Some of our users agree to share their takes on a portfolio presentation with the community. Watch a real product designer’s first take on her portfolio presentation. Recorded live on Presentum, January 2023.
Prepare for product designer job interviews
Build your portfolio presentation and practice it with peers before real job interviews. We have a comprehensive guide on navigating job interviews and maximizing your chances of getting an offer.
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Improve your chances of getting an offer
Read our refresher course to learn about interviewing process and portfolio presentation.
What is expected from a candidate? How does the hiring party decide who to invite for an interview? What should I talk about in the interview? The course guides you through important steps and helps you organize your story and presentation.
Structure your cases for interview purposes. This is what the hiring party wants to hear from you.
We provide you with a tool that helps you structure your case descriptions for job interviews. This is a great scratchpad to make sure you won’t miss important pieces that the hiring party wants to hear from candidates. This is a great starting point to prepare for interviews. Obviously, you will prepare your deck of slides the way you want later.
Practice until you're confident.
Book other designers, get feedback and feel safe in a friendly environment.
The more you practice, the less anxiety you have and the more confident you feel during live interviews with complete strangers.
Watch this first take on a presentation.
In this video, we decided to cut the verbal feedback that followed the presentation. We recommend you watch the video, read the guide, consider what was missing in her presentation, and build your first version.
Start here
- Read our guide: How to build your portfolio presentation
- What to do if you struggle to start building your presentation
- Build your presentation and book another designer and start practicing
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Prepare for Big Tech job interviews
The Big Tech companies, also known as FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google), have high standards for candidates. Our process tailors your practice to meet those standards. Learning to present your projects at this level will boost your chances in every job search.
Hone your portfolio and presentation
Your first pitch can make or break the rest of the interview process. At Presentum, we'll teach you how to describe your experience effectively, present the best projects, and navigate the hiring process. We'll put you well on your way to a strong impression and the job you actually want.
Practice with peers to get more offers
Nine out of ten candidates don't make it past the first stage — presenting their past work. Presentum helps you practice in a safe environment with other designers. The more you practice, the more comfortable you'll feel in an actual job interview.
FAQ
How long does it take to prepare for an interview?
We recommend setting aside at least one week to absorb all the necessary information and to create a first draft of your presentation. It's a very good idea to spend 2 to 3 weeks practicing with peers. By practicing at least once a week and listening to others' presentations in the same week, you can learn what adjustments your presentation needs and then test them the following week. It's important to improve your presentation based on feedback from others, as real interviews involve presenting to unfamiliar people. Absorbing and implementing feedback takes time, as does testing and refining your presentation, which is why it's usually best to allow a week in between practice sessions. It usually takes at least three iterations of practice and feedback before your presentation will be effective for a real interview.
How is this service better than hiring a mentor from a FAANG company?
While mentorship can be extremely beneficial, we recommend first eliminating as many errors as possible from your presentation before reaching out to experts. Practicing with other designers on our platform allows you to test your presentation and receive feedback at your own pace, which can save you both time and money. Once you've practiced enough, seek out a guide to help tailor your portfolio and interview skills for a specific company.
Is it possible to prepare for an interview on my own? Why is it important to practice with peers?
It is possible to prepare for an interview on your own, but we've observed this process from so many angles that we're not at risk of overstating what practicing with peers accomplishes. Presenting to unfamiliar people can feel intimidating at first, but by practicing with a real audience, you become more comfortable with the experience. It also affords you valuable feedback and the time and space to make adjustments to your presentation that will be clear to you are essential.
But I can practice with my friends!
That can be helpful, sure, but we're strongly advocating for fresh feedback each time. Our platform provides those fresh faces for each iteration of your presentation. Also, your friends might be biased, they get you, and you will get different feedback from an unfamiliar person.
Why should I listen to other people's presentations?
Listening to other people's presentations can be a highly effective way to learn and improve your own skills. By acting as a hiring manager, you gain insight into how candidates are perceived by employers—insight you can use. Additionally, receiving specific feedback on a presentation from a listener can help you better understand your own presentation. Listening to a variety of presentations exposes you to different styles and techniques, which can inform your own preparation.
Can you help me find a job even if I don't have relevant experience?
We recommend reading through our course material and using that to sensibly work towards gaining relevant experience in your current job. Some users have done just that to improve their skills as designers: by following the instructions in our guide, practicing their presentations for each new project, and by receiving feedback, they recalibrated to get the experience they needed. Some choose to stay in their current jobs because they became more valuable employees and received raises. While we didn't directly provide them with experience, our guidance helped them get there.
Will you help me find a job?
For now we're focused on peer-to-peer mechanics. We do have plans, however, to help connect our users directly to hiring managers. In the meantime, many of our users have reported significant improvements to their communication skills and presentation abilities after using our platform and practicing with peers.
What designers say about practicing on Presentum
Marina I.Very cool guide. I've read it several times this month. I made a mind map to understand it better. At first everything seems clear and understandable, but proper understanding comes when you practice with other people.
Alexander P.Thank you for the impulse to practice. As a result, I've put together 3 large case studies. Before this, I spent a year trying to research information, analyzing other people's portfolios, watching dozens of videos on YouTube, writing case structures and more stuff like that. But I never got down to business because writing a huge case study can be overwhelming. And there's an even bigger struggle bc I understand that no one will read it. Your course really focused things and the 'elephant' turned out to be not so big anymore. After live presentations, I understood what and how to describe and put together a portfolio based on the presentations. It turned out great.
Jack Z.One thing that could be improved is there are many suggestions for the technical side of the service to make everything a little easier. But it's cool that everything is there and that there was the opportunity to do it!
Aimee A.I liked that almost everyone approached responsibly, listened, gave feedback. According to the feedback, I could see what I need to work on, what I need to improve on.It was also very useful to see how others perceive my presentation because in my head there are some moments that I consider important/cool, but the guys noticed others. Thank you for this experience, it was really useful and worth the time spent. 🙌🏻
Daria M.It became a lot easier to speak each time. At first I was shy of my English and pronunciation and stumbled often, then I stopped paying attention to it and concentrated more on the meaning. Now I even remember to breathe between sentences))
It was difficult for me to shift the focus from the product to myself. The guys pointed out to me that it is important to convey the value of specifically myself as a designer, not just talk about the finished product in a presentation.
After reading the theory in the guide, I revisited the previously written case study descriptions and reorganized the accents. Overall, I structured how to most convincingly organize the story about my work.
And of course, it was very interesting and useful to listen to other people's presentations. Almost more useful than receiving feedback on myself.
Emily D.I finished the presentation training program and want to say - thank you very much! It is an incredible experience and emotions)) On my first presentation I shook like a leaf, then by the end I became much more confident and relaxed. I was very glad that I was able to speak in front of people, and I also received a lot of positive feedback from my peers. It was a very useful experience for me. Thank you for everything!
Alina S.Dear Presentum authors! Thank you very much for the course. I read it a couple of times, each time rewrote the theses and storytelling differently, based specifically on case studies, interactions with the team, and my contribution. I currently have a bias towards the descriptive part rather than the graphics in my presentations. In one case, a feature looks like a small thing, but there's a lot under the hood. I'll think about how to add graphics. It's great when you answer questions on each case, it helps me understand how to better tell the story in my portfolio ✨💛
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