How to Create a Portfolio Website that Guarantees Your Employment

Elizabeth Thistle

6 years ago

Do you think your portfolio will guarantee you employment? Of course, I assume that you already have a portfolio, because a designer, photographer or architect without it is nonsense. Every client will ask you about the designer portfolio template and every employer will be making a decision about your hiring according to it. So, look at your portfolio and sincerely answer – do you think it guarantees you employment? If yes – you don’t need to read further, you are already fabulous and I’m jealous. If no… Well, I have a few pieces of advice for you.

The first and the most important fact I have to tell you – it won’t be a piece of cake. I mean, if you thought creating a portfolio would be fast and simple – I have bad news for you. If you want to impress clients and employers from the first impression, you will need to put some effort into it. However, it won’t be in vain; those efforts will return to you a hundred times when it comes to the job search.

There are a number of recommendations that will sufficiently improve your portfolio. What you have to do now is open your portfolio website and customize it according to these bits of advice. So, brace yourself and let’s begin. I’ve prepared a checklist for you, so all the important details won’t be missed.

Portfolio Customization Checklist

Portfolio website

You need it, believe me. And if you are a web designer – a portfolio website becomes a must. Your personal platform on the web is a convenient tool to transform yourself into the brand and then sell that brand to a potential client. By now the fact that you have a personal portfolio website won’t be a ground-shaking novelty, but that sure gives you a few points. You can gather all your strong features in one place and the visitor will be able to receive a complete picture of your professionalism and personality. You just send the link to your website to the employer and boom! – he has all the reasons to understand why you are the best choice.

Emphasize your Work

Your work will be talking for you. They are your main gun; you just can’t waste the opportunity to impress the viewer. Place the gallery in the middle of the page and make sure no user will be able to miss it. However, you don’t need to put all your work there. Only the best, the most impressive, the most interesting has to be shown. Clients may evaluate you by the number of your works, but their quality is much more important. By the way, you can show some personal, non-profit work there too. It will show that you are really passionate about the things you do; and that is always a big advantage in the employer’s eyes.

Show your Face

It may be a surprise, but the “About Us” page is the most popular one on every single website. I’m not kidding – people want to know who they are dealing with. To increase the level of audience trust – add your photo and a short description to the portfolio website. It shouldn’t be a huge advertising text – nobody will believe it. Just write down a few sentences about yourself, your motivation, goals and interests. And don’t be official – it is better to use the words you use in your everyday life. It will make you a little closer to your audience.

Every Portfolio Website Should Have Some “Raisins”

Don’t be afraid to spice up your website. It has to step out of the line, so make it unique and original. Build it in your own style, add some of your works to the design, and play around with the colors, fonts and graphics. When a visitor is looking on your website he has to understand what he can expect from your work, so don’t be shy and grab his attention with bright and memorable “raisins.”

Add Some “Work in Progress” Content

This could be photos, videos or text description; any good examples that will make your portfolio more entertaining. It is interesting to watch how different things are done, so the visitors will stay on your portfolio website for a longer time (and that is great for your search engine rates). Besides that, you can help the potential client understand that the tiny details they want you to change are sometimes not so tiny and demand hours of work. One way or another, the progress, displayed for the clients will bring you profit, so don’t ignore it.

Don’t Forget the Resume

If you want to work for a particular company it would be a nice idea to make HR’s life a little easier. If he or she is able to print your resume right from the portfolio website, it will give you a few points. It is also convenient for you – your resume or CV will always be within your reach from any device. However, don’t forget to update it, adding new information about your skills and completed projects.

Encourage Visitors to Follow You

Social media buttons have to be big and clearly visible. I mean it, BIG and clearly visible. The users have to see them even if they don’t really think about linking to your account or sharing your content. In fact, sometimes, even when visitors do want to follow you – they often just forget to do it. Eye-catching social media buttons will remind them about the desire. It is also cool when those buttons are drawn in some original way, but it is very important not to overdo it; the social media logos have to be recognizable.

Responsiveness

Serious people always lack time. That’s why they use every minute with some profit and that’s why you have to make sure that employers will like the look of your portfolio website is he go through it from his smartphone. Make your website responsive – it means that the design adapts to the size of the screen and looks perfect on any device. Website templates are mostly created responsive now, so don’t lag behind.

A winning hand for a portfolio website - Monstroid 2 template + Elementor Page Builder

This advice won’t be complete without some tools recommendations. If you are looking for a suitable template to create a new portfolio website or update an old one – check out the Monstroid 2 theme. It is one of TemplateMonster’s best multipurpose themes and working with it will be a real pleasure. Just take a look at this video – Monstroid 2 is compatible with Elementor page builder and together they help you to create the portfolio from scratch in just about half an hour.

Monstroid 2 template has a bunch of pre-made skins for different types of websites and one of them is a portfolio website. All the necessary elements are already added to the page, so you will have to do minimal customization to launch the website really fast. The homepage is well-thought-out; it concentrates on the most important parts. All additional modules and blocks are presented in drop-down mega-menu that makes navigation more convenient.

The most interesting and important information for the client, your abilities and work samples are the focus of this template. The services you can provide are organized onto an understandable table with icons and a handful of animation effects. A bright and impressive gallery block will show your works in the best possible way. Monstroid 2 is responsive, so you won’t have to spend additional efforts to make it look great on tablet or smartphone screens.

Wrapping up

Finally, I need to say, that following all the tips I listed still won’t guarantee you employment. That’s a pity, but the decision to hire you or not depends not only on the look of your portfolio website. The way you speak, the way you are dressed, and even an accent could influence the employer to give you the job or decline to work with you. However, following the advice will get you as close to success as possible. An impressive portfolio gives you a good start, so make it look breathtaking and then don’t lose your chance! Good luck with it!

I hope the tips will help you create an outstanding portfolio. If they did – I will be really happy to hear about it, so please, leave a note in the comment section below. Maybe you have already used some of this advice and even have a few additional tricks? I’m sure that lots of readers will be grateful if you share them in the comments.