entire story quickly and concisely. I'd use a classic story arc 1. Context/background 2. Conflict 3. Rising action 4. Climax 5. Falling action 6. Resolution The simpler version of this is the 3 Cs of storytelling: 1. Context 2. Conflict 3. Change (AKA what improved as a result of your work) 3️⃣ I'd optimize my headlines below the overview to tell the story of what I learned. Once everything was written out in a Google doc, I'd edit everything down to the essentials. I'd make sure to pull out the important learnings/quotes and make them big so reviewers could easily scan them. 4️⃣ I'd break up sections with large images to make it feel more interesting and less fatiguing. 5️⃣ I'd ask friends and family to read it and provide feedback about clarity and how much time it took them. If they can easily understand it, see my impact, and quickly go through it, then I'm on the right track. 6️⃣ I'd use LinkedIn and adplist.org to find more folks to provide feedback. Again, I'd focus their feedback on clarity and the amount of time it took for them to go through it.

We all know we're supposed to "show instead of tell." But most design portfolios fail to do this and here's why. 👇 Designers love showcasing their raw work in their portfolios including outputs or deliverables such as: → Sketches → Diagrams → User flows → Wireframes → Sticky notes → Journey maps But to be honest, 90% of the time, I have absolutely no idea what is going on in those images. For example, I'll often come across a screenshot or picture of 25+ sticky notes, but: → They are too zoomed out. → If I zoom in, they're too blurry. → Even if I can seem them, they're too overwhelming. Then I start asking myself questions such as: → Am I supposed to read every sticky note? → What's important about these sticky notes? → Is this worth my time and attention to decipher? This is where storytelling comes in. What if instead of showing a raw zoomed out screenshot of sticky notes, we instead pulled out the key highlights and takeaways? Then we can guide the reader's attention to what's actually important, and optionally include a link to the original raw image afterwards. This creates a far more compelling narrative for our audience (hiring managers and recruiters), and ensures we're showing the right level of detail that is necessary to understand the story. Now to be clear, I'm not saying you should entirely avoid raw images or assets (or even raw Figma files). For example, these can be effective during the interview process because the designer can use their voice to guide their audience through the image. But when it's an online written case study submitted with an application, then you won't be in the room when a hiring manager first sees it. In that moment, your story will need to stand on it's own. It will need to communicate the right level of clarity and detail to compel the hiring manager to offer you an interview. In summary, when we want to "show instead of tell", that doesn't mean slapping a raw screenshot or image in our portfolio. It means reflecting on how we're using our words and images to give context, clarity, and tell an impactful story. Use it effectively to your advantage. What are your thoughts? #ux #design #portfolio #casestudy #storytelling

New Year, New Portfolio Tips This week, I spent a significant amount of time reviewing portfolios with talent—one of my favorite activities. Having examined hundreds over the past three years, I've gained a good understanding of what clients seek, irrespective of job title or industry. First and foremost, a hiring manager is unlikely to spend more than a minute or two reviewing your portfolio. If your work isn't easy to navigate and your top projects aren't immediately visible, you're doing yourself a disservice. The best portfolios feature key projects on the first page, allowing viewers to quickly grasp the person's contributions by reading a brief snippet at the top and viewing images, wireframes, or other relevant content below. In the UX/UI world, showcasing your entire process from end to end is crucial. Most importantly, remember that less is more. It's better to have 4-6 standout projects than 12 lacking detail. Hiring managers typically focus on the first few projects to understand your experience and design thinking, making decisions on the next steps from there. If you're seeking a new role in 2024, invest time in refining your portfolio with this thought in mind: If someone has one minute to review my portfolio, will they understand my work experience and design thinking process, enabling them to decide if I align with the job they are hiring for?

Let’s chat about the purpose of a portfolio because I feel like this is getting lost in translation somewhere. The purpose of a portfolio is to highlight your skills and abilities. You are showcasing what makes you uniquely you with your designs and what you could bring to a team and an organization. In order to do this, you need to tell a story around the designs. The most common mistake I see when reviewing portfolios is that the person will share a screenshot or a PPT file and not provide any context around it. Hiring managers can make an educated guess as to why you created this artifact and how you did something, but that’s the main problem is that they are guessing. They could be 100% wrong in their assumptions. You want your portfolio outlined in a way that if you were not present, they would still be able to understand the big picture. To do this, consider adding these talking points: - Summary of the project - Problem / Goals - Objectives - Stakeholders - Your role on the project - Target audience - Design process - Tools - Deliverables - Reflections In my opinion, this should give insight into everything and then, when you have your interview, the hiring manager should have a much better understanding of you as a designer. And most likely, they will want to dive in deeper into your portfolio projects, and you’ll be ready because you’re prepared (and awesome). Of course, if you have more questions around portfolios and how to make them, there is a whole week in Instructional Design Institute dedicated to portfolios. The next cohort starts in 12 days and I can't wait to nerd out with folks!