It's an exciting time to be a designer at Microsoft. This is not the same company it was ten years ago.

Most of us have some association with Microsoft: Our first family computer. The Xbox in our living room. Microsoft Paint and Clippy, the friendly Office assistant tragically ahead of its time.

Microsoft has been creating powerful products and systems for the world since 1975. Yet the company isn't waxing nostalgia or reflecting on its long and storied past. It's focused on the future – the products, values and innovations that help people and make the world better. And it starts with design.

Within the last few years, Microsoft has made a decided shift toward collaboration and openness among its design teams. The Windows, Office and Surface teams work closely together and share their work with an "internal open source" mindset. The Fluent Design System is integral to this effort, driving consistency across product designs through a shared visual language.

Talk to anyone on the design team at Microsoft and this fresh, invigorating energy is immediately clear. We had the pleasure of talking to five of them.

The design opportunities at Microsoft right now are many and diverse, but where does one even begin? What is Microsoft looking for in a designer? What kind of work would we be doing? We asked members across Microsoft's design team to find out.

First, tell us: How did you get your original job at Microsoft? Where did it all begin and what did the hiring process look like for you?

Tiffany: I was actually a UX design intern at Microsoft in 2017! My path to getting that internship was quite bizarre, though.

Up until joining Microsoft, I had virtually no experience in design. My previous two summers involved a business operations internship at a startup and an HCI research internship at Adobe’s Creative Technologies Lab, both of which had drastically different responsibilities and skillsets. I think I became interested in design by osmosis from sitting so close to the designers at Adobe.

Once I realized I might be interested in design, it was a lot of online reading, self-teaching, and pushing myself to create design projects in my free time. I used my development skills to pull together a portfolio of all the individual projects I’d done, and started shooting in the dark by applying to design internships at companies. Microsoft decided to take a chance on me.

From there, I did the three month UX design internship at Microsoft, loved it, and received an offer to return as a full-time designer after I graduated from Brown.

"The recruiter reached out and said the interview would occur in a week. Guess what I did: worked on my portfolio for that entire week!"

David: Technically, it began in grad school when I became good friends with Cindy Wong. We were frenemies 'cause we kept applying to the same internships. Cut to five years later, I was still working in New York as a design technologist when Cindy Wong from grad school sent me an email: “Hey, send me your resume and portfolio! There’s an opening at Bing!” I had a quick chat with her manager and I was flown out within two weeks for a full-day interview. I had been doing front-end development full time and I wanted to return to more design work, so I made sure my portfolio showed all my side projects and prototyping work. When I got the good news, I had to ask them to delay it for 2 months(!) so my wife and I could present our new graphic novel at New York ComicCon. I left NYC that Sunday and started at Microsoft 8 a.m. the next day. Cindy is the best frenemy ever.

Izzy: My first job at Microsoft was a really short contract for an incubation team for Windows Phone (that was a thing once). It was a great team and taught me a lot. I spent about 4.5 years jumping from contract to contract and doing some freelance in between. I worked for teams like Xbox, Microsoft Teams, accessibility tooling and Inclusive Design. I took the contracting path because I wanted to try out different projects and get a better scope of what type of work I wanted to do. It wasn’t until my last contract at Inclusive Design that I found my purpose. My managers at Microsoft taught me that my voice matters and my individuality is very valuable. This is really powerful when you are of color in the tech world.

I was at the tail end of my six-month break from my last contract when Sogol Malekzadeh from Microsoft messaged me to send her my resume and portfolio. A few days after I talked with my (now) design lead, Juliette Weiss. The project sounded amazing and after the call, I was told Microsoft's recruiter would get back to me. The recruiter reached out and said the interview would occur in a week. Guess what I did: worked on my portfolio for that entire week! The interview process started at 8:30 a.m. and went all the way through to about 4 p.m. Believe it or not, I don’t think I was speaking full sentences towards the end. I think I slept for about 15 hours when I got home that day. A few weeks later, I got an email that they were extending an offer and the rest is history.  

Looking at your current design team, how many of them came through internal referrals vs. headhunting vs. the traditional application process?

Tiffany: A surprising number of us went through Microsoft’s internship program.

Erin: The product design team has historically relied on referrals, but we’re working on evolving our recruiting practices to search a bit more broadly. For example, we’ve done active outreach via Twitter, Dribbble and by cold-emailing design talent, and are currently brainstorming ways we can host more events or talks within our local design communities (especially here in New York!). 

Laura:  Roughly ⅓  internal referrals, ⅓ headhunting (sourcing finding talent) and ⅓ traditional application process. When applying for a role, it is always best to leverage your network and have folks on the inside refer you to a role.  It helps get you noticed and it never hurts to have someone vouch for your skills and experience. The team that I manage spends all of their time on outreach efforts for passive talent. We look at the current needs of the organization and then proactively reach out to folks who we think might be a great fit. We focus on building long term relationships with great talent. While you might not be looking today, we might have a perfect role for you tomorrow.

Microsoft has made huge changes to its design philosophy and system in recent years, and I imagine this opens up more opportunities for designers and design hires. What kind of design opportunities exist right now and where do we fit into the bigger picture of your team?

Tiffany: There are SO MANY opportunities. We have UX designers, visual designers, motion designers, interaction designers, hardware / industrial designers, developer-designer hybrids, videographers and more. We’re all working in vastly different areas, whether those are horizontal, strategic efforts, vertical product teams, incubation teams, etc. I will say that the vast majority of opportunities sit within product teams as UX and/or interaction designers.

David: One of the incredible things about Microsoft is the diversity of design teams tackling different problems in different ways. Some teams are very tactical, while others are exploring the future 3-5 years in the future with goals to never ship anything!

Izzy: I have seen a huge diversity shift within the last five years of me being here. I am part of a group called HOLA here at Microsoft. It's composed of Latinx individuals that work from Microsoft. Being able to speak in Spanish and connect with other professionals in the industry is a really good feeling. Also seeing leadership with similar backgrounds empowers me and pushes me to do more.   

Say we decide to reach out with a cold email. What kind of message gets a reply? Any secrets for us?

Erin: Keep it simple, link to your work and don’t be afraid to be confident in sharing what makes you a great designer if you’re applying for an opening on our team.

Tiffany: I’m pretty cool with getting emails and LinkedIn messages. I’m normally better able to help someone when their intention is simply to learn more about Microsoft Design, the different teams, my personal experiences, etc. Unless it’s someone whose work I’m already familiar with in some capacity, I don’t tend to put in personal referrals. That said, I always reply!

Laura: When reaching out to me, please share your work and let me know how I can help you. Clear and concise communication is best.

David: If you reach out, please link to your work and link to the specific role you see on our Careers page. We tend to be extremely busy so if you make it easy to take action on, that helps a ton.

Izzy: Keep it short and sweet. If you are reaching out to a stranger, make sure you value their time and be prepared with what you are looking to get out of the conversation. If you don’t know, then be clear about it and say you are looking for advice in career path or something that aligns with their experience. I usually always reply and try to help out where I can since I remember being in their position.  

How important is a complete portfolio? Can we get away with not having a portfolio when interviewing at Microsoft?

Tiffany: As someone who didn’t have a portfolio at the beginning of their design recruiting process, I think it’s super important – if not absolutely necessary – to have a portfolio that showcases at least 3-4 of your projects. It doesn’t have to be a website if you’re not comfortable with a website; it can be a PDF, a slide deck, etc.

I personally have never seen someone interview at Microsoft without a portfolio. Part of the design interview process itself is a portfolio review, so I think it’d be pretty hard to articulate your thoughts and projects to your interviewers without some form of a portfolio.

Erin: We want to see examples of your work, so if your portfolio showcases beautiful and polished design solutions, that’s great! But if we ask you to join us for an interview, we want to hear more about how you got there. Can you articulate the problem or design brief clearly? How explorative were you early on in the project? What constraints or guidelines did you have to work with or against? And if you were collaborating with others, what was the working relationship like? These are the details that help us better understand how you’d fit or contribute in making our team better. And if you’re applying for a role on the mobile team, we definitely want to see mobile work.

Laura: A portfolio of your work is absolutely required if you are looking for a design role. Every part of your portfolio represents your work, so it is important to organize and talk about the projects in a very organized manner. In addition to showing great work, you also want to make sure that you talk about the process. We are looking for folks who are equally strong designers, communicators, strategists and problem solvers.  I also highly recommend working on projects that truly interest you. If you want to work in service design, find projects that align with that type of work.

Izzy: It is very important to have a portfolio! You would need to be pretty charming to pull it off without one.

Joking aside, a portfolio is a way to be able to talk about and show your process and guide someone through your way of thinking. If the design is not what you wanted, then talk about that. Talk about what you could have done differently or your learnings. People in the industry know about constraints and the reality of design.

The portfolio I used was made in PowerPoint and I got a job. In the end, use what you feel best gives the message you want to say. Make it work for the audience you are targeting and if you are sending your portfolio ahead of time, make sure you don’t send the full presentation. Send a teaser of it and show the wow stuff during the interview. You don’t want to bore people with something they have already seen before.

Tell us one thing you never want to see again on a portfolio.

Erin: This is a major pet peeve of mine, but I have an aversion to bar graphs that are meant to illustrate your proficiency in certain tools or skill-sets. If I see that on your resumé or portfolio, I am immediately turned off.

Tiffany: Please no pictures of murals of colorful post-its on a board.

Laura:  Please leave your selfie off your portfolio.  

David: Low res images aren’t great and stock graphics aren’t great.  Pro tip: Have a local copy of your site ready to go if your internet connection becomes wonky. Prototypes or personal projects... really, anything that shows us your passion for solving problems is always good.

Izzy: Club photos, typos and what I call "the Behance effect." The latter means just having pretty photos with no blurb explaining the context. I want to know what was done and how you got to the execution of the idea. That is far more meaningful than a bunch of images I will just glaze over.

"We take the growth mindset seriously and I’ve seen coworkers up to CVPs call out their mistakes."

Microsoft has been around for ages and has a deep history, which brings benefits and challenges. One of the downsides being that some people might have an outdated perception of design at Microsoft, inaccurately assuming the design team operates more traditionally or hasn’t changed over the years.

What’s the reality vs. the perception about designing at Microsoft?

Erin: The most common misconception is that we’re required to use Windows machines. Surprise: a lot of designers in Microsoft use Macbooks! Not only do we need certain tools that are Mac-only (e.g. Sketch), but a lot of designers are focused on the Mac-versions of their product.  

We may have the perception of being a more antiquated tech company, but the reality is that it’s super exciting to be at Microsoft right now. The Verge recently wrote an article about our culture of open design – product teams are sharing and collaborating more and we’re simplifying processes as much as possible. Every design team within the company has the opportunity to define this shift. For example, we on the Outlook mobile team devote time every quarter to having week-long design sprints. It gives us a break from our normal feature work and lets us dream up innovative ideas and solutions for our apps. The best part: we get to invite designers from other teams join in on the fun.

Tiffany: My old expectations, which I assume might be shared by other people who don’t know much about Microsoft design: cubicles, homogenous people who work in silos, collared shirts every day, very 90s vibe, overly corporate and enterprise-driven.

My current reality at Microsoft: open office, diverse teams (with regards to identity, discipline and work style) which collaborate horizontally and vertically, people who dress how they want, a very modern vibe, and designers who interact with real customers and think about the consumer-space increasingly often.

Moreover, I’ve also been super impressed by Microsoft’s values; tech is increasingly under fire for selling data, designing and working unethically, and cultivating toxic cultures. It’s amazing to work at a company that has so many historical successes that are not predominantly built on the monetization of your digital identity.

David: A lot of folks are shocked to learn I work on a Mac and use modern tools. To be clear, every team is free to use the best tool for the job, whether that be Sketch, Figma, XD, Abstract, Principle, Framer, Flinto, ProtoPie, etc. Design’s seat at the table grows every year.

People who don’t follow every iota of Microsoft news think of the older eras and values, so I would echo Tiffany’s comments: we take the growth mindset seriously and I’ve seen coworkers up to CVPs call out their mistakes and openly discuss how to improve life both internally and for our customers.

I know Microsoft is very aware of its greater place in the world today, valuing open source, collaboration and empathy among other principles. How does this translate to your ideal hire? Do you value certain qualities in your designers and do you like the idea of designers being invested in other interests?

Tiffany: We’re making huge moves towards diversity and inclusion. I guess that means as a designer at Microsoft, it’s important to be self-aware and appreciative of the privileges you have in designing experiences at such a large level of scale and impact. It also means that we expect people to be receptive to feedback, respective of different attitudes, and to grow from those experiences. It’s a growth mindset.

David: We definitely have designers that are invested in other interests – everything from farming, theatre, punk music, hiking. Getting to work with people from all walks of life with a diversity of can only make Microsoft better.

In my experience, someone who people enjoy working with can go further than even the most talented designer. How much do personality and values (what some might call “culture add”) weigh compared to industry experience and hard skills when you consider a designer for your team?

Tiffany: I’d argue that personality, values, and being a cultural add are equally as important as industry experience and hard skills. When you’re spending more time with your teammates than you are with your family, it becomes pretty obvious that the people on your team can make or break your work experience on a day-to-day basis. Work can be challenging and stressful at times, but I’m a huge proponent of not having team culture be a reason to feel emotionally burdened.

David: We tend to look for good people over rockstar designers. We luck out more often and get good people that are also rockstar designers! Empathy, humility and openness to collaboration, people who are willing to jump into unknown territory and give it their best – that’s the person who you want to work with.

What secondary skills do you look for in a designer, besides common soft skills? For example: Do you prefer writing ability over coding skills? Photography skills over coding?

Erin: The Outlook mobile team tracks all our feature work with Github, where we post designs and get feedback from product managers and engineers. We really value designers who can synthesize their thought process via writing since it’s so core to our culture of collaboration. Having any other sort of creative passions definitely gets our attention since Microsoft strongly encourages we always find time for continued learning and education. The company provides a lot of resources to make sure we’re able to pursue the interests that aren’t a part of our normal day-to-day work.

Tiffany: I imagine it depends largely on what position you’re applying for and the needs of the team you’re interviewing with. For example, there are design-developer hybrid roles that assign huge value to someone who is interdisciplinary in both UX and CS. On the other hand, photography skills could be great on teams that do more branding work.

I personally get excited when I hear about designers who are also programmers since I find that that helps them better understand and communicate with developers at Microsoft. But that’s just a personal penchant and it’s completely unnecessary to be able to code as a designer. You just have to understand what tools you have in your own toolbox and work with what you’ve got!

David: Having a superpower always helps. If you’re great at telling a story, if you have a development or creative coding background, if you are great with data or data viz, if you work with After Effects or audio... really, anything that helps with conveying the user experience or clarifying the problem for the team. Many of my coworkers started in a totally different career and bring those skills over to the design world.

What are the biggest mistakes you see designers make when applying for a job at Microsoft? Are there any specific things that keep bothering you? Please complain to us! (:

Laura: I'll take this one for the team:

1. An application missing information or very pertinent content.

We often ask our applicants to submit a cover letter, their CV and a link to their portfolio, but the number of people that forget at least one of those items is staggering. Perhaps a stellar CV and portfolio can make up for a missing cover letter, but the broader point is an important one: by not paying attention to the details, you are not demonstrating real interest in the job.

2. A cover letter that doesn’t say anything of real value.

Talking about how you’re “hacking your dreams while dreaming up hacks” or something similar doesn’t tell me who you are and why you’re the right person for the job. Keep it simple.

3. Your resume is more than two pages long.

For many of our design roles, we are looking for folks who can take complex problems and simplify.  Your resume is the first step in showcasing your ability to present information into an easy-to-read format.

4. Your cover letter talks about yourself in the third person.

5. Your resume doesn’t say anything about what you did in each position.

Avoid the temptation to simply list a handful of the standard "I was a designer" tasks (“designed web pages, designed emails, designed marketing materials”). I want to know what you accomplished, what your greatest achievements were, what you are most proud of from your time with each company. And make it relevant! If you’re applying for a job with our office product group, play up the most relevant experience from your previous roles and background the parts that are not relevant.

When I search for Microsoft design jobs, most are in Washington at Microsoft headquarters. Do we need to be in Washington if we want to design for Microsoft or do you hire remotely? What about international hires?

Erin: While we do have a lot of designers based in our WA headquarters, the Outlook design team is distributed across a few cities: San Francisco, Vancouver, New York and Bangalore in India. And we’re not the only team within Microsoft that's remote-friendly; it’s becoming increasingly obvious that by expanding our pool geographically, we can truly recruit diversely.

Tiffany: No! You don’t need to be in Washington! I think Redmond campus probably feels the liveliest given it’s the largest central campus in North America, but you can absolutely be a designer at Microsoft in non-Washington offices.

Izzy: I don’t think you need to be in the Northwest to get hired. I have met people who work for Microsoft and live in New York. I’m also connected to a few Latinx employees in Chicago.

Laura: While we have offices around the country, more than 85% of the design opportunities are based in our headquarters in Redmond. We hire folks from all over the country and many of them re-locate to the beautiful Pacific Northwest. It is home to a thriving economy but is also surrounded by nature (mountains, water, lakes wilderness, etc.), has quality education on all fronts and has a diversity of culture that is world class.  

David: We also have offices in Prague and London. So I think you’re good. I know we have a principal design manager in Boston and another in North Carolina. It’s not too surprising; we build Skype and Microsoft Teams that are geared toward remote working so they are the proof in the pudding, so to speak.

"I don’t know anyone who has the notion of vesting in three years and moving on. Everyone I know hopes to work at Microsoft for as long as they can."

How do you think Microsoft is different when hiring new talent compared to other companies?

Tiffany: It’s interesting comparing my experiences interviewing at Microsoft with my experiences interviewing at other large tech companies. While I didn’t realize it in the moment, many of my then-Microsoft-interviewers were partner-level and principal-level individuals in the design space. The fact that people higher-up the food chain took recruiting so seriously is something that I hadn’t experienced elsewhere. It really makes you feel like Microsoft cares a ton about who they’re hiring and bringing onto the team.

Izzy:  It’s very different but in a good way! In my personal experience, I had colleagues and principal-level designers giving recommendations to the hiring managers. During the portfolio review process of the interview, I had adjacent team leads sit in and take part. A month into my role, I ran into one of the leads and he not only called me out by name but remembered my presentation. This makes me feel good about the place I work and also keeps me coming back every day with a smile.

Laura: I lead the Pivotal Design Sourcing efforts and we partner with all the design teams across Microsoft to find the best possible talent. We are able to talk to candidates and find out their true passions and align them to roles where they will thrive. Microsoft has so many different products that we have a lot of options for candidates/employees to find roles that align with their passions and interests.

David: From my understanding, people tend to stay at Microsoft longer than other tech companies. I don’t know anyone who has the notion of vesting in three years and moving on. Everyone I know hopes to work at Microsoft for as long as they can. I think that has shifted our mindset to look for good people.

___

Microsoft team! Thank you so much for doing this interview with us. This is by far the most personal conversation we've had in the series, which says a lot about who you are and what kind of company Microsoft is.

Readers, if you're interested in joining the Microsoft team as a designer, here are a few key takeaways:

1. Be detailed and specific

When reaching out or working on your cover letter and resume, state clearly what you want, your experience (including what you did specifically in your position) and why you believe you're the right fit for the job. The same goes for your portfolio. Think about what Microsoft needs to know to consider you for their team. Be precise and concise.

2. Be patient and prepared

You will have several interviews and an interview might last a full day. During the interview, be prepared to answer questions about the design decisions you make, and show a willingness to receive feedback and collaborate.

3. Just go for it

The designers at Microsoft are some of the most open and friendly people I've talked with in this series. It's clear Microsoft sees potential, values individuality and seeks diversity. And plenty of opportunities exist on the design Microsoft team no matter what kind of work you do. Update your portfolio (re-read Microsoft's tips above first) and show Microsoft why you belong on their team.

COLLINS creates strategies, builds brands and launches campaigns for some of the most recognized brands of our time. You've likely seen their work for Coca-Cola, Airbnb, Spotify, Ogilvy and recently, Mailchimp.

What I love about the studio is that, despite its prestige and Brian Collins' personal legacy in the industry, COLLINS still feels "small" and accessible – even to young designers just entering the field. And that seems to be intentional. In this interview, Brian Collins and Karin Soukup talk about encouraging and enabling designers to do great work, what they look for in a new hire and how we might get a job working on their design team.

Hey Brian and Karin, thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us. Let's get right to it: Looking at your current creative team, how many of them came through internal referrals or headhunting, and how many came through the traditional application process?

Brian: None of our current employees were identified through headhunters. About 15% came through our traditional application process. The majority of the talent at COLLINS is sourced by creative leadership and our director of talent, Yocasta Lachapelle. Many are former graduate students from the class I teach at the School of Visual Arts MFA program.

COLLINS' brand reimagination and redesign for Mailchimp

Say we decide to reach out with a cold email. What kind of message gets a reply? Any secrets for us? Or should we just fill out the job form?

Brian: No tricks. No gimmicks are necessary – unless you love tricks and gimmicks and are really good at them. Send us whatever is right for explaining what you think you might add, what new, unique value you might bring here.

Look, design is not about what we do. Design, for us, is about what we encourage and enable others to do. For us, it’s about building tools, environments and communications that help other people make meaningful things possible. Design should enable people to do whatever they need or want to do with their time. Time itself is the most valuable asset anyone has. Money, objects – you can get all of that back. Time is irreplaceable. So, we work to fill and inform the time people give us with clarity, understanding, support or joy.

The way I see it, it’s a moral transaction. Did that client get your very best in that transaction? Did their customers get the finest you can do? Did you give them the best you had? Or did you fizzle out, or give up when it got difficult?   

We go all in. Everyone here goes all in. We’re kind of...relentless.

On the other hand, we also just like playing around with words, building models, filming, coding, drawing or making images and stuff move around on the screen until we land on something we love and go – STOP, STOP! THAT’S IT!

Not to get too precious about it.

Spotify brand redesign and identity system

How important is a complete portfolio? Can I get away with not having a portfolio when interviewing at Collins?

Karin: Even if you’re young and have a limited portfolio, the work within it should demonstrate great care and attention to detail in everything you do. This is table-stakes.

Tell us one thing you never want to see again on a portfolio. Anything you wish you saw more?

Karin: We don’t want work that simply copies everything else. Our clients come to us to help them meaningfully resonate and differentiate. That means that we need to be on the bleeding edge of what is relevant, inspiring and thought-provoking. So we look for designers who are experimenting with form, tools, aesthetic sensibilities, frameworks,  ideas, new ways of collaborating – and who are always asking “why” with a lens of optimism.

vitaminwater brand redesign and interaction system design by COLLINS

I heard that when someone sends their portfolio to Brian, he sends book recommendations in response. Besides being well-read, do you like the idea of designers being invested in other interests? For example being active bloggers or otherwise outspoken in their community?

Karin: COLLINS prides itself in solving unique brand challenges with appropriately unique answers. We don't want to be known for having a “style.” To keep ourselves fresh, we are constantly looking to history and the emerging fringes of culture to inspire what’s possible – and making sure that we can translate these ideas into stories that bring breadth and dimensionality and relevance to a brand. This includes hiring folks with a variety of interests that influence their work (and our work) in unique ways.

Part of COLLINS' exhibition design and advertising campaign for the 'Inflatables' exhibit at San Francisco's Exploratorium museum

Say I make the first pass and get invited to an interview. Can you describe the interview process as briefly as possible?

Brian:

Round 1: Informational meeting with the director of talent

Round 2: Meeting with creative directors

Round 3: Meeting with designers and strategy lead

Final Round: Meet with me. But if they’ve made it that far, it’s pretty much done. I trust my colleagues.

"We expect everyone to have a second secret 'superpower,' so to speak. Hybrids."

What are the secondary skills you look for in a designer, besides common soft skills? For example, do you prefer coding skills over photography skills? Writing skills over coding?

Brian: We don’t look for particular secondary skills, but we expect everyone to have a second secret “superpower,” so to speak. Hybrids. We love to hire great people who are also remarkable at something else—it could be coding or writing, but it could just as easily be cooking, science fiction, scuba diving, biking, singing, painting, Taekwondo...anything. I believe those collisions expand us.

We also search for an ineffable quality. People who have or seek a greater sense of purpose and understanding of how design can help them achieve something bigger than themselves. I’ve always liked this thought from Friedrich Nietzsche: “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.”

I think everyone here has that.

The Dropbox brand redesign and marketing campaign, which I've personally seen around NYC

Would you hire someone who is a cultural fit over someone who has more industry experience and hard skills?

Brian: No. We look for people who make a new cultural contribution, not a “cultural fit.” What a pernicious, horrible question – “do you fit?”

It’s not about finding people who are exactly like us or share a certain narrow personality trait. It's more about finding those rare people who are great at what they do, who will contribute something brand new, something different to the creative spirit of our company. And that we’ll be able to accommodate their unique way of doing it. By that I mean we support introverts, ambiverts and extroverts, anyone to be themselves. We get stronger by adding difference.

E pluribus unum. Or as Mr. Spock would say “infinite diversity in infinite combinations.”

I’m insane for Star Trek. Sorry.

Architecture/interior design and exhibit for the Jim Henson Exhibition at Museum of the Moving Image in New York City

Collins has been described as “the dream agency for young designers.” What qualities do you look for in a young designer? How can we best prove our potential?

Karin: I’ve outlined a number of the characteristics that we look for in prospective employees, but if I boiled those items down it would include:

• Craft excellence
• Imagination & experimentation
• Passion
• Versatility
• Confidence, balanced with doubt

Doubt is helpful to make sure the work is meaningful and thoughtful, by questioning its intentions and considering all possibilities. It signals an open-mindedness and recognizes that there is always room to grow. Yet confidence is a valuable and necessary tool for taking creative leaps of imagination and trusting the process of design. It goes a long way, too, in helping clients to trust us, take risks together and establish momentum along the way.

"The smart, ambitious ones read. And ask for more. We hire from the readers."

The COLLINS’ offices in San Francisco at South of Market

What are the biggest mistakes you see designers make when applying for a job at Collins? Are there any specific things that keep bothering you? 

Brian: That they assume we’re only interested in the work they’ve made or their resume. That’s part of it, for sure. But we want to know what they’re reading, the ideas they’re excited about. As you noted, I’ll always recommend books to young designers who want to work here. The few who actually read them come back and we talk about the concepts in that book rather than their resume alone. That's far more insightful and useful to us when it comes to making a hire. 90% of the people I ask to read never follow through. They vanish. So it separates the players from the talkers, fast.  

The smart, ambitious ones read. And ask for more. We hire from the readers. They’re curious and self-propelled. And they never act “big.”

We need confidence. But don’t “act big” here at COLLINS.

The library at COLLINS’ office in New York’s Greenwich Village

How do you think Collins is different when hiring new talent compared to other companies?

Karin: We’re an independent company that works for ambitious clients to help them make big changes. Each person on our team has skin in the game – there’s no room for mediocrity or “dialing in” the work. So we look for passionate folks who thrive on seeing their visions made manifest. People who work hard to develop both their voice as well as their ability to get buy-in for the work. Dedication, resilience, enthusiasm and hard work are all necessary for this. Brand systems design and communications, especially, often means working with complex organizational teams. It requires us to guide clients through foundational decisions that can often be both initially challenging, but ultimately uniquely rewarding.

___

Brian and Karin, thanks so much for your time and thoughts! We're honored to have you in the series and appreciate all the honest insights into getting a job at COLLINS.

For those interested in working with Brian, Karin and the talented COLLINS team, here are the tips to remember:

Nr. 1 - Show your versatility.

Brian and Karin both mentioned this. They want the hybrids. The people with multiple interests and skills, with a secret "superpower" that adds to their team. Show your diversity in your portfolio — and be sure to tell a cohesive story when doing so. You want to present yourself as confident and multi-dimensional, not scattered and confused in your career.

Nr. 2 - If Brian recommends a book, read it. 

I love that Brian does this with people who apply at COLLINS. Whether you read the book he recommends or not shows everything about your drive and enthusiasm, your follow-through and the way you think. Plus, it's a lot more fun than the standard application process. Take advantage of it!

Nr. 3 - "Go all in."

Be confident (but humble), give it your very best and show your passion for the work they do. COLLINS simply wants to work with talented people who love what they do and will give it their all.

For an inside look at the hiring process for companies like Spotify, Pentagram, Airbnb and more, catch up on our other How to Get a Job at X interviews.

P.S. I also interviewed Brian Collins personally on the NTMY Show podcast a while back. We talked about confusing mastery with fame, making the most of small opportunities and finding perspective as a designer. Check it out for even more helpful career advice and insights.

Since entering the transportation market in 2012, Lyft has only continued to grow. So much so, it's odd to think the startup launched just six years ago.

But Lyft remains focused on the future, with self-driving Lyft cars already on the road in some cities. It's an exciting time to be on Lyft's design team, and as we learned from this interview, it takes a lot of passion and hard work. Audrey Liu, director of product design at Lyft, answered all our questions about how to get a job working as a designer at Lyft.

Hey Audrey, let’s get right to it! First, can you please tell us a little about yourself and what you do at Lyft?

Let’s see, I’m originally from New York and have been in design for a while. I started off in consulting at SYPartners and am now a director of design at Lyft. I lead the work of several teams including our Driver Design teams, Growth, and Support and Safety — a team of about 25. In my role, I’m responsible for building the team (I do a lot of recruiting!) and providing strategic and creative direction for our products.

Looking at your current design team, how many of them came through internal referrals or headhunting, and how many came through the traditional application process (percentage-wise)?

More than 75% of our hires are actually made through referrals or were sourced by our team, but we get a ton of great candidates through our application process as well.

Say we decide to reach out with a cold email. What kind of message gets a reply? Any secrets for us?

First, I love a message that is short and sweet, but that shows a genuine interest in the problems we’re solving. Lyft’s mission is to improve people’s lives with the world’s best transportation, and we’re incredibly mission-driven as a company. Seeing an applicant’s passion stands out. Always include links to your work, and talk about what you’re interested in and where Lyft fits in with that.

How important is a complete portfolio? Can I get away with not having a portfolio when interviewing at Lyft?

Portfolios help us understand the work that you’ve done, but even more importantly, they help give us a better sense for how you approach and solve problems. So portfolios are important, but they don’t need to be an exact replica of your resume. Just show a few projects that are important to you, that highlight the types of problems you like to solve and how you go about tackling them. It’s not so much about showing the right solution, so much as it is showing us your process, so that we can figure out which problems you might be best suited to tackle with us.

"A pet peeve of mine is when there really isn’t a good reason behind the work."

Tell us one thing you never want to see again on a portfolio. Anything you wish you saw more?

I always enjoy seeing a bit of storytelling in a presentation. It’s such an important skill for designers and is a tool for sharing work broadly across teams and functions. Telling the story of your work — how it all relates, why it’s important — matters. Additionally, it’s important for designers to show that they understand the goals of their work and that those goals touch on both user and business needs. A pet peeve of mine is when there really isn’t a good reason behind the work, or the designer doesn’t show an interest in or understanding of its impact on the business or user.

As for things I don’t ever want to see again: There was/is a trend of designers showing their screens on devices at an odd angle (e.g. floating above a surface at a slight 30-degree tilt). Don’t do that. It doesn’t show your work in a meaningful way.

Besides having a portfolio, do you like the idea of designers being invested in other interests? For example being active bloggers or otherwise outspoken in their community?

Yes! Other interests or other manifestations of your passion for design are key to helping us understand who you are as a person (not just a designer), what you prioritize and where you choose to invest your time.

Product work is part of each designer’s role at Lyft, but there is much more outside of product that goes toward helping to build a strong culture inside Lyft and in the broader design community. When I learn more about a designer’s outside interests or their design-related work outside of their job, it helps me see how they can contribute to the team in other valuable ways.

Say I make the first pass and get invited to an interview. Can you describe the interview process as briefly as possible?

You will meet with about 4-5 members of the team. They could be a mix of designers, user researchers, producers and cross-functional partners. You’ll start with a presentation where you’ll be asked to share a couple of projects. Then you’ll meet with each person 1:1 to dig into different topics, and you get to use the time with each person to ask questions of your own, too. (It’s important that you get to know us as well!) One of those meetings will be a design exercise. We try to keep it fun and light, and to use our time for us to get to know one another.

Of course product design skills are essential for the work you do. What are the secondary skills you look for in a designer, besides common soft skills?

Our product experience includes both online (our apps) and offline (everything outside of the app) experiences, so we’re always looking for designers who consider problems and experiences holistically — at a service and hospitality level.

Similarly, designers who are considerate of all of the aspects of an experience, including the writing, the illustrations and animations are also really great. Beyond that, strong facilitation skills and narrative storytelling. The ability to prototype is also key, but coding isn’t necessary. All of these aren’t necessary, but demonstrate that you think about the end-to-end experience and are able to bring it to life in different ways.

Lyft has a pretty unique vibe that’s offbeat yet accessible, which we assume carries over into your office culture. Would you hire someone who is a cultural fit over someone who has more industry experience and hard skills?

We look for the total package. To be a valuable member of the team, you have to meet the mark on both soft skills and hard skills. One without the other is pointless.

"Lyft is a high-growth startup and, as most of us know, that’s no joke."

What are the biggest mistakes you see designers make when applying for a job at Lyft? Are there any specific things that keep bothering you? Please complain to us! (:

Every designer at Lyft is passionate about the problems that we’re trying to solve. Within a super diverse team, our belief in wanting to impact transportation systems at large, create access to mobility for more people, and set entirely new expectations for how we live as communities, is the throughline that unites us all. It is a passion that exists outside of pixels and it’s one that I look for, because that level of interest is also what will help us uncover new opportunities and solve problems in big ways, not just iteratively.

I sometimes see designers applying for a job at Lyft because they think it’s a cool company (which it is, don’t get me wrong), without really considering the level of drive you need to have to thrive in this team and to tackle the challenges we’re rallying around. Lyft is a high-growth startup and, as most of us know, that’s no joke. There are tons of ups and downs, so if you aren’t deeply committed to creating huge impact in the world, you simply will not survive. Come here for the right reasons. In fact, go anywhere for the right reasons.

Do you have a favorite story of an application that really stuck with you? Something that stood out and got passed around between your team?

For me, it’s not about the uniqueness of the application, it’s about the quality of the work and the thinking behind the work. Does this person care about the details and their craft? Do they demonstrate empathy and understanding for the people they’re designing for? Are they passionate about solving big problems? Those are the things we notice — especially when they’re missing.

How do you think Lyft is different when hiring new talent compared to other companies?

Other companies share this characteristic, I’m sure, but we are extremely mission-driven. Designers, product managers, engineers, marketers… everyone comes to work at Lyft because they firmly believe in our mission to change the state of transportation. They want to see a world that invests in more parks and less parking lots. So in hiring, we don’t oversell on perks, because we’re focused on finding the people we can count on to be as invested in our mission as we are. The people who will make us all better.

Any parting advice for us? Something we forgot to ask that a potential candidate should know?

Be yourself and try not to be nervous. Our goal is to find designers who will help push the team forward. That means that we like contrarian thinkers and we like diverse points of view. Don’t just tell us what you think we want to hear, tell us what you really believe.

–

Thanks so much, Audrey! Really appreciate your honesty and practical advice. For those interested in applying for a design job at Lyft, here are your main takeaways:

1. Show your passion for what Lyft does.

Lyft wants to know that you care about and feel invested in their mission to change transportation. Show your passion for what they do, and how your skills and the work you've done fits into that.

2. Share the reasoning and thinking behind your work.

You could have beautiful, relevant work in your portfolio, but if you're not explaining that work and the thought that went into it, it doesn't mean much. Write great case studies that show how you approached your work and why you made the decisions you did. The same goes for your interview. Before you meet with the Lyft team, review your projects and refresh yourself about the story behind them so you can speak confidently about it.

3. Do your best to make an inside connection.

More than 75% of Lyft's hires are made through referrals or were sourced by their team. If you don't have an inside connection, do everything you can to get noticed by their team.

We've interviewed companies like Disney, BMW, Fuzzco, Spotify and more. Catch up on the How to Get a Job at X series right here.

Ueno is a full-service agency with offices in San Francisco, New York, LA and Reykjavík. Yes – Iceland. You've probably seen some of their digital work for clients like Slack, ESPN and Uber.

Ueno's work is excellent, but what I most love is their personality as an agency. Read their blog or check out their interview page and you can tell they have a sense of humor. For me, that's an important factor in choosing where to work. It's not just about the "culture," which every agency claims to have, but more about the way they view work and life. Read our interview with Haraldur, Ueno's founder, and you'll see what I mean. Here he gives us his honest advice for getting a design job at Ueno.

Tell us a little about yourself and what you do at Ueno.

Hey! My friends call me Halli but you can call me Haraldur Thorleifsson. I’m the founder of Ueno.

I’m also the CEO so that means I am responsible for a lot of different things. But luckily we have really amazing people, so I don’t do much anymore. Mostly I just take credit for everything.

The Ueno team at their company retreat

Looking at your current design team, how many of them came through internal referrals or headhunting, and how many came through the traditional application process?

Of the top of my head with no numbers to back this up, I’d say exactly 49% came from referrals and 51% came from traditional applications.

We get dozens of applications a week for our design positions so a lot of great leads come from there. And then we have people internally that know a lot of smart and kind people that we will try to snag.

Say we decide to reach out with a cold email. What kind of message gets a reply? Any secrets for us? Or should we just fill out the careers form?

Cold emails are not a great way to apply. They might get missed. The very best way to apply is through our site. You can see all open roles on www.ueno.careers

If you apply through the site, the application will be seen by all the right people and it will go through a process.

One of the four lovely Ueno offices

How important is a complete portfolio? Can I get away with not having a portfolio when interviewing at Ueno?

For a design role, you will most likely need some sort of portfolio or a very strong recommendation from someone we trust for us to have an initial interview. We are still a small company so we unfortunately can’t interview most of the people who apply, and we need to have some kind of indication that you would be a good addition to our teams.

Your portfolio can be in whatever form works for you, though. It doesn’t need to be a super fancy website. It can be a PDF or a Google doc or whatever you have that shows us some of the work you’ve done in the past.

An illustration from Ueno's slack.com redesign

Tell us one thing you never want to see again on a portfolio. Anything you wish you saw more?

I wish more portfolios had personality. I think it’s perfectly OK to start with a joke, or something that tells me that this person has a unique perspective.

On a good/bad day I look at maybe 20-30 portfolios. Most of the time for maybe five seconds before I decide if it’s worth exploring further. So my first recommendation would be to make sure you grab the audience straight away. Show me something great and/or unexpected. Ideally both.

Besides having a portfolio, do you like the idea of designers being invested in other interests? For example being active bloggers or otherwise outspoken in their community?

We have a word in Icelandic. It’s fagidjót. It basically means that someone has super deep knowledge of one thing but knows nothing about anything else.

Design is about solving problems and to be good at solving problems, you need to know a bit about a lot of different types of things.

I don’t care if people are bloggers or outspoken in their community. I do care that they are curious about the world around them. They may have chosen design as a way to express that curiosity, but it should just be one of the ways they are curious.

Say I make the first pass and get invited to an interview. Can you describe the interview process (the phases, design exercises, etc.) as briefly as possible? Most importantly – will it be as fun as your brilliant interview page? Should we dress as a hot dog?

We don’t do design exercises. I don’t think they tell you much and they are extremely uncomfortable for both the designer and the people running the interview.

We also don’t look for culture fits; we’d rather find people that can add something to our culture. People that can teach us something new about the world.

We have strong culture values that we try and gauge for, though. They are deliberately fairly open and should encourage our teams to hire different types of people — while still making sure we have a common foundation built on caring about other people, never being satisfied with good enough, etc.

Typically applicants will meet with 3-6 of our people and each one of those interviews will be based around a specific culture value. I’m most often the last person in the interview process.

However, the best way to really see if people are good to work with is to actually work with them. So when possible, we have people come in to work with us for 2-8 weeks, depending on what works for them. We obviously pay them for that time; we put them on real projects and we treat them as full members of our teams.

After that, we have a really good understanding of that person and they also understand us. And if everyone falls in love, then we get married.

So far, nobody has shown up in a hot dog suit. I’m still waiting for that to happen. I don’t want to promise anything but I absolutely promise that would lead to a guaranteed job offer.

Ueno branded the 2017 edition of ESPN’s Body Issue and designed its mobile-first online version.

What are the secondary skills you look for in a designer, besides common soft skills? For example: Do you prefer coding ability over photography skills? Writing skills over coding?

I personally don’t have a preference. The main thing is, like I mentioned above, that you are curious about many different things, and that you are willing and able to keep growing and experimenting. It’s up to you to choose in what order you want to keep adding those skills.

Ueno has a distinct personality and it’s clear culture is important to you as a company. Would you hire someone who is a cultural fit over someone who has more industry experience and hard skills?

When I started Ueno, I was only interested in the hard skills. I only wanted to hire really amazing designers and I didn’t really think that much about their personalities.

But as the company grew, I quickly realized that the culture is what will make us succeed or fail.

That does not mean that we will hire a nice person if they aren’t good designers, but we will absolutely pass on an amazing designer if they are not good to work with.

Ueno's work from an app redesign for Reuters, one of the world’s largest news organizations.

What are the biggest mistakes you see designers make when applying for a job at Ueno? Are there any specific things that keep bothering you? Please complain to us! (:

I like punks that show up on time. Meaning, I like people who have a different way of looking at the world but you can rely on where it matters.

I don’t think that answers your question, but I just wanted to say that.

Do you have a favorite story of an application that really stuck with you? Something that stood out and got passed around between your team?

If people are being guarded, I will often try to nudge them a little bit to see how they respond during interviews. So the stories that get passed around about our interviews are about me saying or doing something weird.

I don’t remember them but I’m sure they are hilarious because I can be very funny and great.

I imagine having locations in San Francisco, LA, New York and Reykjavík opens you up to a ton of design talent. Do we have to live in / move to one of those cities to get a job at Ueno, or do you hire remote designers as well? And do you ever sponsor visas for international hires?

We only hire people who are willing to work full time on location at one of our offices. Our work revolves around very close collaboration with our clients and our teams, so being on site is very important.

We have multiple people on visas that we have sponsored, but right now we are trying to limit those a bit. Partly because it is extremely expensive and complicated to manage, but more importantly because it’s an unpredictable process, and putting people through that long emotional journey with no guaranteed outcome is very hard. You can read a bit more about that here if you are interested.

How do you think Ueno is different when hiring new talent compared to other agencies or design studios?

We’ve tried to not hire a lot of agency people. I don’t want to recreate a typical agency. We of course have some strong people with agency backgrounds, but we don’t want that to be a requirement.

We’ve made some very adventurous hires, taken chances on people that on paper maybe didn’t make a lot of sense to hire. Some of them have turned out to be our most valuable people.

We saw Ueno is hiring a Design Lead and Senior Designer for your NYC and SF offices right now, and a Creative Director and Design Lead in Reykjavík. Any parting advice for someone who’s reading this and ready to apply? Lay it on us!

I remember agonizing about whether I was good enough to apply for places I admired when I was younger. I wanted everything to be perfect, which it never is.

Don’t wait, just do it. Worst case scenario is that nothing will happen.

___

Thank so much, Haraldur! This is one of the more insightful and entertaining interviews in the series so far. Readers, if you're interested in applying for a design job at Ueno, here are some key takeaways:

1. Show some personality in your portfolio. Do something unexpected. 

Haraldur confirmed something we've voiced in about every piece of portfolio advice we've given: you have about five seconds to make an impression before he moves on to a different portfolio. That's shorter than the classic "elevator pitch." He suggests leading with a joke or writing something that grabs his attention immediately. Make those first few seconds count.

2. Expand your interests and skills. Be curious.

Ueno isn't interested in hiring a designer with knowledge in only one area. They want designers with diverse interests and a sense of curiosity about the world, who want to experiment and grow. Show Ueno that you have dimension and range. You can do this through your portfolio and in your interview.

3. Don't overthink it. Just go for it.

Ueno's not looking for the typical "agency person." They're willing to take chances on the people who, in Haraldur's words, "show up on time." If you think that might be you, apply and see what happens.

Catch up on our How to Get a Job at X series for more inside advice from top companies like Disney, Unsplash, Spotify, Pentagram and more. And if you want to hear from a specific company, let me know on Twitter.

In this series we talk to people at some of the most admirable companies and studios out there, simply asking: How do we get a job on your design team? Finally, we're featuring Disney.

We've had Disney on our wish list for a long time now. I mean, we were all probably wishing on stars as children hoping we might someday work for Disney. Turns out, working on the Disney design team is an actual, real-life job you can have.

Case in point: Steven Boone. Steven leads a product design team at Disney and gave us practical, helpful advice for getting a dream design job on his team at Disney Parks and Resorts.

Hey, Steven! First, tell us a little about yourself and what you do at Disney.

I am a manager of product design for Disney Parks, Experiences & Consumer Products. Our design department is responsible for all aspects of the digital guest experience as it relates to the parks and resorts. This includes websites used for booking and managing reservations, mobile apps used at the parks and resorts, and all sorts of fun emerging digital experiences that add more magic to our guests’ Disney experience.

As a manager of product design, I oversee all aspects of design for Disney brand digital experiences, with my current focus being the Disney Cruise Line. I am also responsible for helping designers on our team develop their talents, grow in their role and accomplish their career goals.

Looking at your current design team, how many of them came through internal referrals or headhunting, and how many came through the traditional application process?

We use a variety of methods to source candidates, including general external recruiting, our internal recruiters who monitor our careers portal and candidates moving across different departments of the organization. Referrals from other cast members certainly have a positive impact on a candidate getting noticed.

This is a big company, so we don’t use any single process to bring in talent. That said, my opinion is that strong networking and trying to connect with or get advice from current cast members is one of the best paths for serious applicants. Get some 1:1 advice and maybe even start to build a relationship, all of which can go a long way in getting you a job at Disney.

Where’s the best place to start, assuming we don’t have an inside connection yet?

For Parks and Resorts Digital and most tech jobs, the place to start is our careers website, where you can link your LinkedIn profile, portfolio, and provide additional details about yourself and your career experience.

Our in-house recruiters use this profile information to start their search, so the next best step is to make sure all of your linked collateral is what you would consider ready for Disney’s review. That means your LinkedIn profile, cover letter, resume and of course, your portfolio. This is just where I would suggest starting, as every open position, department and hiring manager is different and there is no guaranteed formula for success. Disney gets an incredible number of applications, so being consistent in delivering a great impression across all your channels can make a big difference.

Mickey (left) and Steven (right), in case you couldn't tell

We’ve heard internships or student summer programs are a good way to get our foot in the door with Disney. Is that true if we want to work on the design team? How often does that turn into a full-time job?

Our internship programs are wonderful. For starters, our interns get a peek behind the curtain and can participate in the Disney creative culture. I have personally witnessed interns use their energy and determination to pitch fantastic guest experience ideas to our digital product and design VPs. While this may be a rare quality in an intern, it demonstrates Disney’s culture that we all aspire to deliver the best possible experience to our guests, and the best idea truly does win. To quote Ratatouille, “anyone can cook.” Interns who capitalize on this opportunity may have a great chance at a full-time career at Disney.

How important is a complete portfolio? Can we get away with not having a portfolio when interviewing at Disney?

Having an updated portfolio is key, but even more important to my team is your design process demonstrated through your portfolio. When it comes to candidates’ portfolios, we are more eager to see actual content and thought processes — the storytelling that comes out through your design — than the finessing and perfecting of that content. The idea is to get the conversation going and demonstrate your capabilities. Disney is known for its masterful art, storytelling and attention to detail, so we’d love to see your skills in these areas and beyond!

"If your current job isn’t giving you opportunities for great work, create your own opportunities."

Tell us one thing you never want to see again on a portfolio. Anything you wish you saw more?

I wish all applicants would update their portfolios at least once a year. Nothing stands still in our industry, so if you are looking for a new position you must be able to demonstrate that you are current in your design thinking and skills. You only need to show 3-5 great examples, even if you have dozens that seem worthy. Variety is wonderful, but let yourself cut that circa 2009 non-responsive website or skeuomorphic mobile app. Only show the best of the best! It is far better to show a few and tell a great story than show a lot and leave us wondering about your contribution or strengths. If your current job isn’t giving you opportunities for great work, create your own opportunities.

One thing I always want to see more of is how designers can use their skills to provide value in ways that extend beyond the medium. Especially product designers or experience designers. For example, can you highlight key insights that you helped discover, whether it be through design-thinking, visual problem-solving in collaboration with product or tech departments, or by leading a group through a customer-centered immersion? A great designer first learns how to master their medium, but then learns how being a designer makes them a leader and influencer in ways that go beyond that medium.

Besides having a portfolio, do you like the idea of designers being invested in other interests? For example being active bloggers or otherwise outspoken in their community?

Absolutely. Your ability to be seen as a leader within your organization or design community shows your passion for the craft while giving the world a glimpse into your point of view on design.

That said, blogging is not required, and my personal advice is to be sure that you are really passionate about your writing if you are going to write. If not, it could reflect negatively. If you don’t want to write, you can show passion and engagement by simply sharing great ideas on social media and participating with your local design meetups, for example.

"Remember, Disney is known for attention to detail, so you could be asked about any small detail from your work."

Say I make the first pass and get invited to an interview. Can you describe the interview process as briefly as possible?

The interview process varies based on the role that you are applying for, the hiring manager and other factors. That said, I’ll give some general ideas based on my experience with Disney.

The first step is typically vetting with our in-house recruiters. This is usually a light review of your portfolio and past experience (and yes, we do hire designers straight out of school if the role they are applying for is fitting). After that, applicants will have multiple conversations with design team members at all levels to share their experience and approach to design, and get added clarity and perspective on the role. They will also walk through their portfolio/case studies/work samples to demonstrate their capabilities, soft skills and approach.

Remember, Disney is known for attention to detail, so you could be asked about any small detail from your work. I would suggest that designers take a look through their portfolio and put some fresh thought into the design choices they made in their portfolio projects. This could help you be prepared with good answers if any one detail becomes the subject of conversation. One last recommendation: As you do this, be honest. You don’t need to have a brilliant answer for everything. Sometimes you made a choice because you had to follow standards. Answers like this are perfectly acceptable and much better than not knowing or making something up.

If you continue to move forward in the process, you will most likely visit the on-site location where you applied, to meet the team in-person and virtual conference with other offices.

What are the biggest mistakes you see designers make when applying for a job at Disney? Are there any specific things that keep bothering you? Please complain to us!

A common misstep I’ve seen in interviews is when candidates show decent design work, but without great answers about detail or a good story to tell. We want to hear your story: about your work, challenges, design decisions, partnerships, learnings, etc.

Do you remember a specific application that impressed you? Something crazy?

In my career, I have seen some creative and fun tactics from applicants. Whether it be a creative technologist’s amazingly customized GitHub page or an art director’s handmade origami with a personal message inside, crazy tactics can definitely get you noticed. That said, my personal advice is to remember that this is icing on the cake. Things like this can certainly help you be remembered, but if your portfolio and the story you tell about your work falls flat, the crazy-cool application may not be enough to move you forward in your career.

Would Disney hire someone who is a culture fit over someone who has more industry experience and hard skills?

My team and I prefer the term "culture add" over "culture fit" as our culture is not stagnant. We look for people who will grow our culture by adding something we don’t have. People who will challenge us and play a role in constantly evolving and adapting our culture to be the best it can be. We tend to hire agile, optimistic learners who have a desire to create meaningful work, with the quality and character expected of Disney, and an ability to add value in a cross-functional and team-based culture.

Disney is all about relationships, so adding great people to our culture is very important. You don’t have to resemble or fit us in any specific way, but you do have to add something distinct that grows our culture and abilities as a team.

"We need designers who can stay cool, agile, open to ideas and iteratively produce great work."

You work on a range of Disney design projects, from web to product experiences. Aside from common soft skills, what are the secondary skills you’re looking for in a designer for your team?

As a hiring manager, I personally look for an ability to stick with a design project through multiple iterations, not get stuck or frustrated, and come out on the other side with a design that has evolved into something new and wonderful.

All of our product and experience designs will go through multiple rounds of input from leadership, user tests and other channels. Designers who think their first idea is perfect and should not be changed can get easily frustrated or struggle to get the best results. This includes cross-functional collaboration, involving product and technology partners early in the process, facilitating the process and driving results together. We need designers who can stay cool, agile, open to ideas and iteratively produce great work.

Finally, storytelling can take you anywhere – designers who have a viewpoint, present their thoughts clearly, creatively and concisely stand out at Disney.

We can imagine it only helps our case if we’re “Disney people." Should we be prepared to share our favorite Disney character and/or Disney classic in our interview? (:

Of course! Disney employees tend to truly love the brand, take being a steward of this brand seriously, and maybe let ourselves get a little dorky about Disney culture once in a while. I’m not saying we wear Mickey pants to work every day, but even the coolest cucumbers here have some story about how they connect with Disney. It could be your favorite character, movie, vacation memory or even seeing your nephew rock out to Let It Go. Whatever it is, bring it!

How do you think Disney is different when hiring new talent compared to other companies?

We certainly aren’t the only brand out there that expects greatness from ourselves and from those who want join our company. I think every company that is truly committed to great experiences does so in their own unique way. That said, I think Disney is special because we are in the business of bringing happiness and magic to our guests, and that does make us look at how we grow our team in a different way. Magic isn’t easy. It takes a lot of work, patience and collaboration.

We are also an incredibly special brand in that we touch so many different industries. There are a lot of jobs out there in entertainment, theme parks, resorts, cruise lines, food and beverage, media, digital experiences, etc., but only Disney really does all of these things. This is why we work so hard to find that special mix of culture, attention to detail and talent that has that potential for magic.

______

Steven! Thanks so much for giving us a peek behind the magic curtain at Disney. There's so much to learn here. For those of you dreaming about a design job at Disney, these are your main takeaways:

Nr. 1 - Storytelling is everything. This is Disney, after all.

Show how you’re capable of making some magic through storytelling. This doesn't mean you should write and rehearse some grand speech before your interview. It does mean you should be ready to have a meaningful conversation beyond the standard interview script. You should also write engaging portfolio case studies that tell a story and give depth to your work. Here are some tips for doing just that.

Nr. 2 - Demonstrate how you will add to Disney's culture.

Disney values relationships and diversity that leads to broader ideas and understanding of their guests. Showing that you can add to and build on their culture goes a long way.

Nr. 3 - Curate your portfolio and know the details.

Steven and team want to see content and ideas, more so than finesse and a perfect product. They care that your work is relevant and shows an understanding of modern design, with detail-oriented thinking in your design choices. Review your portfolio projects before your interview so you're ready to share the process and decisions behind your designs. These tips for updating and refreshing your portfolio will help as well.

_

That's all for now! If you enjoyed the interview or found it helpful for an interview, please do send me a tweet to @vanschneider and let me know. And if you're just now jumping into our How to Get a Job at X series, be sure to catch up on interviews with Electronic Arts, Spotify, Nike and more.

I've always admired and respected Mother – the agency I mean, but also my own mother. As a brand Mother just has this refreshing personal vibe, not to mention their impressive work for clients like Nike, Nasty Gal, Sundance and more.

So I talked to Maitê Albuquerque, creative director at Mother LA, about how we can land a job working on her design team. Unsurprisingly, she was as warm and friendly as I imagine the whole Mother "family" to be, giving us lots of helpful tips and insider advice.

Hey, Maitê! First, can you please tell us a little about yourself and what you do at Mother?

I’m a just girl who had the luck to become an art director 11 years ago in the competitive Brazilian market. Since then, I was able to work in Lisbon, Chicago, New York, and LA at great companies like Ogilvy and 72andSunny. I always loved design, so I jumped between production companies and advertising agencies trying to figure out what was the best fit for me. I realized that maybe I had to start my shop, but that’s when I got lucky again. Mother was about to open an office in LA and asked me to join the startup team as a creative director.

The Mother LA office

Looking at your current design team, how many of them came through internal referrals or headhunting, and how many came through the traditional application process?

I would say that 100% of our senior designers came through referrals. In a startup, the team has to be very tight, so we try to bring people that we already know.

But when it comes to junior teams, I usually try to find them on design blogs. One of my current designers I found on Dribbble. I think if you expose your work online while you're still a young professional with a raw style, it not only shows your talent, but also your tenacity and courage.

Mother Design's work for AIGA

"Most of the time, the way you see the world and articulate your ideas is more important than a good portfolio."

Say we decide to reach out with a cold email. What kind of message gets a reply? Any secrets for us?

I love when people share their personal stories. To be honest, hyper-professional emails get lost in the sea of other emails and portfolios we receive. Most of the time, the way you see the world and articulate your ideas is more important than a good portfolio.

All the mothers.

How important is a complete portfolio? Can I get away with not having a portfolio when interviewing at Mother?

I think the quality of the work is way more important than the amount of work. If you have a rotten potato around 100 of other good ones, they will all smell bad. It’s the same with work. I would rather see less work, if it’s good, than more pieces just there to fill a page.

Tell us one thing you never want to see again on a portfolio. Anything you wish you saw more?

Here a list of design cliches that turn me off right away:

• Clean, fashion-y websites
• Hipster logos with crossed arrows
• Swiss design templates. It’s crazy how people are copying what is meant just to inspire.
• Anything in Millennium Pink! Please, there are an infinite amount of other possible colors!

I want to see more personal projects, some experiments you did in design. People need to show more about how they think and see the world. Our job will always change, so we need to know that you have the capacity to adapt and find elegant solutions to the most diverse problems.

Part of Mother's "TargetStyle, In Vogue" campaign

Besides having a portfolio, do you like the idea of designers being invested in other interests? For example being active bloggers or otherwise outspoken in their community?

Having activities outside of work is vital. We always look for people who bring knowledge that we don’t have in the building. If you only work on things that are inside our walls, it’s tough to grow creatively.

Say I make the first pass and get invited to an interview. Can you describe the interview process as briefly as possible?

Well, here at Mother, it feels like when you visit your significant other’s family for the first time. You will meet everyone! We are a family here, so we try to get a perspective from all the departments about the candidate personality. Work has already been judged and liked if you are inside this building. Now we just want to hear how you talk about your work and most importantly, about your life and ambitions.

What are the secondary skills you look for in a designer, besides common soft skills? For example, do you prefer business skills over coding skills? Video skills over coding?

I think there is space for any skill. We have designers with great editorial skills, others that are great at motion graphics and 3D. I would love to find a designer who is great at coding as much as a designer who is great with music. I think creativity comes from mixing skills.

"Experience is always great, but the ability to learn speaks volumes."

Would Mother hire someone who is a cultural fit over someone who has more industry experience and hard skills?

I would hire someone who sounds more like a learner than someone who is a know-it-all. Experience is always great, but the ability to learn speaks volumes.

Part of the Nasty Gal brand by Mother

What are the biggest mistakes you see designers make when applying for a job at Mother? Are there any specific things that keep bothering you? Please complain to us!

I’ve seen many people, especially juniors, selling their work way too hard. Trying to make me see how good the job they did is right. I believe that the work speaks way more than any justification. Let your work talk. If you need to make someone see something they can’t without your help, maybe it’s because the work is wrong or not 100% right.

I imagine having divisions in New York, London and LA opens you up to a ton of design talent. Do we have to live in one of those cities to get a job at Mother, or do you have remote designers on your team as well?

We do have talent that works remotely but usually, we do that with people who already work with us. Once you’ve worked here, we trust you and we understand the way you work, you are free as a bird.

I know Mother has accepted interns in the past. Is that a good way to get our foot in the door?

We are launching an internship program starting this summer. So send us your books 🙂

"We are not the agency that only hires the 'cool' trendy people."

How do you think Mother is different when hiring new talent compared to other agencies or design studios?

We are not the agency that only hires the “cool” trendy people. We want to be the place where people that were misunderstood or don’t fit anywhere else can find a place to be themselves. Creativity doesn’t come from being cool, but from being comfortable with your true self. That’s what we believe. We want to be the home of the creative community.

____

Maitê! Thanks so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to talk with us. For those interested in getting a design job at Mother, here are your key takeaways:

Nr. 1 -  Don't try too hard.

Mother expects your work to speak for itself. Don't sell yourself too hard, and don't do the "trendy" thing.  Just speak to your experience, be honest and be yourself.

Nr. 2 - Make it personal.

Mother wants to understand how you think and see the world. If you're sending a cold email, skip the professional "To Whom it May Concern" talk and make it personal. On your portfolio, add side projects and personal experiments that reveal more about who you are as a designer.

Nr. 3 - Curate your portfolio and put your work out there.

Many companies in our series have said this: They don't care how many projects you share in your portfolio, they just care that they're good. Don't add projects just to fill the page – add only your best work. And especially if you're a junior designer, make sure you're present on design platforms like Dribbble. If you don't have a personal connection to someone at Mother, your work needs to be good enough to get noticed.

To learn how to get a job at other awesome companies like Shopify, Fuzzco and Unsplash, read our other How to Get a Job at X interviews.

If you're a designer, you probably use InVision. If you don't, you probably should. The platform allows you to share your work visually, communicate and collaborate more efficiently and better manage your workflow. It basically simplifies your entire project.

As you can imagine, the team behind InVision is pretty unique in itself too. InVision is a fully distributed team, meaning everyone works remotely from all over the world. I was curious to hear how that plays into the hiring process and was lucky enough to talk with three members of the marketing design team about how we might get the chance to work with them. Meet Aaron, Luisa and Jared.

First, please tell us a little about yourself and what you do at InVision.

AARON: My name is Aaron. I’m the VP, creative director at InVision living in Escondido, CA. I’ve been at InVision for just over four years now. I was hired as the first designer to focus on brand and marketing design. Today we have seven designers on the marketing design team. My responsibilities are to lead the marketing design team in all of our branding and communication design from our core products to content identities and campaigns.

LUISA: My name is Luisa. I’m a Mexican American designer living in Oakland and working for InVision. My title is technically brand designer but I do web design for the marketing team.

JARED: Hey there, I’m Jared! I’m a senior brand designer living in Pensacola, Florida. I’ve been with InVision for about two and a half years now. I started here as a multidisciplinary designer and recently started leading the branding initiatives as a senior brand designer. I’m involved in anything from strategy, designing, art direction to helping the brand team scale as we need.

Some of the InVision team IRL at an event in San Francisco

Okay, first question we always ask: Looking at your current design team, how many of them came through internal referrals or headhunting, and how many came through the traditional application process?

AARON: All the designers we've hired came through referral or me simply searching for talented designers and reaching out to them individually. I will search places like Behance or Dribbble, or ask friends in the design community for recommendations. I find this to be the most effective way to find and hire talented designers.

A peek at InVision V7, coming soon

Say we decide to reach out with a cold email. What kind of message gets a reply? Any secrets for us?

JARED: A cold email without an open position might not land you position on the team right away. However, we’re always looking for humble and talented designers. Sometimes we don’t know how quickly we will need to scale, so it’s great to make connections early on.

LUISA: I guess it really depends on who you reach out to and with what intention. A few friends of friends have reached out to me who are curious about what it’s like to work remotely. I’ll usually talk with them. I’ve also had a few people looking for career advice and I’ll try and talk with them as well. If people reach out with specific questions I’m generally happy to answer — I usually give them my phone number and ask them to give me a call. Typing out long answers requires more effort than a phone conversation and I also like that it shows effort on their part. It’s easy to email a stranger with a bunch of questions. It’s not so easy to pick up the phone and call a stranger.

Luisa working from an painter friend's studio

How important is a complete portfolio? Can I get away with not having a portfolio when interviewing at InVision?

AARON: A portfolio is a must have. I won't consider a candidate for an interview without one. When I say “portfolio” it doesn’t have to be a fancy website either. Actually, I recommend using places like Dribbble or Behance to build your portfolio. It’s much easier for us to find you. Fill it with a variety of work, work you want to be hired to do. Showing your thinking process is important too. If you can show how you went from challenge to solution, that is a big plus to me.

JARED: When I joined, I had a portfolio that showcased the work I felt strongly about. I don’t think having a formal portfolio put together is necessary as long as you have a great representation of your work. However, a complete portfolio — one with information about your role and the challenges / goals / approach you took — can give you an upper hand in the hiring process. It’s essentially your first impression. How you communicate about and present your work is an extremely important part of being a designer. Portfolios tend to get passed around from person to person when hiring, which makes it easier on the people involved in decision making. The more you can do to make hiring you a no brainer, the better.

Both images from DesignBetter.co, an InVision project

Tell us one thing you never want to see again on a portfolio. Anything you wish you saw more?

AARON: I mentioned it above but show your process. What I want to see more of is how you arrived at that design solution. Sketches, wireframes, unused design concepts, etc. That is the work. The final design is just the end of that entire design process. Getting to see that thinking and decision making is a big differentiating factor when deciding on who to hire.

LUISA: For me it’s more about how people talk about their work. If they don’t show much process but can speak in an articulate fashion about it, that’s great. If it’s all spec work and nothing that’s ever shipped, that can be worrisome. I like it when people show some of their personality in their portfolios but it’s a balancing act — too much and someone comes off as self-centered, not enough and a portfolio can feel dry.

JARED: It really bothers me when I see a designer who doesn’t explain what their role was in a project that wasn’t executed by just themselves. Giving appropriate credit to what you did is not only the ethical thing to do, but shows a selfless demeanor — which is a must-have trait in a remote team environment.

InVision V7 – coming soon.

Besides having a portfolio, do you like the idea of designers being invested in other interests? For example being active bloggers or otherwise outspoken in their community?

JARED: For me, that’s not a make or break quality for us when hiring, although the drive to learn and push yourself is. The more our team is apt to learn (whether its inside or outside the design industry) the more our team will benefit. Everyone on our design team is encouraged to have their own voice and opinions. I believe that trait makes us a stronger team and produces a better end-product.

Jared about to get a strike at a recent Epicurrence event

Let's say I make the first pass and get invited to an interview (lucky me). Can you describe the interview process as briefly as possible? 

JARED: Our interview process generally involves a few conversations with different people from the design team who are involved with the role you’re applying for. So for example, if you were invited to interview for a brand design position, you’d more than likely talk to me, Aaron (our creative director), and another executive from our marketing team. Depending on everyone’s schedule, the number of applicants and the urgency to add another member to our team, the interview process could last anywhere between a few weeks to a month and a half.

We would start with a pretty casual conversation over a video call. We’d love to hear about your work, who you are, your goals and any questions you might have for us. Getting to know you during this time is very important to us — a cultural fit is a must since we’re a remote company. Usually during this call, we will give you a design challenge for you to complete in a reasonable timeframe (we get that people are busy with work, families and other obligations). We’ll have another conversation where you will present your work. We will have follow up call for you to present your findings. If we like what we hear and see, you’ll move forward to have at least one more conversation with an executive to make sure culturally we all feel you’ll be the right fit for us.

"You have check the ego at the door — life is too short to work with an asshole."

The real Clark from InVision!

Would InVision hire someone who is a cultural fit over someone who has more industry experience and hard skills?

AARON: The answer you are not looking for is we want both, but if I had to choose I would lean on being a culture fit. Our team is full of talented designers; we are learning from each other, pushing each other and growing constantly. So the hard skills are constantly being sharpened here. The culture fit is crucial coming into InVision. We respect each other and have a very collaborative environment. We make design decisions together here. You have to be able to check the ego at the door — life is too short to work with an asshole.

LUISA:  Part of what makes a remote company work is that people must work very well together and independently, which translates into strong hard skills and strong interpersonal skills.

Luisa hard at work in her home office

What are the biggest mistakes you see designers make when applying for a job at InVision? Are there any specific things that keep bothering you? Please complain to us!

AARON: What I see a lot is that nerves or whatever keeps people from showing their real personality. Just be genuine, be yourself. I am reviewing you just as much as your work and design thinking. It’s important to relax and present yourself as genuinely as you can.

I like to keep interviews really casual and conversational. I am looking to see if you would fit culturally into our team. As I've mentioned, it's crucial for us to get a real sense of your personality. Remember it’s just a conversation with another human being. Be confident in your work and abilities, and be confident in who you are as a person. Take a deep breath, smile and have an awesome conversation. It will go a long way.

On a current InVision design job description, it says SaaS experience is a big plus. What are the secondary skills InVision looks for in a designer, besides common soft skills?

LUISA: People who think about the design beyond just the design team — how it can tie in with business goals, how to design in a way that can scale (design systems). Probably all the same things every company is looking for beyond being good and nice.

JARED: While it might be considered a common skill, designers who can explain the decisions behind their work — written and verbally — and take egoless feedback is a big plus for us. Being remote requires a lot of communication. While over-communication is better than no communication, effective communication tops it all.

Lead product designer Scott Savarie unveiling InVision Studio

I’ve read the design team at InVision is pretty small. How often do new design positions open up?

AARON: Yes we have a smaller design team on the marketing side. Just seven of us right now. We plan to add to our team in 2018 but probably only by a couple. Having a smaller team allows us to work on lots of different things. The product design team here at InVision is much larger and has more openings more often, if you are looking for a product design job.

"There are talented designers living all over the world. We have the unique opportunity to scout talent from anywhere."

How do you think InVision is different when hiring new talent compared to other tech companies or design studios?

AARON: Our hiring is a lot different than most tech companies since we are 100% remote. We don't have to rely on designers that just live in SF or NYC. There are talented designers living all over the world. We have the unique opportunity to scout talent from anywhere. It's great for us because the talent pool is much larger and great for the designer because they don't have to move to the Bay Area to get a great design job. It’s really a win/win situation.

LUISA: Given the independent nature of remote work, it’s probably not the best place for someone very junior. It probably skews a little older and a little more experienced than your typical tech company. It’s also very laid-back and the company as a whole really cares about the quality of people’s lives – not in a gimmicky way, but in a way that really permeates the culture. People take sick days when they need to without the pressure of having to show up to an office.

Working remotely also gives people a looooot of freedom, so people are free to do their work and live their lives in a way that is unparalleled in a traditional office setting. With that freedom comes responsibility —self-discipline and self-motivation are very necessary. But basically, nice people who are good at what they do is really the winning combo.

__________

Aaron, Luisa & Jared - Thanks so much for these insider tips! So many great takeaways here, many of which are unique to getting a job at InVision. Let's take a look:

Nr. 1 - Nothing like any other company.

The InVision team is completely remote, so they put a lot of weight on how well you communicate and how good you are at being a remote worker. Basically your first role is being a remote worker, and your second is being a designer. That may sound stupid but it's crucial for being a good designer and a good team player. Knowing if you are good at (and happy) working remotely is therefore one of the most important things you want to clarify for yourself. We even wrote an article about this here.

Nr. 2 - Being a culture fit is extremely important.

Be yourself and don't let nerves get in the way during your interview. If you're not a right fit there's no use forcing it, so let yourself relax and show your personality. It matters a great deal to the InVision team that you get along well with the team and add positively to their culture.

Nr. 3 - Share your process.

InVision doesn't want to just see your work. They want to understand what led you to the decisions you made. When presenting your projects (in your portfolio and in person), explain your thought process and how you went from challenge to solution.

That's all for now! Please do send me and the InVision team a Tweet if you enjoyed the interview, and be sure to catch up on the other interviews in this series here.

Shopify, as I'm sure you know, is an ecommerce platform. It gives you the tools you need to set up and run an online shop, and essentially helps you sell your products. I mean, you could even say Shopify helps power the entire business of ecommerce. It's a massive product, yet it feels friendly and approachable.

Their team is friendly and approachable too. Originally run by five people out of a coffeeshop in Ottawa, Canada, Shopify has grown to a team of more than 2,000 people.

Elyse and Kevin are two of them, and in this interview they're telling us how we can be part of it all.

Hey friends, let’s get right to it. Looking at your current design team, how many of them came through internal referrals or headhunting, and how many came through the traditional application process?

The majority of our hires come from reach-outs made either by our talent acquisition team or someone on the UX team itself. The results have been pretty successful, which is why we continue to devote a lot of time and effort to it. Oh, and you’ll never see one of those terrible copy-paste reach-outs from recruiters at Shopify. We personally write all of the emails we send to potential candidates.

Referrals are the second biggest source of hires for us. For example, some of our designers who graduated from design programs in Montreal help scout talents through mentorship or attend design grad shows. We also attend local meetups and conferences regularly, which is a great way for us to make connections with people in the community. (That’s how I, Elyse, was hired!)

The traditional application process doesn’t account for as many hires as the other two, but still remains an important part of our recruiting efforts. We go through every single one of the applications and review everyone’s portfolios manually. That helps ensure we never miss out on good candidates, no matter how they entered in the process.

Say we decide to reach out with a cold email. What kind of message gets a reply? Any secrets for us?

We actually do try to reply to everyone that emails us for positions, but here are a few things that give you bonus points:

• Personality: Who are you? What are you passionate about?
• Brevity: Can you get your point across in just a few paragraphs?
• Purpose: Do you want any job or do you want a job at Shopify? I know you’re probably applying to many companies, but can you tell us why you’d like to work here?
• Motivation and curiosity: Do you have your own online store? Do you use our product? Did you take a stab at building a theme with Slate? What is your opinion on Polaris or the latest articles our UX team published?

"Your portfolio is your voice when you’re not around to explain your projects."

How important is a visual and complete portfolio for you? Can I get away with not having a portfolio when interviewing at Shopify?

A formal portfolio isn’t absolutely required, but it certainly helps. Your portfolio is your voice when you’re not around to explain your projects. Imagine you and I were looking at one of your projects: What story would you tell me? What problem are you solving and what about it was challenging? Which options did you explore and how did you end up with that solution? What constraints did you face? What strategies did you use throughout the project? Who was involved? While a picture is worth a thousand words, the final result sometimes doesn’t fully reflect the depth of your work.

Having that portfolio not only helps us get familiar with your work before the interview, but also helps you get better at talking about your work. That being said, how you showcase your work is totally up to you. Tools like Semplice make it super easy for you to create your own website without any coding skills, but tools like Medium and Dribbble can also do the trick if you use them correctly. If you’d like some tips for how to build a great portfolio, this article on the Shopify blog is a great place to get started.

Tell us one thing you never want to see again on a portfolio. Anything you wish you saw more?

Unsolicited redesigns. While this type of exercise certainly has its value, it’s not something I would encourage designers to put in their portfolio. Unsolicited redesigns lack real-world constraints, which doesn't allow us to assess your product design skills. That’s not to say all unsolicited redesigns are bad, so if you really want to include one in your portfolio, make sure it’s clearly labeled as such, and that you go beyond the visuals and explain the thinking behind your decisions.

If you’re just starting out as a designer, a good alternative to unsolicited redesigns are personal projects. These self-initiated projects are a great way to build up your design and product skills, while also putting something out into the world for people to use. You’ll learn a ton from the experience of launching something and the feedback you’ll get from your users will definitely make you a better designer.

"Magic happens when you cross-pollinate ideas from opposite fields."

Besides having a portfolio, do you like the idea of designers being invested in other interests? For example being active bloggers or otherwise outspoken in their community?

Of course! Writing and publishing requires you to be thoughtful and disciplined. I appreciate designers who voice clear opinions that build their communication skills and feed into their design practice.

Being outspoken in the community is a great way of sharing your knowledge and giving back. There are tons of ways to get involved: mentor someone just coming out of school, teach someone something you just learned, volunteer at a local meetup, etc.

Advocacy and teaching is one way to level up your design craft, but you can also channel your curiosity anywhere to broaden your thinking (no need to stick to design). Magic happens when you cross-pollinate ideas from opposite fields (science and typography, data and art). As designers, it can be easy to get tunnel vision when working on the same project for a while. Find different sources of inspiration; ideas and methodologies act as new lenses for problem solving.

What are the biggest mistakes you see designers make when applying for a job at Shopify? Are there any specific things that keep bothering you? Please complain to us! (:

Applying for the wrong position because they didn't read the job posting. Believe it or not, we’ve had a few fashion designers applying for our design positions, simply because it mentions the word “retail." It’s surprising how little research some people do when applying for jobs these days.

Do you have a favorite story of an application that really stuck with you?

Someone bought Facebook ads directly targeted at Shopify employees. It was very clever and definitely caught our attention.

Say I make the first pass and get invited to an interview. Can you describe the interview process as briefly as possible?

Our interview process is tailored to the role you’re interviewing for, but it’s comprised of multiple interviews that aim to assess every aspect of a candidate. During that interview process, you’ll talk to a lot of people on the team. We do this for two reasons:

1. It’s one of the ways we try to avoid bias in the decision-making process. By having a lot of people involved the interview process, we’re able to get a more accurate picture of who you are as a person and where you could have the biggest impact. From the candidate’s viewpoint, it also provides them with different perspectives on what it’s like to work on the team.
2. We all want to work with inspiring people that challenge our thinking, teach us new things and have strong opinions that are weakly held. We want to make sure your future team members are excited about the idea of you joining, so we make sure that they’re part of the decision.

We have four different design-specific interview types that a candidate can go through:

• Design Deep Dive: We ask the candidate to pick a topic that they’re passionate about and that they know really well. That can be anything: typography, design systems, perceived performance, using research in design, etc. It’s a very casual interview and resembles conversations you’d have with a friend at work.
• Design Duet: This one is a design exercise — but don’t worry, it’s not as terrifying as it sounds. You’ll be paired with a designer from Shopify and you’re given a problem to solve on a whiteboard together. We don’t have a specific solution in mind and the other person is there to help you think through the problem. We use this exercise to get a better feel for how you work, think and communicate.
• Design Life Story: We go through your experience chronologically (jobs you’ve had, tools you’ve used, people you’ve learned from, etc.) It allows us to get a better idea of your past experiences and see how you’ve grown over the years.
• Portfolio Review: This is where you show some of your best work. I say some, because the goal isn’t to blaze through as many projects as you can in 60 minutes. We tend to focus on the two or three projects that have had the most impact and talk in depth about them. We want to hear about the problem you had to solve, what your process was like, the challenges you faced, what you learned from this project and what you’d do differently if you could do this project again today.

"Instead of trying to guard our culture, we embrace the fact that it is constantly evolving and getting better with each person we hire."

Would you hire someone who is a cultural fit over someone who has more industry experience and hard skills?

While experience is important, what we look for is someone who has a high potential for growth. No matter what skills a designer might have, there are qualities and attitudes that are hard to fake, like curiosity, self-awareness, a strong desire to learn and openness to feedback. The people who thrive at Shopify are able to synthesize feedback from their peers, apply findings from a project to another, and seek help from other disciplines to discover and bridge the gaps.

That being said, I’m not a huge fan of the term "culture fit." It implies that culture is a thing that should be protected and that there’s a specific mold you have to fit into, which simply isn’t true. So instead, we’ve been calling it "culture addition." It’s a subtle but important distinction. A cultural addition is someone that brings something new to the team. A new kind of experience or a different perspective that challenges your thinking. What “culture addition” is not however, is a specific personality type, a specific background or a particular set of interests. So instead of trying to guard our culture, we embrace the fact that it is constantly evolving and getting better with each person we hire.

Do we need to have ecommerce experience to get a design job at Shopify, or are you willing to teach us?

While having ecommerce experience is certainly a plus, it’s not required. In fact, neither Elyse nor I had an ecommerce background before joining Shopify. As a company, we’re not fond of the status quo, so we value people that can bring a fresh perspective. We have UX folks from very different backgrounds like architecture, literature and anthropology. The common thread is that they’re highly motivated by complex problems. That’s why we put a lot of effort into sourcing candidates from fields you wouldn’t necessarily expect, and invest time into teaching them what they need to know to be successful.

We also have a dedicated UX programs team that helps onboard new team members, creates workshops and even puts together our very own internal design conference every year. When we say we want to build for the long term, we really mean it. And that starts with giving people access to the best resources to take their career to the next level right here at Shopify.

What are the secondary skills you look for in a designer, besides common soft skills? For example, do you prefer business skills over coding skills? Video skills over coding?

What’s great is that Shopify is at a size where all of these secondary skills can be useful. We have a lot of product design projects, but we also have a studio team that produces video content. We have people who design hardware like our new card reader and even people who work on interactive installations for pop-up stores. So I don’t think it’d be right for us to point out a certain skill as more important than the others. I’d encourage people to find what they’re really passionate about and dive into that. We can never have enough smart, talented, passionate people who can teach us new things.

"We want to make every year at Shopify worth 10 years of experience elsewhere."

How do you think Shopify is different when hiring new talent compared to other tech companies or design studios?

Our hiring process is much more human than what I’ve experienced in other companies in the past. We spend a lot of time and effort truly getting to know people, and then trying to understand where and how they can make an impact here. We also make sure that people who join our team are set up for success and are placed in the best environment to grow. We want to make every year at Shopify worth 10 years of experience elsewhere. We hire smart people and we treat them as such. People are empowered to do their best work here, and you can feel that sense of ownership and care when using our products.

__________

Elyse and Kevin, thank you so much for your time and insight into the inner workings of Shopify! There's so much wisdom here. Let's unpack it.

Nr. 1 - Make a connection with someone on the Shopify team.

Referrals are the second-biggest source of hires for Shopify. So do your research and attend meetups or conferences where you might meet someone from the team. Introduce yourself and make a connection.

Nr. 2 - Avoid unsolicited redesigns in your portfolio.

Elyse and Kevin make an excellent point here. Without constraints, they can't see how you'd think through a real project or problem on the job. Instead, focus on adding side projects to your portfolio that show your skill and how you see the world. We even have this piece of advice and much more in one of our recent blog articles here. 

Nr. 3 - Be creative and stand out.

Targeting Shopify employees with Facebook ads is pretty brilliant. Think of something equally clever that shows your interest and gets their attention. Of course this is optional, but it certainly increases your chances, and it's fun!

That's all for now! If you're just jumping into the How to Get a Job at X series through this interview, catch up here. You'll find other awesome people with helpful advice about getting jobs at places like Nike, Airbnb and Unsplash.

Thanks for reading, and good luck at the interview!

Tobias

I first met Bart, creative director at BBDO, in Amsterdam when we were both on the  jury team for the Art Directors Club. We immediately got along and have since stayed in touch. So when I started the How to Get a Job at X series, I just had to ask Bart and BBDO to be part of it. 

BBDO's perspective is a new one in this series, as we haven’t talked to a massive creative advertising agency yet. And besides being one of the largest, BBDO is also one of the oldest agencies in the world, founded in 1891.

I’m honored Bart and BBDO's head of design, Simon, took time out of their day to answer all our questions about landing a job at BBDO. Let’s do it!

Looking at your current design team, how many of them came through internal referrals or headhunting, and how many came through the traditional application process?

SIMON: I would say that around 70% came through referrals and headhunting. We have an amazing director of talent, Amy Starkman, here at BBDO who is a real asset in finding great people and talent.

Say we decide to reach out with a cold email. What kind of message gets a reply? Any secrets for us?

SIMON: If the email is short and to the point it will be read and replied to quickly.

BART: I’ve seen many people, especially juniors, approach me in elaborate ways, from personalized goodie bags to hand-drawn record sleeves. To me this is the equivalent to a well-practiced pick-up line: meaningless the moment you look one step further. Just show me the real person I should hire as concisely and convincing as possible, no bells needed.    

SIMON: Some things are better to save for an interview rather than putting your whole life story in the introduction email. Let your work speak for itself so you can speak about yourself in person. I heard it said once at IBM design, “Your talent will get you the interview. Your culture will get you the job.” I think that makes perfect sense. You need to be nice AND talented.

“You can be versatile while maintaining a clear identity; it’s what makes you stand out.”

The BBDO Labs office.

How important is a complete portfolio for you? Can I get away with not having a portfolio when interviewing at BBDO?

SIMON: In most cases design is visual. Even if it’s about experience design, design process and design thinking. The portfolio doesn’t need to be complete but there needs to be something that sparks a discussion. Your work should reflect your thinking and that’s what I want to know more about in the end.

Then you can decide to focus more or less on the portfolio during the interview. I usually view the portfolio thoroughly before the interview so we can spend the time talking about your ambitions and the work you really want to do in the future, preferably as a member of our team.

BART: As far as how “complete” a portfolio should be, I tend to prefer books that show a strong vision rather than a weak mix of things for the sake of making it complete. You can be versatile while maintaining a clear identity; it’s what makes you stand out.

The BBDO office designed by HLW via Architizer

“I would like to see more personal projects in portfolios. The work that you did in the best of conditions and with full artistic freedom.”

Tell us one thing you never want to see again on a portfolio. Anything you wish you saw more?

SIMON: I don’t want to see every piece of work that you have ever done. Pick your favorite pieces. It doesn’t need to be for the most famous or biggest clients as long as you are proud of it and want to talk about it.

I would like to see more personal projects in portfolios. The work that you did in the best of conditions and with full artistic freedom.

Besides having a portfolio, do you like the idea of designers being invested in other interests? For example being active bloggers or otherwise outspoken in their community?

SIMON: Yes, absolutely. I would be a bit suspicious of someone who doesn’t have any interests or hobbies outside work. It doesn’t need to be highly artistic or creative stuff, but it tells a lot about who you are as a person.

BART: Wherever you work, you’ll always have to stay within certain constraints. And one of the most dangerous traps is to stop thinking outside of those constraints. The best work is inspired by culture, not by a marketing bubble. And having your own interests — out there in the real world — is a great way to avoid getting trapped.

What are the biggest mistakes you see designers make when applying for a job at BBDO? Are there any specific things that keep bothering you? Please complain to us! (:

SIMON: Not asking enough questions. Ask, ask, ask. There are really no stupid questions and I will only be more interested in you if you show genuine interested in us.

The MSSNG Project by BBDO

Do you have a favorite story of an application that really stuck with you?

SIMON: The weird ones seems to stick the most. In one of my first application interviews I had as an junior AD, I met a copywriter who put all her work on notes hung on strings inside an umbrella and asked me to step inside where she whispered the notes to me. It was cozy and freaky.

BART: Another one might be my very first application. Still in school, I interviewed for an intern position. A day before the interview I lost the folder with all my hand-drawn work, my complete portfolio. All I had left was a CD-ROM with animation work. In the interview I handed it over, only to find out they were all .exe files which didn’t work on their mac computer. I had pretty much given up hope, but miraculously I started the next day because they were so slammed. I stayed there for many years after.

The BBDO office designed by HLW via Architizer

Say I make the first pass and get invited to an interview. Can you describe the interview process as briefly as possible?

SIMON: If your work is good enough for you to get an interview I would say you are halfway there. I don’t believe in having you do a bunch of interviews with a bunch of different people. You will most likely meet a small group of people from our team for 30-60 minutes and then have a short talk with our talent director. It will mostly be focused on cultural fit at this point.

“For junior people we need to trust our instincts more and be able to see the potential; for senior people the work should speak for itself.”

Would you hire someone who is a cultural fit over someone who has more industry experience and hard skills?

SIMON: Yes. But I’m looking for someone who has both.

BART: Yes, the cultural fit is a must. The experience and hard skills depend on the level we’re hiring. For junior people we need to trust our instincts more and be able to see the potential; for senior people the work should speak for itself.

What are the secondary skills you look for in a designer, besides common soft skills? For example, do you prefer business skills over coding skills? Video skills over coding?

SIMON: I love working with people who have hybrid talents. I would say everyone in our team now is doing multiple types of work: code, design, UX, 3D, editing, creative tech. And if you are currently not doing it there will be a lot of opportunities to learn and develop it here at BBDO.

BART: Many secondary skills are very obvious, but I love it when someone has a secondary skill that you would never put on a job form. For instance, we once hired a designer who turned out to have an in-depth understanding of musical theory, which largely defined the design of a music visualization project we did. It’s great when you run into surprises like that.

The BBDO office designed by HLW via Architizer

How do you think BBDO is different when hiring new talent compared to other tech companies or design studios?

SIMON: I love working at big agencies. Every day is different and there is so much variation and diversity. I believe we can offer a large palette of opportunities and chances to grow your skills and talents. We have a somewhat unique creative freedom and mandate, and we move fast despite our size. If you want to work at a modern agency with a plethora of projects and clients, I think BBDO is one of a handful of agencies that truly delivers.

—

Thanks so much, Bart and Simon! I loved getting a glimpse into how your agency works, and appreciate all the insightful takeaways.

For those looking to get a job at BBDO, keep these tips in mind:

Nr. 1 - Let your work speak for itself.

Don’t try to impress with gimmicks or long-winded emails during the application process. BBDO just wants a clear look at who you are and what you can do. Be genuine, be concise and focus on making your work shine. Keep in mind you're one of hundreds, so your first email has to make an impression.

Nr. 2 - Ask your burning questions.

Your work will get your foot in the door during the application process, but the interview process is your time to talk. BBDO wants you to be engaged and ask questions in your interview. Do your research and be prepared with smart questions that will show your interest in the agency. Don't just answer BBDO's questions, prepare your own.

Nr. 3 - Focus on quality over quantity in your portfolio.

BBDO doesn’t want to see everything you’ve ever worked on, so don’t fill your portfolio for the sake of filling it. Add a diverse mix of work that makes you proud. We published an article with some more portfolio advice right here.

Nr. 4 - Add personal projects to your portfolio.

This is great advice for everyone, but especially junior designers. Personal projects show how you work without constraints, and they’re a smart way to build your portfolio when you have less client work to show.

Thank you for reading,
Tobias

In this series I talk to people at some of the most admirable companies and studios out there, simply asking: How do I get a job at your company?

Our fifth feature is Pentagram.

I'm pretty sure many of you are familiar with Pentagram, especially if you're interested in traditional graphic design or branding. Regardless, you've most certainly seen their work. Pentagram is the studio behind some of the world's famous visual identities, including MasterCard, Windows, The MoMA, Verizon and so many more. Here I talk with the Michael Bierut, partner at Pentagram's New York office.

So, Michael. Before we begin, let’s put it all on the table: Getting a job at Pentagram isn’t easy. Your team is small and your reputation is huge. Is there any hope for us?

The first thing to know about Pentagram is that it isn’t one design team, but multiple design teams. There are eight partners in our New York office, and each runs a creative operation that is more or less autonomous. I am responsible for hiring and managing only the designers on my own team. They work only for me. So all of my answers have to be taken with a grain of salt. You might get a different one out of Paula Scher or Emily Oberman or Abbott Miller or Eddie Opara or Natasha Jen or Michael Gericke or Luke Hayman. This, along with the slow turnover and scarcity of openings, is the most frustrating thing about seeking a job at Pentagram.

Pentagram New York photographed by Ike Edeani

So what's our best chance of getting in? Does Pentagram pre-select and head hunt most designers on its team, or do you consider cold applications as well?

Like most of the design teams at Pentagram, we offer paid internships. Most of my full-time employees began as interns. Our interns are often people who have written emails with no other introduction; in other cases they are students in a class that I or one of my designers teach; in still other cases they’re recommended by other designers I respect. Every once in a while we seek someone out with more experience. These applicants are usually known to one or another designer on my team.

Pentagram New York photographed by Ike Edeani

Say we do decide to reach out with a cold email. What kind of message gets a reply? Any secrets for us?

I reply to every message I get, even the ones with misspellings.

How important is a visual and complete portfolio for you? Can I get away with not having a portfolio when interviewing at Pentagram?

A good portfolio is a given. I hire so rarely for my team that I never have to compromise about that. That said, while the work is important, I am just as interested by how curious and articulate the applicant is.

Tell us one thing you never want to see again on a portfolio website. Anything you wish you saw more?

I like to see people who present their work with care and intelligence. The best portfolios are ones that are comprehensive enough that you get a sense what’s going on, but sufficiently open-ended so you are intrigued by what you see.

Pentagram New York photographed by Ike Edeani

Besides having a portfolio, do you like the idea of designers being invested in other things? For example being active bloggers, or otherwise outspoken in their community?

I like designers who have a point of view, but they don’t have to have big social media profiles or anything like that.

What are the top mistakes you see designers make when applying for a job at Pentagram? Are there any specific things that keep bothering you? Please complain to us! (:

Most of the mistakes I see have to do with spelling or grammar. I know it’s not the most important thing in the world, but it drives me crazy.

Say I make the first pass and get invited to an interview. Can you describe the interview process as briefly as possible? 

If you’re interviewing to be an intern, you may be interviewed in person or on the phone by a few of my designers. If you’re coming in as a full-time person, you’d probably talk to me and, again, some of the designers. We don’t do design exercises or really have any formal interviewing process.

Pentagram New York photographed by Ike Edeani

Would you hire someone who is a cultural fit over someone who has more industry experience and hard skills?

I think everyone has the capacity to acquire craft skills, but curiosity and brains are difficult to pick up on the job. As a graphic designer, I work with words a lot, so I appreciate people who love to read and write.

Besides being a good writer and communicator, what secondary skills do you look for in a designer? For example, do you prefer business skills over coding skills?

Most designers on my team eventually manage their own projects and may serve as the main point of contact with clients and other collaborators. So I look for people who can talk about their work, who can listen when other people are talking, and who like to take as much responsibility as possible.

Pentagram New York photographed by Ike Edeani

Obviously you’re a branding studio, but would you hire someone who has no previous experience with branding? Say I work at a big tech company for a couple years, then decide to go to Pentagram. Could I?

Every team at Pentagram, including mine, does a really diverse range of work. So specific experience is less meaningful than someone’s ability to learn and capacity for growth.

__

Michael! Thanks for keeping it real, and keeping it short. For those looking to join the Pentagram team, these insights are worth noting:

Nr. 1 - Communication is key.

Michael made it clear that writing and general communication skills are important – in your initial intro email, in your portfolio, in your everyday work. Be brief, use proper grammar and spelling, articulate yourself well.

Nr. 2 - You will have to reach out; there are no job postings at Pentagram.

Good news is, Michael says he reads and replies to every email he receives. Make his time worth it with a well-written email (see Nr. 1 above – here are a few tips on writing a good email, btw). And don't forget to have an outstanding portfolio. If Michael says he answers every email, don't waste the chance by coming unprepared.

Nr. 3 - You will likely start as an intern.

An internship is the best way to get your foot in the door at Pentagram, so prepare to start there and work your way up. This is pretty great news, as it means Pentagram isn’t necessarily looking for someone with a lot of experience but someone who's willing to do good work and learn along the way. They’re looking for potential, and they’re willing to help you grow.

Until next time, friends! I’ll be sharing more “How to Get a Job at X” interviews soon, many featuring companies you specifically requested. If you haven’t read the others in the series, start with Airbnb, Nike, Electronic Arts and Refinery29. Or, if Pentagram is your dream job: Take some writing lessons, get your portfolio in shape and get the damn job! I wish you luck.

Also, thanks to Ike Edeani for providing your beautiful photographs of the Pentagram office.

Keep making & creating,
Tobias