Don't Play Small

Don't Play Small — how I started landing job interviews during Covid, and kept landing creative roles well after.

In the middle of 2021, during Covid, I landed around 20 interviews for creative positions — for roles at my level and above it. A few years later, the same portfolio and the same principles landed me a graphic designer role at Washington University in St. Louis, one of my favorite jobs I've ever had.

This guide is exactly what I did. No invented system, no day-by-day action plan — the real thing:

- Get good first — the five design books I studied front to back, and what I actually took from each one

- Know them before they know you — how I researched every company and interviewer before walking in

- Apply on two tracks — the LinkedIn search method and the message I sent potential managers

- Interview them back — the questions I asked at the end of every interview, including how I handled the money conversation

- What it actually looked like — my real timeline: 2.5 months building the portfolio, 3 weeks to a month before I heard anything back

For designers and creatives who are done applying small.