Essential Tips For Success Within A Web Design Interview

• November 12th, 2012
• Articles

The article is broken down into 8 great tips, in order to ensure that you are the successful candidate for the web design job role. The purpose of the article is to serve as a good checklist to better prepare you for the interview, whether you’re applying for a junior web design role or a senior web role.

Essential you have a portfolio with your best work showcased

Living in the 20th century being a web designer, and not having a portfolio is simply ludicrous. A web portfolio is a powerful commodity. A portfolio is the perfect way to present and sell yourself to new clients. Its one of the easiest ways to showcase your skills to a worldwide audience. If you have not got a portfolio you’re not doing yourself justice. Any extra aid which will  ensure potential employees will hire you should certainly not be overlooked, but instead definitely utilized.

Ensure that your portfolio is up to date with your latest design work. Don’t undersell yourself by not updating your portfolio showcase your best latest work and put it at the forefront of your portfolio.

We wrote an article a while back, which highlighted 5 things your web design portfolio is missing worth checking out.

Be prepared to do competency exercise

You may be asked within the interview to complete an exercise, for instance create a html email, so ensure that you brush up on your design and coding skills, because there’s a chance you may be faced with competency exercises to test your skills. Any skill you stated you can do in your cv, if its been a while spend some time ensuring you have a solid understanding upon that specific skill.

Show passion for web design/ job role

Show a genuine passion for web design. All employees want to to hire someone who enjoys their job role, and its more than just a pay check for them. Show them that you have an strong interest within web design, and further developing your skills.

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Be punctual

Be punctual to the interview, its better to be 20 minutes early, than to be  5 minutes late. Coming to the interview early gives you a chance sit down, and clear your thoughts in preparation for the interview. When you’re late you feel flustered making it more difficult to answer questions. If you are late try and explain the circumstance, interviewers are not monsters and will understand the reasoning behind why you were late.

Be well dressed

A lot of of web design agencies dress code is fairly laid back, but this doesn’t mean you should take the same approach. Dress to impress a nice suit/dress well polished shoes can make a great first impression, and definitely make you a memorable candidate.

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Plan for interview questions you may be asked

Planning prevents failure. If you’re always ready you never need to get ready. Its important to plan and prepare, for interview questions you may be faced with. In today’s employment market, there’s so many candidates each competing for the same job role having pre-planned interview questions will certainly give you the edge.

These are generic interview questions, I can bet money on you will be asked throughout the interview process.

Tell me about yourself (or walk me through your cv) ?
What’s your career plans for the next 3 to 5 years ?
What do you know about our company ?
Why should we hire you ?

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Ask questions

Ask questions throughout the interview, it will show you that you have genuine interest within learning more about the job role. The closing question for every interview is always “have you got any questions you would like to ask?” ensure that you have some pre planned questions keeping it relevant to the job role and the company to ask the interviewer.

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Final food for the thought

Be confident, polite and sell your self. As long as you can leave the interview with your head held high knowing you’ve tried the best you possible could. Even if you don’t get that specific job. If you can carry that same approach and mentality into every interview, you will land your dream job eventually within web design. Perseverance is the key never give up on your dreams.

What have we missed ?

Its your chance to make a contribution to the article. What would you suggest as your number one tip for ensuring you land that dream job or freelance contract. I would love for you to share your thoughts in the comments section below.