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What if getting a (design) job were human-centered?How might we reconsider this system of collecting a pool of resumes and dwindling them down to a few dozen potential candidates? With so many qualified individuals in the job market, from new grads to seasoned professionals, there has to be a fit somewhere.Call me an idealist — I am.In an ideal world, somehow the complexity of what makes a person unique could be captured and understood easily and quickly without any technological translators. But until then, a resume and a portfolio will have to do, in addition to the pre-screening interviews and design challenges. Without diving into a speculative design fiction, what if getting a (design) job were human-centered? How might the system be a bit more personal, yet still efficient enough to give the hundreds of qualified job seekers a chance in a span of weeks or months?

despite our human-centered mantra, the system of getting a job is anything but human-centered.For the sake of efficiency, consistency is key. Resumes should have some consistent nature to them so HR knows what the heck they’re looking at and the software can accurately pick out whose qualified. Even portfolios fall prey to these expectations for new grads and transitional job seekers. Go through enough examples of resumes and portfolios and they can begin to blur together. Yet, if I’m following a standard, how do I stand out when a lot of us are in the same boat?

Many case studies read to me like school homework: they knew what the answer and the process were “supposed to be” according to the textbook, so made up the story to fit. In reality, as you point out, it’s never smooth and linear. It’s messy and loopish. If you’re doing a good job, you rarely end up with anything remotely like you anticipated when you started out.

abandon your dogmatic and idealistic view of the design process, and keep learning about how flexible, messy, and beautiful it is.

I don’t speak about the “ideal” design process for a simple reason: it doesn’t exist. Design is never linear, and all projects are unique. The point is to show and explain your path from the kick-off to the final result in the portfolio.

If you tell a story, include the details and the things that didn’t work and how you adapted to overcome the problem, the design manager will empathise with you. For the five minutes it takes to read your case study, they’ll be in your shoes. It’ll remind them of all the times when they had similar problems and it’ll make them appreciate you and your struggles as a designer.