If you want people to notice you as a creative professional, strong personal branding is necessary. Not only does it demonstrate your unique value to prospective clients, but it also serves as a key differentiator from other creatives in your space. Strong personal branding makes you and your work that much more memorable while adding credibility to your craft.

A personal brand is a process where you establish your public persona. It involves communication about your ideas and goals, as well as your purpose, and it is vital if you want to establish your creative identity in your industry. Your personal brand is how you ensure that your target audience – in this case, a recruiter or an employer – knows who you are and what you stand for.

It also helps people to see why it’s worth choosing you over everyone else when you are trying to land a new role. It is your job to stand out when you are going for a new position and if you call yourself ‘a creative’ then you must be creative with your brand, and your portfolio is the place to begin when you want to refine it.

If you are looking to land your dream job then you need more than your CV. A CV details exactly where you’ve worked and what you can do, but your portfolio is where you get to show off all that hard work. Let’s look at how you can use your portfolio to land your dream job.

Do Your Research

In the same way that you would tailor a cover letter to reflect a role you are applying for, your portfolio must include work that is relevant to the position to which you are applying. This is where your research starts.

For example, if you bring an illustrative portfolio into a job application for a company that is looking for you to design websites, it may not hit the right notes. Look at the type of work the company has previously done and the clients that they have worked with before. From here, you can reflect on their current projects with your portfolio, as well as relatable works, and keep the rest to a minimum.

Showing versatility is a nice idea, but one example would be enough rather than covering every project. If a client leans to a specific aesthetic, mirroring this shows you have done your due diligence. The last thing here is to keep a master copy of your portfolio on your computer and then tweak it when you apply for a role – this saves you starting over each time.

Make It Visually Captivating

There are plenty of things that you can do to make your portfolio visually captivating and highlight your brand. There’s a fine line between showing off your amazing work and having a portfolio design that distracts from it, so make sure that you display your work in a way that captivates Creative Directors from the start.

Some of the tips that could help you to do this include:

• Keep one piece of work on display per page of your portfolio. You’re showcasing your work and there’s no room for overcrowding!
• Stay away from busy patterns or embellishments to push a ‘design.’ In fact, it may be better for you to focus on a minimal portfolio design so that your work can really pack a punch.
• Streamline your portfolio by aligning images and text the same way throughout. If a creative director or a recruiter can look through your portfolio and it flows easily, you are much more likely to impress them.
• Let the work speak for itself. Drawn-out explanations just take up portfolio space, so try to leave those out. Short, simple explanations are enough. A conversation about each piece will come if you impress enough with your work.

These four short tips are just the beginning. You want someone to open your portfolio and think ‘wow.’ You are in the best position to ensure that your portfolio speaks to a prospective employer and it should make them sit up and take notice.

Tell Your Story

One of the best things about your portfolio is it tells your personal brand story. Using each piece of work in the right context helps to illustrate your career, your knowledge, and what you can do. Ask yourself – is it easy to remember short facts or a weaved-in story?

You must select the projects that show off your creativity. However, to be truly remembered by employers you must ensure that your portfolio can tell the story of who you are and why you are the designer you are right now.

Helping the employer or recruiter to understand each piece and how they weave together can refine your brand with your portfolio. Remember to have fun as you put it together; your creative portfolio expresses the best of your work and most of all, you.

Showcase Your Best Work

We’ve talked about the importance of including relevant work but when you are tailoring your portfolio to a role, ensure that you are giving whoever is doing the hiring the best chance to see what you can really do. This work should be that which allows you to flex your creative muscles and really stand out.

Art Directors and Hiring Managers are looking for those with strong skills and attention to detail, so quality over quantity is important in your portfolio. There’s no use in sending fifty mediocre samples when you can nail your dream job with ten on-the-mark ones.

Your work showcases a sense of what you are about. Showing off your best work that pertains to the job you’re applying for is how you can feel confident you’ll beat the competition. Highlight the projects that you enjoyed the most. This way, your passion and personal brand will shine through!

Summary

A well-crafted portfolio can help you to emphasise your abilities, your personality, and your brand. It gives a Creative Director or a hiring team the chance to get to know you and with a uniform, streamlined design, your dream creative job is within reach.

For employers to notice your portfolio, communicate exactly what you are showcasing in your work. If you are looking for a new job in a creative space in Sydney and you are ready to refine your portfolio once more, check out the jobs we have available on our website.

As a specialist creative recruitment agency, we have recruiters ready to help you to match your portfolio to new digital, marketing, creative, and communications jobs that will help you to whet your artistic appetite! Give us a call today to get to know the jobs and employers we have available.