The job market is tough, and seeing as we’re graphic designers and not economists, we won’t get into the whys … but we can say that most employment-tracking sources put unemployment in the graphic design industry at about six percent and underemployment at about 33 percent. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that employment of graphic designers is projected to grow two percent from 2024 to 2034, slower than the average for all occupations. Anecdotally, we can also tell you that after posting a position for a designer, we received 200 resumes within the first three days and had over 400 within two weeks, with the vast majority incredibly impressive. (Yes, we looked at all 400 applications personally – we don’t use any AI tools to filter them, as many organizations do.) Typically, we receive about 150 resumes total for job openings, with only about 20 percent of applicants competitive for the position.
“I feel like we’re experiencing that perfect storm,” said GRAPHEK’s Founder and Creative Director Ellen Kim. “The economy is uncertain, we’ve seen layoffs across the industry, and the disruption by AI cannot be ignored. At the same time, organizations are asking their teams to do more with fewer people. Class of 2025 graduates may not have found a position yet, and now the Class of 2026 is entering the job market. Everything is being compounded.”
From our perspective …
GRAPHEK is in its 29th year, and we’re in what we consider the enviable position of never once having to lay off a team member. With that perspective, backed by decades of interviewing and reviewing candidates, how can job prospects differentiate themselves – and what do we, as an employer, look for in a candidate to ensure that we can meet our clients’ needs through custom solutions to propel positive change?
While every organization is different and the requirements of positions vary tremendously, we cannot overstate the importance of the design portfolio, especially when it is introduced by a well-designed resume that also gives a reviewer insight into your layout skills. With that in mind, is Word your best option for designing and laying out a resume for a graphic designer? Probably not.
In thinking about what will capture our attention and could serve as your entry to an interview, we landed on a few key points:
- Let your portfolio help tell the story of how you’ve met a client’s (or professor’s) challenge through thoughtful design.
- To demonstrate to an employer that you can problem-solve, don’t just show the final product. Explain the challenge and share your initial concepts and sketches – let us see your iterations from first concept to final execution. Show the process, no matter how messy, beginning to end, so an interviewer can understand both the problem and the solution.
- Rather than think of yourself as an artist, think of yourself as a problem solver. Exercise your critical thinking muscle – don’t let AI do it for you, and remember AI can never replace empathy, judgment, taste, and collaboration.
- If you’ve used AI professionally, by all means share well-executed examples as a portion of your portfolio, but we don’t recommend making it the focus. It cannot spotlight your creative process like your own authentic work can. Think of the difference between a favorite family photo from a special birthday vs a stock photo of a birthday party. Be genuine and demonstrate that you’ll be able to collaborate with a client. And remember, your portfolio is no stronger than your weakest projects, so select what you’re choosing to highlight carefully.
- Branding – and rebranding – is more important than ever. It’s the ‘why’ behind so much of a designer’s work, so be prepared to explain how a concept fit or advanced a brand.
- Don’t wait for the chance of an interview to tell the story of the people behind the design: Illustrate your ability to collaborate with clients and interpret their feedback, as it’s a significant part of any designer’s career. Customer service is an enormous asset – use it and focus on it, especially as the antidote to AI. At GRAPHEK, client service is a key part of our own brand.
- In fact, when the Commercial Real Estate Development Association (CREDA) was looking for a design team to handle a rebrand for its 22,000 member, 55-chapter national trade association, GRAPHEK stood out because of our personal touch and focus on customer service.
“We realized that with GRAPHEK, we weren’t going to meet the CEO and creative director during the pitch and never see them again,” said Kathryn Hamilton, vice president of marketing and communications for CREDA. “Everyone on the team is in it for the long haul, and they’re on every call and at every meeting. From the beginning, they gave us a real sense of ease and the feeling that they’re an agency that knows and understands the importance of research, conversation, and customer service.
“They’re also extraordinarily nice people, and they provide very good guidance. For this rebrand – and eventual renaming – it was important to us that our leadership wasn’t pushing it one way or the other; we wanted to see what our members thought. ‘What do they think of our name? Have we outgrown it? Would another name be clearer and easier for people to understand what this association is about?’ GRAPHEK helped us ask the right questions before arriving at a solution.”
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