Applying for a job is a scary thing. There are so many unknowns and nobody likes to be rejected. The most important thing you can do to ensure that you get a fair chance at any job is to treat is like any other design project you would do. The design process is a time tested method that greatly improves your chances of successful projects, why not use it to land a job?

There is No One Size Fits All Model

Let’s think about this. If a client came to you and asked for you to design a logo for them, you wouldn’t just get out your logo-design formula and * poof * make a logo. If you had two different clients, you would have two very different solutions, even if they are both logos. Why is this?

Simple, you see each as a unique problem to solve that involved a certain level of understanding. You would do research. You would find out as much as you can about the company that you are designing for. What are their goals, strengths, attitudes, personality, and even more importantly, you’d want to do extensive research on who their clients are. Those are the real clients, not your company. You would learn as much as you can about the population that your company is working to serve to make sure your design speaks directly to the connection between the company and their audience.

You Are the Product

When applying for a job, you need to think of yourself and your materials as the product that needs to be designed. You need to consider your end audience- the particular company, firm, agency, etc that you are applying to. Each is unique and will have their own expectations of what they need specifically in a designer. In fact, they will often write out exact expectations in a position announcement or job opening post. You need to think of that post as the problem statement that needs solving. Read it carefully again and again, study it, read it again, understand it.

You are the Client

When creating application materials, you are your own client, you need to imagine that you have just hired yourself to design materials that connect the dots between a particular problem and the specific target audience, just like any other design job.

In this case, your goal is to design application materials that convey that you are a solution to the problems outlined in their job posting, and furthermore that you fully understand these problems and the audience that you are addressing.

Know Your Audience

Each company is unique. It’s important not to forget this. Treating every company you apply to the same is a sure fire way to have your materials thrown out. Nobody likes a form letter. It’s very easy to tell if somebody has just copied and pasted the same stuff over and over.

Remember that from the company’s perspective, hiring somebody is an investment. Not only do they have to pay you if you are hired, they have to take responsibility for the work you create, they have to share resources with you, they have to work with you, and probably most importantly, if they hire you, they have to spend a whole lot of time with you. This is especially true in smaller companies, each employee is a huge percentage of the overall. In a company of 10 people, each person is 10% of that company. Imagine how seriously they must take the decision-making when hiring.

Do Your Research

Put yourself in the shoes of the people hiring. What are they looking for? Or rather, what would easily put them off? First off, why waste any time on somebody who has not bothered to learn anything about the company. They want to talk to people who have shown clear interest in them and their work. They want to talk to people who want to work for them, not just want to work. This is an important distinction.

There is so much that can be learned about a company prior to applying. Nearly all of them will have a website where they painstakingly curated a portfolio of their best projects, carefully crafted an about page describing the company, their goals, and maybe even their process. Most of them even have a blog where they share ideas, work, and all kinds of useful nuggets to learn how they think.

You can also find out who works there and investigate their individual websites, social media accounts and the like to learn as much as you can about the people you may be spending an awful lot of time with if you happen to be hired. This should be as much of an investment for you as it is for them. You have to share air and work with these people for 40+ hours a week, don’t you want to make sure they are a good fit for you as well?

Your Portfolio

Okay, so now you’ve learned as much as possible about the company in which you plan to apply. Now, it’s time to decide whether or not you are a good fit for them. You have already memorized the job posting, do you meet the basic criteria?

Let’s assume you do. Now you have to be really honest and ask yourself, “Does my work and my style fit in with the work and the style of this company?” If it does, then you are set, that is if you can speak to the similarities. If not, do you see your work as a compliment to the company’s work? That too can be an interesting discussion to have if you have learned that they are open-minded and interested in branching out.

Now, Do the Work

If you have truthfully done all the research and have determined that you are truly interested in this position and you believe that you would be a good fit and great addition to the company, you can move on to designing the materials to apply. Until you’ve done the research, designing the materials is a waste. It’s like designing a logo based on only knowing that a company sells bird food. It will be generic at best and won’t truly capture the essence it could. It won’t have any meaningful impact.

However, using your hard-won research, you can now begin to work on your materials with very specific goals in mind. Use your materials to position yourself not just as an interested candidate, but as the best fit for the problem they have.

Authenticity Always Prevails

You are more than a sum of your work and your design experience. You are a whole person with skills, interests, goals, personality, and a whole lot more. For some people, writing a bit of professional correspondence turns them into a bit of a robot. Be polite, be professional, but please remember to be yourself.

Don’t use words you wouldn’t actually say. Don’t construct overly complex sentences trying to look extra smart. Instead, try your best to be you, just you on your best day. Nobody wants to work with a robot, on the other hand, nobody wants to work with a lazy writer who sends text messages as email content and doesn’t use spell check.