4 interviews, same feedback

Can i ask what companies you interviewed at or what industries they were in? Also what type of questions did they ask? i.e did they test you on your knowledge of designing for manufacturability - (some schools do not touch on this at all)

Lack of experience can mean many things even for recent graduates (beyond professional work) and sometimes be things that your school did not teach / or the student did not take the time to learn…

pm me and im happy to talk via phone - and ask some probing questions to better help provide you with insight.

For a full time graduate, the portfolio feels light. It may be that you left earlier work out of it, but the work in there feels week and under-developed. The helmet seems to be the biggest example of this - and an example of why I wouldn’t have given you a callback.

You put the topic of that project as “sustainability” but your final result gives no indication that you had given any real consideration to sustainability, how helmets work (and why they need to be discarded after a heavy impact, due to potential structural failures of the foam) or even the users who would wear that. Did you go to a single person who rode a bicycle and say “I’ve proposed this large fabric mohawk” and have them say “that seems great, I would wear that”.

When I look at portfolios, I want to see a Jr. Designer who clearly demonstrates they understood the problem first, then went out and really hammered out ideas and prototypes to decide “this is why I think this is a good idea and how it developed”. That particular project comes off as 2-3 days of effort, but I suspect it could have been a multi-week project and that to me is a red flag.

Lastly, I don’t know if it’s Behance but your fonts all look jagged (not sure if this was made in photoshop with too low of a resolution) and the background patterns are distracting in a lot of the slides. The portfolio feels too heavily worked while the content isn’t worked hard enough.

I would spend a lot of time browsing Behance/Coroflot for other student portfolios and look for areas of improvement. I would also consider redoing or re-working a number of your existing projects or creating a few new ones to add some more meat. Right now it simply feels too thin for a new grad.

Putting the portfolio aspect aside, I’m really surprised they gave you an interview if they thought you lacked experience, did they not ask for your portfolio and resume before the interview?

Agreed, that seems like a serious WOT for everything involved.

Did you get a sense that there was a question where the interviews turned? Or a certain project?

They all had seen my work, and were familiar with it beforehand. In the interviews, I go through my work briefly, they give me the low down on their company and what they are looking for, and we go from there.

With the excepetion of one interview where it became clear very quickly that the interviewer didn’t realize I was a recent grad, all the interviews have gone well only for me to feel somewhat surprised when a few days later they cite lack of experience as the reason they went with another candidate. I’m not sure what’s going on, if its the ways i’m talking about my work, or the ways I’m talking about my experience, or the ways I am responding to their questions, but I’m obviously missing the mark somewhere.

Maybe you can use this in your next interview though and figure out a way to spin your lack of experience with the benefits of a willingness to learn and how that helped you to solve a difficult problem in the past. Just snow balling here… I honestly think it was probably just an easy way to tell you that you didn’t get the position. What are the chances four different groups of people would look at a portfolio and resume that clearly states your experience, and then go through the time and money of an interview process to then just say you don’t have the experience? It doesn’t make sense.

I wouldn’t look too far into “lack of experience”. It sounds to me like a pretty generic cop out reason to give to a recent grad - what ever the actual reason may have been.

Overnight, there’s nothing you can do to suddenly have more experience. Just make sure that in person you’re not coming off as immature. Maybe have a pretend interview with someone you know (preferably someone with hiring experience or at least a decent amount of work experience) and see if they notice anything blatant in your interview style.

With that said, I would polish your portfolio. I would also suggest against focusing on freelance work. The projects you’re likely to reel in won’t be very relatable to the kind of work you ultimately want to get hired for. I’d look for an internship and spend a lot of time redoing your portfolio and adding more projects. Even better if you can find collaborators for your projects.

That’s totally the ongoing plan, Louis. I’m redesigning and editing most of what you see in the portfolio. I’m planning to break them out into individual process books for behance, and compile a document on top of that. I took a break from.working on it over the last few week’s of interviewing and hunting, but I’m putting my foot on the gas going in to the new year.

I totally appreciate the feedback guys, and don’t hold back in the future! I’m so ready and so serious about getting into the workforce, I just need to get my work to reflect that as well!

Second this. It how I got my foot in the door (3-4 paid internships, 4th one turned into junior gig, then got another gig soon after with great mentors. :wink:

I would not worry to much getting rejected a few times. It some times takes a number of interviews to find the right place for you. I think it was maybe 10 interviews for me to get my first full time position.
With that said I would consider countuine work on your portfolio. As mentioned it is not as strong as it could be. I think a number of the other comments here are spot on. But I would say to just keep working at it. I personal did get some good freelance work after my internship that became good experience to land my first full time job. So that can work. Also a really strong internship could really help you.

I have to agree.

The resume & portfolio shows your experience and gets you the interview. The objective of the interview is to see how you fit with the team. Instead of “lack of experience”, they could/should have said “we found a better fit for the team”. And while frustrating to the candidate, they are under no obligation to further define fit.

I think one of the biggest problems with recent grads is they will take any job even though it could be the wrong job. But then again, I would blame the hiring manager for not weeding out the bad fit. The recent grad may not know any better.

Lack of experience is a general term. I would first try to ask your contact persons a bit more about why you were not a good fit; which areas of your portfolio show the lack of experience. Don’t demand an answer, just be polite and ask for their feedback so you can improve your work.

The biggest problem I see with your portfolio is that the final solution does not match the initial task.

  1. The Internet of Collectibles. A bit confusing. You start with toys and collectibles, then you include IOT and then at the end they are just everyday products that look like random toys. These are neither toys, nor collectibles and probably won’t function as well as the intended products. The modeling and rendering also looks a bit primitive. No part-lines or charging ports or cables…

  2. Housewares - Sponge. Good exploration of different products. At the end you chose sponge sanitation. The problem is you only show 5 directions so there is no concept development, refinement, etc. Instead of showing a mood board supporting your CMF decisions you decided to copy another brand’s CMF. The styling seems too harsh and niche, specially for a low income mass market appeal. How is it waterproof, where is the battery, how do you recharge it, etc.

  3. Coffee Maker - Again, a bit confusing. Statement mentions new brand language, line of products, etc. Sketches are more of a re-design of a coffee maker/pot. I don’t know what you achieve by hanging it? The main coffee maker still occupies space in the countertop. The CMF doesn’t work. Cream & blue? It doesn’t fit in a sophisticated kitchen, it sticks out on the jpeg with the traditional kitchen too. How tall is the coffee pot now? Does it even fit under kitchen cabinets? Do you know the standard height of cabinets? How do you heat the carafe, where is the heating element, water reservoir, coffee filter, etc. A coffee maker is a very simple product, you should at least attempt at addressing all of this.

  4. Helmet - Again, you start with sustainability but present a higher visibility solution. It seems like you spent more time on the fin than the actual helmet.

  5. Furniture - Interesting concept. Nice to see a full size prototype.

I think the biggest problem is not sticking to your initial premise or problem. Most of your projects seem like you started with a premise but then guided your work by your favorite idea. At the end you should ask yourself “If I saw this coffee maker at Target, BestBuy, etc., next to the other coffee makers (Braun, Mr. Coffee, Keurig, Cuisinart, etc.) would I buy mine?” How is mine better than the other ones?

Keep going and rework some of your projects. Keep trying to get a junior position but also paid or unpaid internships. You will learn a lot. If I were to hire you I would have to spend months training your thought process.

FWIW, as a hiring manager although I’d like to help people - I would be hesitant to ask for any feedback beyond the actual interview session. There are public and private reasons why you won’t get hired. I haven’t hired people simply because they come off as unenthusiastic and shitty people even though there work is great.

The portfolio is weak, but lack of experience could also show a lack of knowledge about manufacturing, 3D tools, technology, etc - or have just been their nice way of sugar coating the no. Similar to the “not a good fit” messaging which is so often used.

The feedback that was given here, especially your clear comments on how projects are coming across for a new grad are far more valuable than anything you would ever get out of a hiring manager or interviewee, because you have an active goal in trying to be helpful - a hiring manager will not.

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You ultimately open yourself up to more problems than solutions as a hiring manager. If someone said “Why didn’t I get the job” and I say “your attitude and demeanor was poor” they could come back and say “Oh well I suffer from Bipolar disorder, you’re discriminating against me and now I’m going to file a lawsuit”. This could be more problematic in the litigious states of America, but it’s common practice here when declining employees to not provide reasons.

Also, keep in mind I often go through upwards of 200-300 resumes per candidate and sometimes up to half dozen interviews. Giving each candidate feedback on why they were a no would consume more hours then are in a day.

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I would put a lot of it back onto the candidate as well, if you feel like you are in a feedback gathering mode, ask the interviewer during a face to face if they have any feedback on the projects you presented, or anything they thought could be improved. Even tying it back to the job description is a useful tactic. ex “I spent a lot of time learning Solidworks surfacing for this project, and I think that would be a really valuable skill for the handheld products you design”.

That kind of dialog shows you’re open to constructive criticism and it gives you a venue for feedback at the time the interviewer is already committed to spend with you (as long as you haven’t run long on your time slot). Lastly since it’s face to face, the interviewer has less to worry about something being misconstrued.

There are some candidates that are just awful though, and no amount of constructive feedback will be useful to their career. I had a woman show up a few years back with no portfolio because her laptop broke. She had no USB drive with a backup, no website, no links to other sites that might have featured her work, I literally sat there for 30 minutes going “So…tell me about these projects you did”. The only feedback I could have offered her is “you should have rescheduled or cancelled your interview if you were going to waste everyones time here today”.

Hey guys, thanks for all the feedback. I’m still searching, but I have finally finished a complete overhaul of my portfolio. I got rid of the graphical style I had before and tried to stick to a more simple and clean look. I’d love some feedback on what I have so far. Behance

As far as the current job market I see a wealth of positions wanting at least 2 years of experience, but very few looking for the 0-2 years experience bracket. I understand from a company standpoint that you need contributors to the team who can hit the ground running. I just wonder what I can do as an entry level candidate to convey a willingness to learn and an openness to critique that can maybe win over some of these companies who are looking for a little bit of experience while the candidate is still young and cheap.

Hi Jesse,

Freelance is tough - but it does help you gain broad experience, build portfolio and retain a pro-active mindset.
Overall I recommend joining an existing company. You can also do freelance to grow into an independent entrepreneur but if you present yourself that way I found that companies are less willing to hire you.

Design firms especially look for people who can develop bright ideas and execute them as well, with a good approach to work planning and specific expertise areas that makes them stand out.

I think your portfolio could use a lot of work. The forms that you have chosen don’t always follow the function or match up with your target market, it is much too wordy (no one’s going to read that stuff), and the projects seem a little bit under-developed in general. I would strongly advise reading some of the more granular feedback that a few of the others gave. They were very helpful.

Besides having a baseline skill level as a designer, the other important factor is just developing a rapport with your interviewer. This is something that is impossible to evaluate over the internet. Things like posture, elocution, and overall body language all play a role. A good rule of thumb is to be come off as eager to learn and confident, yet humble. Err on the side of humble if you’re going for entry-level positions. If you seem overly confident, managers will see you as a threat and not feel as inclined to hire you.