Big Design Companies Helping and Hiring Designers

It’s time to get a head start on the “new year, new you” crowd. For the designers out there, that may mean finally publishing a portfolio website, or finally updating the one you created this time last year! Designers are a particularly industrious and active bunch, so this could be a busy time for new work and goals. Design blogs are full of tips for your next interview, or for your portfolio, and then of course there are the design challenges and new trends to make time for as well!

One of our favorite growing communities is found on the .design domain. On many .DESIGN sites, you’ll find designers helping other designers. It’s a lively and active community that expands beyond just .DESIGN to other mediums like Twitter and even to events and conferences where designers go to listen to their peers and idols.

.DESIGN is being used by many major brands, such as facebook.design, airbnb.design, spotify.design, and dozens of others. These sites talk about their projects, the role design plays in their organization, and is usually a form of helpful content marketing to boost their visibility with designers so they can recruit top talent.

So, what better place to look for design tips and tricks than from the big companies that are leading the way (and hiring!)? Below, we’ve highlighted some helpful tips and the articles they come from, all of which come from a major brand’s own .design. Then, we’ve collected links to the companies using .design that are actively hiring. And finally, now is your time to grab your own .DESIGN domain during our December sale! At just $4.99, it’s an incredible steal and will look shiny and impressive when you ship off your resume and portfolio to any company, including those below. 

• “20 Mistakes to Avoid When Applying for a Job as a Designer”, from Booking.com’s booking.design site.
  • We agree with the tip to “follow instructions and details.” So many applicants fail to include a requested cover letter, for example. 
  • This one really resonates with our current focus on .design sites: “if you have the time and the inclination, a unique personal portfolio site can really stand out.” They say that a Dribbble or Behance page is only an okay subsitute. One hack to make that substitute better? Use a personalized .design as a redirect to your Behance or Dribbble page, at least that way you have your own address instead of a long URL of a third-party site!
• “Tips For Getting Hired as a UX Designer”, from dropbox.design
  • This tip, on the section about creating your portfolio website, could be a helpful new habit: “Keep a record of your work, even when you’re not looking for a job. Star the things you’re proud of.”
• “5 Ways to Improve Your Design Portfolio Today” linked off of facebook.design
  • “Try telling the story of each project using only four elements from the list above: problem, solution, prototype and outcome.”
• “Accepting a Job Offer at Open Table” from opentable.design
  • “If you only take away one idea from this post, let it be this: Never turn down an interview. It’s an educational process that pushes you to think critically about your career and your goals.”

.DESIGN Users That are Hiring!

• Dropbox @ dropbox.design
• Adobe @ adobe.design (lots of internships, too!)
• Facebook @ facebook.design 
• Amazon @ amazon.design
• Agoda @ agoda.design
• Or, apply to be a Fellow at Airbnb.design!