Hiring managers review 50, 100, or even 500 applications for every role. And they’re not opening each portfolio with the patience and detail orientation of a gallery curator. They’re skimming. Fast.
After the fifth minimalist homepage with three thumbnails and no context, they all start to blur together.
It’s not that your work is bad. It’s that your portfolio looks like everyone else’s. And when time is tight, sameness gets skipped. A recent study of hiring managers reviewing design applications found the average decision time (resume + portfolio) was just 55 seconds. Your portfolio has to make a compelling case immediately.
It’s brutal. But not hopeless. Here’s what might be holding your portfolio back—and how to fix it.
Your portfolio isn’t a museum. It’s a pitch.
Hiring managers aren’t looking for everything you’ve ever done. They want to know if you can solve problems, adapt to feedback, deliver under pressure, and think strategically. For designers especially, showing how you think is just as important as showing what you made.
If your portfolio is just screenshots with no context, it’s getting skipped.
Fix this: Add short, scannable case studies for 2–3 projects. Cover the challenge, your role, the process, and what changed because of your work. Think story, not a slideshow. Here’s how to do it well. You can also explore how AI might support your case study creation without making your work feel robotic.
If your landing page is just a logo, or worse, a wall of thumbnails, you’re wasting prime real estate.
Hiring managers consistently say they want to see personality and purpose immediately. What kind of work are you looking for? What’s your creative superpower? Why should they keep clicking?
Portfolios that quickly communicate the designer’s personality and focus are far more likely to stand out.
Fix this: Use your homepage to make a first impression that sticks. Add a bold headline, a quick intro about your skills or niche, and a featured project to click into. This doesn’t need to be flowery—just clear. This guide walks through smart, effective homepage layouts that help hiring managers know who you are and why they should care. Need a refresher on how to bring clarity to your intro? We’ve got that too.
This is a simple one but a really easy way to lose hiring managers—immediately. If your site takes five seconds to load or makes people guess where to click, they're moving on. In fact, delays beyond one second start to interrupt a user’s flow and create frustration.
Remember: a lot of hiring teams are reviewing on their phones, between meetings, or on the train home. UX matters. So does load time. It might sound harsh, but to the hiring manager, this is a sign you're not familiar with the industry's UX standards.
Fix this: Test your portfolio on mobile. Ask a friend to find your contact page without help. Simplify your nav. Reduce file sizes. Cut anything that slows the scroll. And if you’re starting from scratch, check out our roundup of the best platforms for building a creative portfolio.
If your most recent project screams COVID-era, it sends a signal that you’re either not working or not evolving.
Even if your client work is under NDA or stuck in approvals, you can still show something recent: a skills-based mock project, a passion piece, or a rebrand concept for fun. Here’s how to show value when your work is invisible.
Fix this: Set a reminder to refresh your portfolio every quarter. Even small updates make a difference—and keep the project from becoming a mountain to climb. Keeping things fresh not only signals that you're actively engaged in your craft—it also helps your portfolio rank better in search results and might even bring potential hiring managers directly to you. Curious what to include? Start here.
Hiring teams want to know where you’re headed, not just where you’ve been. If your About page is generic or nonexistent, it’s a missed opportunity.
Are you looking for in-house or freelance? UX or visual design? Junior or senior roles? If you’re open to it all, say so—but at least give them a direction.
Fix this: Add a short About section that covers your experience level, specialties, and what kind of roles you’re most excited about. This guide to writing your creative bio can help.
You might be doing everything right and still not hearing back. This market is tough. But a smart, strategic portfolio can be the difference between getting ghosted and getting hired.
You’ve got this.
Editor's note: This blog was written with support from ChatGPT as a part of our AI Content Experiment. TLDR? We're seeing how difficult and time-consuming it really is to train AI to write (semi) decent content, or if it's even worth it. Stay tuned for our results!
As a part of the process, our designer also tested Generative AI to see how it would interpret our brand graphics. Left is what it came up with. Not sure it actually listened to our prompt... definitely didn't get our brand colors.
Here's the prompt our designer used:
Create images that depict why a creative applicant's (copywriter, designer, web developer etc.) portfolio might be getting looked over. Please use the Artisan color palette in the Artisan model I have trained you on. A portfolio is a website usually that shows their work. Please create images that show that on a laptop.The blog is about why these candidates aren't getting interviews. There's something missing in their portfolios. Can you include that into your images? Let's incorporate a question mark into the image.Final image 720 x 420px Stroke weight of no more than 13 and no less than 8pt. Mainly use hex color: a4d7f8 for fills and hex color: 15161a for strokes and outlines.