A hiring manager shares practical advice for designers building portfolios that actually get them hired. Key recommendations include crafting a personal punch-line that highlights unique strengths, limiting showcased projects to 2-3 best works with outcome-focused titles (e.g., 'Improved retention by 7%'), presenting design explorations with clear trade-offs, and including testimonials as social proof. Tactical tips cover avoiding Notion/Figma for case studies due to performance issues, using PDFs or personal websites instead, keeping layouts scannable, and never password-locking case studies without sharing credentials upfront. Design system projects are flagged as low-differentiators unless unique decisions are highlighted.
Table of contents
Who you are and what you have doneProof of workStory of a projectVerbatim testimonialsA few tactical bitsDesign systems projectsHelp the recruiter help youRead moreOutcome Indicators of Leadership LeadershipTwo Lane Theory CareerThe Age of the Super IC CareerThe Front Door Effect DesignFast is a Moat CareerSort: