Tips for applying to an interior design firm

Any time I'm on Instagram, I see more and more friends in the design industry posting about hiring, and we are no exception over here either! Client demand for home projects over the last two years has meant more demand in the job market, and the pool of qualified applicants has been sparse as designers hire from that pool.

I absolutely hate having to tell clients we can't start on a project for another six months or more, but I also know that we can't take on more work than we can handle without sacrificing current clients' experience as well (learned this the hard way). Sometimes it feels like a vicious cycle.

And now that we're looking for another designer to add to our team, I thought I'd share some universal tips for standing out from the crowd (or a file of digital resumes) in a good way!

PDFs Win

A PDF resume preserves your formatting, alignment, font style, and color if that's relevant. Sending a Word document is rolling the dice with your resume, and that's definitely not what you want! Take the extra step and Save As > File Format > PDF - it's a good move!

It's All in the Name

Using the correct name for your potential employer seems like an easy rule, but if I had a nickel for every submission that started with "Dear Nicole," I'd have quite a good chunk of change! I even have a sizable list of vendors that call me Nicole, if you can believe that.

Bottom line: get the name of a potential employer right, or stand out from the crowd for the worst reason.

Telling the Truth is Always the Right Way to Go

Life advice, and interview advice as well.

Saying you know SketchUp and AutoCAD, or that you've used Apple products for years will get you through the interview, but not likely through your first week in the office. Always tell the truth, and you'll go much further in your relationships, your work life, and your personal life!

Proofread Every Message

If you're applying for a position that's supposed to be very detail oriented, and you have spelling mistakes, or you use the wrong name, or you paste the message you wrote from a previous job posting, it's a red flag.

We all make mistakes - I've done it on applications too, but take a second and have one more read through before hitting submit. And if you do make an obvious mistake, I would so much rather see you own it and say something! Accountability goes very far in any context.

Do Your Research

It always helps to include details that show us as a team that you've been following along online, or have read through some of our blog posts, or gave our website a look. This kind of attention to detail goes a long way as well when we're reading a pile of resumes and messages!

If you're out there applying for any kind of job, feel free to use these tips to your advantage. And of course, if you're interested in working with our team as a designer, please click here and apply!