Ep 179| 8 Things HR Looks in you apart from Design Degrees, Course Certificates - Myths Busted

There is a big misconception in design world or the people who come into the design world earlier. They think that design degrees are only going to give them a job certification. Courses are only going to give them a job. Udemy course certificate, skillshare course certificate. They want everything to be in a very certified approval way. Right? In this podcast, I'm going to break you that myth and tell you clearly there are eight things which a recruiter looks apart from the design certificates or design degrees. Okay? Hey, Jagdish, you studied in nid. You're talking like this. Let me give you guys. I've seen many design people successful in their career who doesn't have a design degree. I can give you a lot of examples. I can keep on telling you names and examples and case studies. And the reason why they become success is because of their mindset. It because of their curiosity. It's because of they found the reason why they wanted to become a designer. If you are not getting this clarity, no matter if you have an international degree, nobody's going to hire you. Even if they hire you also, you'll get many low packages. So what are the eight things? Stay tuned in this podcast. Take a definitely a lot of notes, guys. You're going to learn a very different perspective now, okay? You might be thinking experience is required. I'm a fresher. I'll not get design job. I don't have design degree. I don't have any certificate programs. Just wait for it. Okay, let's jump in. So having said this, people have this misconception, right? That's why I've particularly taken a lot of efforts to create this podcast. People really are in the big stress, guys, let me tell you, okay? So they think that design degree or experience and everything is needed. In fact, can I tell you my program name is how to make a six Figure income in just six Weeks without having a design degree or experience. Can you believe if you sign up for my program, you will see for that. Okay, so the part is the reason why I've designed it in that way is people really think that as a big hurdle and a barrier. Let me tell you a very sad truth, guys. That's in your mind, it's your barrier. And there is nobody in the world who has really created that. Steve Job has not gone for any design college, okay? And some of the best designers in the country, I've seen people in Amazon. One of my friend, he's working, he's like an amazing designer and he doesn't have a design degree and and one of my product designers was working in my strategic team. He has like seven to eight years of experience. He has not got any design degree or something. He just went for some basic course and program. But to really work for a corporate with a big design status and a design project, you need a degree is what people think, right? But that's not the case. It is very, very vital. Guys, you need to get this clarity. The very first thing what a recruiter looks is portfolio quality. See, recruiters really prioritize other candidates or portfolio not over the certificates guys, your problem solving ability and how you can showcase. According to a Survey by Creative Group 56 Percentage of the advertising and marketing executives said candidates portfolio Candidates portfolio is equal as important to their resume. So what does it tell you? Okay, the second is relevant experience. Sometimes you may have experience, sometimes you don't have an experience. In fact, I've recorded a lot of podcast in that particular arena. Okay, how without a experience you can able to start your career in that. Let's say if you have an experience, but that's irrelevant experience. Let's say if you're from engineering background, maybe if you're from a law background or if you're from economic background, no problem. Even if you are that having experience you can able to showcase guys like let's say even if you're a designer as a work experience you have but you don't have a degree. See guys, your design degrees doesn't hold matter. It doesn't matter the way in which you can able to project your experience, your internship experience, your freelancing experience, your relevant industry experience or sometimes the output of your let's say if you are an engineering field, okay, the process and the output and the approach what you applied might be very important for the current role. What you're going to work as a designer. Show that, tell about that, make that recruiter go and understand that see the moment. If you show that relevancy people will hire you guys. A study by LinkedIn found that 75 percentage of the hiring managers believe that work experience is more important than degree certificates in evaluating job candidature. Okay, so I'm breaking this what do you call myth guys, skills mastery. People think you need to have a People think that a design degree is not there. But my skill is good. I'm see, I'm good in this illustration Photoshop. Let me tell you guys, you're really not good in design illustration or Photoshop. If you're that good, you would have already got hired or you don't Know how to even project yourself. So recruiters look for candidates who have mastered specific design skills which is relevant to the job description. Don't have anything random skills guys. Okay, make sure you read the job description and then you match that and then you provide that as a piece of cake for recruiters. Even in my students, if they go for the interview, I just tell them very clearly with respect to the job description how much you are matching. Talk about that one or two projects, close the thing so the moment if you make it simple, people will take it that way. Study by Burning Glass Technologies found that proficiency in order of Photoshop is most required skill in the graphic design job market. Fourth, they look for soft skills. Guys, communication. How do you effectively manage communication? Is not talking English okay? Again, don't go into that misconception. Hey, I am Tamil medium guy. I am a Hindi medium guy. I don't know this English, I cannot talk. I am blabbering this that who cares Guys, it's all in your mind. Nobody really cares. Unless until if you are able to tell what you are thinking in your mind, that's pretty much enough. Unless until if you are not able to communicate through a sketch, simple wording says enough. Okay? So don't think too much and go into an analysis paralysis mode. I've seen many designers who don't know how to communicate. But they have learned over the time. But they know minimal communication. They don't. I mean nobody needs to have hi fi English and always don't go into that thing. So your collaboration, your creativity, your problem solving, your teamwork. So recruiters prioritize these candidates who have this kind of a soft skill. You know what? A LinkedIn report says that 57% of the senior leaders say soft skills are more important than any design degree. Fifth is industry networking. See, active involvement in design community is very important. And in workshop conferences, network events, significantly participate in as much as events as possible. And Update in your LinkedIn profile when recruiters are able to see that in your social page, in your LinkedIn page, in your resume, in your portfolio, nobody cares which degree you want. Sixth is adaptability and learning agility. See, you need to showcase these skills, guys. It's not like you'll say hey I'm an adaptable guy. Hey, I will learn. Hey, I am an agility guy. Hey, I'll do this, that I'll jump from sky to this ground. Don't tell like that. Show some project which has demonstrated that people have the big misconception they'll tell everything and recruiters will believe. Hey, I'm a hard worker. Hey, I'm a this, I'm a honest person. Who cares. Guys, you have to tell honestly, like let's say if you are a very hard working person, show a case study or an example. Like you can say something like this, hey, you know what? I'm really hard worker. I really mean it. Two weeks before one of the crucial moment in a project happened and we are required to sit for 48 hours continuously. I didn't even sleep until we made that particular deployment happen. And millions of views have started happening after that and the website started functioning till that we didn't sleep and I did it effortlessly. I would not call it as a hard work. I would call it as a. I really love it. So I can able to quote that. See now people will get a clarity why you're saying that. So designers are evolving guys. It's a very evolving field. Show that thing seventh is you need to be very good in client interaction and business acumen. So show that understanding the requirement of a business talking with different designers and having what you call interaction with multiple design people and an interaction with multiple verticals people. So that can able to show some broader understanding of how you are valuing your design career. In a way, the eighth important fact and the most most important fact I would say cultural fit guys see employees look for candidates who align company values. The mission, the vision, the goals of the company. You know what a study by Jobite found? 88 percentage recruiters believe cultural fit is very crucial. 88 percentage guys, it's more than 80%. It even broke the Pareto rule. So where are you. Why are you really looking for a design degree? Again? If you wanted to go to degree, that's totally fine. Guys, I'm not against any of these things, okay? But I'm. I'm worried about the people who think that this is really required to become a designer. I'm. This podcast is for those people. Okay, so let me give you a one good last important point or a bullet point I would say and conclude this podcast. So there was one designer whom I met a few several years before. Okay, so he was actually working very hard and then he used to design a lot of stuffs and he used to bring lot of software and he used to work in different, different tools this, that he has completed. I mean I came to know that this guy got a master's degree, bachelor's degree in design this, that and he knows everything in all the tools. But he's not a manager. He's just an execution guy, okay, who just executes the things. He just works, works, works. There was another project manager who was actually allocating projects. He was assigning the values of the project. He was taking the consideration in design and he was managing the engineering team, he was managing the sales team, he was managing the marketing team. In fact, this guy is almost a CEO of the company. Okay, to that level of importance, this guy is. This guy is an engineer. He's not even a designer. But he always tells Jagdish, I love to become a design thinker here. He is always a design thinker already. He is already a design thinker. So you want to know who is that person? It doesn't matter, guys. There is a real person. I will show you. But it is very inappropriate to open up in a public forum. But if you are coming inside my program, definitely you will have a chance to interact with them. Because these lovely people have really shaped my perspective. These lovely people whom I worked with in my career have really grown myself and they have challenged me also and they have put me in a. What you call learning environment. And that's what made me grow a lot. And because of this perspective only, I'm telling you guys, design degrees or being an engineer, design designer, this, that doesn't matter. All matters is why you wanted to become a designer and showcase that very strongly through your communication and your portfolio. If you are able to do it. Who cares whether you have a design degree or not? Let's say I'm recruiting a person for my garden work who wants to plant the seeds and to cut the grass. Lets say he's saying, sir, I got a PhD in physics. I got a PhD in quantum physics. Who cares? Can you cut my grass? I can cut, sir. Sir, I can do physics and all. Can you cut the grass? Yeah, I can cut, sir. Come and cut. You will get the salary. Simple. So I don't need a degree. I don't need a. What do you call? Okay, the example you might be thinking. Okay, I'm not taking this. Let me go into the other side of the example. Okay, let's say I need some person who can able to fix the website issues and who can able to understand the UI UX errors which is happening in the website and fix it overnight. So your job description in your company is going to be every single day you'll be getting a client who will have a problem in their website. Okay? And you are the guy who doesn't have a degree. Okay? But you are very prone to understand the Mistakes, you are very keen eye, you have a very keen eye on detailing out certain mistakes and then you are able to correct it fast. You know the coding, you know the ui, you know the Photoshop, you know the Illustrator, you know the Adobe XD and Figma and you can able to fix it very, very, very fast. Understanding the user, understanding the user. And you have already fixed more than hundreds of website like this and because of which you are already helped a company grow crores in revenue. If you can able to show that reality to the recruiter, do you think that recruiter will take you? Because they will be also suffering with the crores of rupees problem. Right? Because of the website problem, the client would have asked, hey, I need the website to be fixed. I needed this app to be fixed. Why is your team not working? I needed it to be done tonight. They are burning with this pain point, guys. And if you really pour a water into that and then if you show your skills, I can able to help you. People will. What do you call? People will grab you and they'll ask you to join today. They don't care about what's your name, what's your degree, what's your design, what's your color, where are you coming from? So I mean if you think that color or maybe caste, creed, religion is a discrimination, having this design degree or certificate is also something like discrimination. So remove all the ceilings. Okay, I've taken an extreme side to explain, but this is true. Many people really don't come into design because of this reason. Lot of creative people have not come into this field because of this reason. Again, this podcast should definitely reach all the people in the Indian market or the global market in order to provoke them and become a great designers. I hope I've given a significant understanding in why recruiters are really not looking for a certificates or degree and they look for something like portfolio quality 1. Relevant experience 2. Skills skills mastery 3. Soft skills 4. Industry networking 5. Adaptability and learning ability and agility 6. 7th is client interaction effective communication 8th is culture fit. So take care guys. I hope you would have got a clarity in this podcast. If you really wanted to have a design job without having a degree, you can jump into my program as well. I can able to help you out. You can send an email to dfs designforchangemail.com me or my team will help you out. Guys, if you find this useful in Spotify and Apple, give me a best star rating and you can even write in this podcast. What do you think about it very honestly. For the selected winners, we'll be shipping a T shirt and we'll be shipping some goodies and free gifts and possibly a one on one session, free of cost with you guys. Okay? It's not for everybody. It's for the few consistent listeners. Thank you. Take care. All the best, guys.