10 Strategies - How to Evaluate yourself are you ready for design jobs and Improve

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How do I really measure myself? Am I ready for a design job or am I really equipped to attend all the different design studio interviews? And crack it. This particular podcast is going to give you 10 parameters, how you can exactly evaluate it now and how you can even take action to improve your scale from let's say 20%, 30%. So have a pen and paper, guys. We are going to have a live interaction as well and by the time I tell that particular parameter, you can able to write down your score. So end of this podcast you will know where you are and the action part, what I'm going to suggest you is going to make you improve that immediately. With that, let's dive into this podcast. Welcome guys. Welcome to this podcast. Thank you for staying tuning in with me. Hit that subscribe button if you need to. Lot of content like this and also feel free to write about this podcast. I've given a open chat also where you can give your feedback so you can ask me a lot of questions and I'll be also answering this to a podcast because if some of the times lot of questions are repeated, I would take that as a pain point and record a content around it. Okay, so now today we are going to understand why it is really important to evaluate ourselves first before going and attending any design interviews, right? Lot of people just like that go. I would say 95 percentage plus people if they are putting some efforts to learn a course or if they are putting some efforts to learn some mentorship program or going through some Udemy Coursera. So they feel that they are ready for it.

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But how do you really check that the 10 parameters is going to give you clarity in that the very first parameter is portfolio quality. First of all, you should have a very good project to be showcased, right? We should have that process defined clearly. What is the objective of the project and how much skills have you applied and what is your entire contribution? If it's a teamwork, you should have that parameter set for yourself. You define that internal parameters. That's totally no problem. But out of this 10 scale, like let's say 10 being the best, how do you rate yourself in portfolio? Do it right now. Pause this podcast. Think about it. When it comes to measuring and writing down a scale. Guys, intuitively think how much is coming in your mind. Don't think too much more than five seconds. What will happen is you will try to add a lot of things in it. Just intuitively think how much am I really worth out of 10 in portfolio? If it's five genuinely write five. That is the best way, an intuitive way to measure yourself correctly, okay? Because if you think too much, then you will be rationalizing and it will not have its own natural way of doing it. Trust me, many times it works.

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I hope you would have done this portfolio score. Second, design thinking, okay? Because people really check about how do you think and solve a problem, how creative you are when it comes to solving uncertain problems. It's not a certain normal problems which client really gives you, right? Many times a brief is not understood properly. Many times it's much difficult to comprehend with the needs of the customer as well. So how do you really understand that? So if you are able to showcase your project, your thinking process, that becomes a great value proposition in your interview. And if you are able to rate that 1 out of 10, you can do it. I hope you would have done it. The important factor in improving your thinking ability is guys, let me tell you, okay? You can note it as an action point. So if you're doing some kind of an activity, like let's say if you're solving a problem, think for a moment, what is the other ways you can solve this? Like let's say this can be implemented real time cannot be. That's not a problem. But you can able to live write it down how much ways you can able to think to solve this problem, right? Be very, very crazy. Be like open and very raw so that people understand what is your thought process behind solving that it may not have to be real also, right? So here you are putting your efforts to showcase that thinking. Make sure you document everything in your portfolio. Whatever you do normally, I advise more my students. Switch on your timer for 30 minutes. Do ideation without thinking anything. Just blank only that problem focus, think whether it's applicable, implementable or not. Don't worry, just. Just do it. People were able to generate hundreds of ideas in just 30 minutes. That is the power of it, okay? And third important parameter is innovation, right? So whenever you're showing some project, show what is the one unique selling factor which was very innovative compared to the market. Creativity and innovation is a very important skill. Before you go for the interview, if you don't have something like that, please work on a creativity project or a more innovative project. Or let's say take a problem and just try to solve it in a most innovative way. Don't try to take normal methods what people do. If you are able to showcase that, definitely you will be able to get more confidence in talking to interviewers.

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So right now you can Measure that how much are you out of ten? And the best way I hope you would have done it. Okay, So I hope you can get what is the real expectation in interview Three parameters we have discussed so far. Portfolio, design, thinking, creativity and innovation. And you can involve in different, different brainstorming sessions challenging yourself thinking really out of box. Like let's say if you are thinking in a normal way, you can show some out of box thinking deliberately and showcase your innovation out of it.

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By this you can able to improve slowly, slowly if you get a chance in your company, in your industry, or if you're doing it self, or if you're learning it through a mentor, okay? To try to ask more brainstorming sessions, you can groom that skill and you can put that in your portfolio. You can take one particular subject and you can solve that, right? You don't have to write I know brainstorming, I know innovation, I know creativity. Nobody cares unless until if you show something tangible through which you solved a problem, it doesn't make any sense.

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The fourth important thing is technical skills and tool skills. Like let's say you can show some of your Figma skills, sketching skills and make sure how much you are there, you can write that score live. Now I hope you would have done if it is five or six, definitely you need to work on it. If it is less than that, yeah, definitely you have to work on that. How you can work, you can start up with a tool called Figma, which is free of cost. You can do it. You can start with Adobe xd, it's a one month free trial. You can use that. You can able to watch some basic videos, create to create some frames, some buttons, some cool graphics and animations, some basic transitions and prototyping. You can able to show that skills in your projects and portfolio. By this way you can improve your scale from 5 to 7 or even 8. Because if you show some technical skills, like how you are good at Adobe skills, how you're good at Photoshop, Illustrator Sketch, Figma, Adobe xt. So these kind of things will help you improve a lot.

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So please be mindful and please be genuine when you rate guys, it's not for anybody, it's for you. Fifth important parameter is communication skills. How much are you right now out of 10? Write it down. So the very important thing is practice patiently and work clearly by having a script in front of you whenever you're communicating something like let's say self introduction or introducing about your project, or you're talking about salary negotiation Anything. Let it be very rational and let it be very clear. How do you get clarity? Jagdish? In communication you will have to first think through and write it down. You will have to first research about the company. I took a separate podcast on how you can really research about a company and form the basics before applying the job.

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So you will have to be very if you will have to take lot of research and efforts to do it. Unless until if you do that, clarity in communication will not come. Don't think that talking in English is communication. No, that's absolute bs. What people are really stuck and they wander around their life thinking I cannot improve, I cannot improve, I cannot improve. Communication is ability to tell something to a people and understanding what they are saying in written. That's it. You don't have to use English. Hindi, that's language. There is a difference between using language and talking clearly, right? Talking clearly and communicating mean effectively. Telling your message is called communication. English. If you don't have that much also, it's totally fine guys. Unless until you are able to communicate what you're trying to say. People are looking for that only, right? If you're able to communicate that you can solve their problem. Who cares how much proficiency in English you have. This is really an important factor. A lot of people really miss it out. How many of you really felt Jagdish? It's a bulp on moment. I really was thinking English as a very important factor and I've been stuck in that. Not approaching for big design studios thinking they might expect a lot. If you are in that category, please feel free to write in this podcast. How do you think about this podcast and you can write about. Yes, Jagdish, honestly I was like that. Let me see. Because I've been conducting polls also in Spotify. Lot of people are responding to that. I can also understand what is really happening inside the students perspective. So I would really ask you to do that. In fact, that builds a rationale for me as well.

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So please feel free to ask some critiques, ask your peers like how are you communicating? Ask your mentors, ask your what you call teachers or ask any kind of a thought process how you can articulate your feedbacks from your audiences and then you can put it back and improve upon that. Improve upon it How I can able to clearly communicate. Can I use some kind of a methods like let's say I can show some drawing, I can show some PPT and explain. Will that be more clear? Yeah, you can do presenting while PPT and then you can talk so that people get a clarity, right? So use some of the aids. Even if you are using just your conversation, not presentation tools, be clear on what you wanted to say. That is the only way to build your communication. Clarity, clarity, clarity. Don't focus on learning too much of English words. That's not what is called communication. That's called improving of language skills.

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There's a huge shift and huge paradigm thinking difference in two things. What I said, people really get stuck. Of course English is important. Of course language is important, whatever you're talking to. But that much enough language you already have. Hey Jagdish, how are you telling that if you're able to understand this podcast till now in my English, you're already good in English. The point is you don't know that somebody needs to tell you that, right? So I'm here to tell you this. You are really good in English because you can able to understand my communication. I am normally a fast speaker. If you can able to understand my past, my fast, my pace, you are splendid. Good guys, out of 10, I would rate you seven. You can definitely go and improve your clarity in your communication. Trust me, you will speak better. Remove your fears, remove your fear of judgment. These might be the other things which is pulling you. If you are able to remove that, you're not caring about what others are saying. Let me tell you, you're going to nail the show no matter what. There is a student in my program who is not really good in communication. He thinks that, but I know he is not. Okay, so normally he takes out a topic while he is presenting. He just tell Jagdish, this is that and this is this. I'll just ask him, hey, just wait. Tell me how you can exactly do this. Can you present it? When I ask that, you know what happens? He directly comes and picks up that particular tool and then he explains and then he do it. He doesn't even feel consciously that he is trying to communicate something. He is just answering my question directly. Why? He is speaking very clearly now. You need to listen to these guys very carefully. Previously also he is trying to talk in English, but he is blabbering. But when I ask a question, he was presenting something in figma. I asked him exactly how to do it. He just presented just like that. The point is he is now clear on what he is going to talk. That is why he is able to speak very, very superbly. Earlier he was fumbling, mumbling, bumbling. So communication is important, but clarity is more important. Than that. I've taken a little time to explain you. But it is the fifth important parameter. Okay, sixth important parameter. User centric design. Can you rate yourself how much you are right now? Hey Jagdish, I don't know what is user centric design. Okay, so user is human. Okay, people, if you are able to match the technology, the design need, the aesthetics, the cost, manufacturability, usability with respect to human, then that design is called user centric design. Take out all of your projects and check. Are you really following that? If you are not able to do it, fix that properly in your work. Measure yourself. Okay, where are you right now? Like let's say if you are three or two, maybe your scale is very poor. No issues. You can go back and understand your project by presenting it to different recruiters, different designers and even customers asking them feedback. Hey, is this solution really working for you? Are you really liking this problem? The solution what I designed, based on their feedback, you can come to know whether it's a user centric design or whether it is your centric design. You did it for your own pleasure, right? So designers have this problem. They are very much engaged and attached towards their solution. They forget the user. That is why in the interview it is very important to measure this parameter. The seventh important parameter is industry knowledge. Please measure yourself. How much are you really equipped? Pause this podcast and do it. I hope everybody is doing it live. Because if you are able to do it live, then it makes a lot of sense. I hope you have done it. Okay, so make sure you subscribe some blocks. How you can improve that? If you're going for interview, please make sure guys you are subscribed in at least 2, 3 good design blocks or maybe Quora platform. You can answer some questions. You can also read some answers from there. And I would suggest Interaction Design, what you call foundation is the best platform where there are hundreds of blogs available. It was actually started by Non Norman. He was the one who started that. There is a product design blog called Design Better. There is a product design blog called what you call 99 percentage invisible. So these are all some of the good blogs where you can go and read. Medium Blog is one of the premium platforms. I would say you can connect with many different people who are in industry and designers so that you can get to know what is happening in the industry.

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That is the way to do it. The eighth important parameter is behavioral questions. How much are you really in terms of problem solving? How much are you really good in terms of working in teams, individually, how you are able to characterize yourself as a person, as a personality, Please rate that I hope you'd have done. See guys, this is the most important part. If you're able to reflect on your past experience, academic, professional experience and whatever, are you really good at working in teams or individuals? And this that definitely you can able to improve that. Hey, how jagdish. You can connect with a good mentor. You can connect with some of your good design peers like let's say if you don't have any what you call investment for starting up your education. There are many free platforms in online. You can able to communicate with them through LinkedIn, through Facebook, through Instagram, you can talk with like minded designers or you can even chat with me to a certain extent. I'll be also interacting and giving you some feedback. So right. So you can start off and you can know how design field is really working. What happens is when you talk to people and then when you get some feedback from them, you will be really good to know. Are you an individual worker? Are you good in teamwork? Are you really good in collaborating? Because personality is very important to really measure. And first of all you need to know that before going and improving it.

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The ninth important parameter is mock interview. How much you are able to present yourself clear, connect with your mentor or connect with your peers or somebody and give a mock interview and measure yourself. You can do it after this podcast. Let's say if you are six, make sure ask your fears, ask your mentors, where have you gone wrong? And improve that step by step. You can ask about how is my clarity in communication? How is my presentation skills? How is my English, how is my gap in the sentences? Am I able to clearly respond? Is there a fear associated in my communication? So you can ask all these things. How is my confidence?

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And you can able to measure that if you give more than 50 to 60 mock interviews, what happens is you step on. Improve it. Improve it. Trust me guys, if you do at least three mock interviews, you will see a 50 percentage improvement in your earlier what you did right after that. If you do 10, 20, 30, 40, what happens is you gradually improve. The 10th important parameter is continuous learning. Are you really a lifelong learner? Triple L. I used to always say measure that. Don't put 10 out of 10 randomly guys. Just think about it. I'll give you a measure for it. How much platforms are you subscribed in? How much blogs have you read so far? How much design books have you read? How much design YouTube videos have you watched? How much design podcast have you listened? Think about that. That will itself show you how much is your learning pattern in the last few years or few months. Like when you started up your design career, right? Honestly, write it down. If you're reading one week a book in design, I would say you're 10 out of 10. Or maybe if you're watching some videos, if you're practicing some design in real time organization, that's different. But honestly, write it down yourself and then take that as a challenge. Subscribe for good podcast channels, good blogs, good YouTube channels and then start reading yourself. Get a good book in design and you can read about it. So that is the best way you can improve and continuously learn, right? So I hope you would have understood the 10 parameters. Check whether how much you are in portfolio quality. Second is design thinking. Third is creativity and innovation. Fourth is technical skills and tools. Fifth is communication skills. Sixth is user centric design. Seventh is industry knowledge. Eighth is behavioral personality level traits. Ninth is mock interview. Tenth is continuous learning. If you're able to rate out of 10 and if you're able to average it down in an Excel sheet, let me tell you guys, if the score is above 7, you can definitely go and attend any interviews. You're already there in the mock. But if that score is 6 or maybe 7 or maybe 5 or 4, you will have to definitely trace back where have you gone low. How you can improve it step by step. If you can able to share me a score honestly and tell me what are the two important areas which you wanted to improve. I will be exchanging a gift for you guys.

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As a template how we can evaluate yourself. I have a very good secret template to measure my students as well. I can share with you so that you can also use that as an exchange. I would love to get a communication from you because podcast is always not about one way. That's why I keep the polls open. I ask students to even write down what do you think about this podcast? And I'll be improving it more better.

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I hope you love this podcast. If you find it useful, give me a best rating in Spotify and Apple. If you need my mentorship support, you can write an email. I'll be happy to qualify and help you.

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Thank you so much guys. Take care. Bye Bye. All the best.