Here are some common mistakes/things to consider as you are putting your portfolio site together.
1.) Navigation problems – Make your site simple/easy/clear to view the work. Check out what your site looks like on a laptop, tablet and phone to make sure it works. Don’t assume they’ll be looking at your site on a big monitor.
2.) Make thumbnails clear – Zoomed in/cropped thumbnails are a trend BUT if the recruiter cannot interpret what the thumbnail image is, it’s confusing! Don’t make them click twice to figure out what they’re looking at.
3.) Don’t gamify your site. Don’t make me shoot something w/ my cursor in order to get a campaign to open up.
4.) Make contact info (Email + cell) clear and easy to find. I think it’s smart to include it on every page (at the bottom)
5.) Don’t make music play on your site. It’s so distracting and annoying!!
6.) Art Directors with solid design skills – Show them off! You can definitely have a section called “Design” where you showcase projects like logo designs, posters, etc.
7.) Re the order of your work – Put your best work first. Recruiters have different ways of looking at work but most will click on your first piece b/c they know everyone puts their best piece first.
8.) Make your URL your name…make it easy for the recruiter to find/remember vs. “goodwriter1.com” or “artdirectorhack.com”
9.) This one is for you guys (not the recruiters) – Make your site easy to update in the future. You should ALWAYS keep your site live and ALWAYS keep it current (even when you’ve got a job that you love.) You never know what will happen in the future so keep your sites live…the annual hosting cost is worth avoiding the pain of having to recreate your site from scratch. This one is fresh in my mind b/c it just happened to a recent graduate.
10.) If you make your resume downloadable, make sure the file name is “AshleySommardahlResume” NOT “final resume” or “ashley resume version 3”
11.) Make sure the images that you use are not too hi-res so they don’t take forever to load. You definitely want good quality but recruiters will not wait for images to load.