I am writing this article following 2 series of highly challenging recruitment rounds that I undertook for Kook.
Take it as a piece of advice for up-and-coming designers and seasoned ones alike from a guy who did it the hard way
and started his own design studio 15 years ago.

One of the biggest challenges for designers is, in general, their portfolio.

You can have an all-star CV/LinkedIn page and amazing recommendations but if your portfolio doesn't reflect your credentials
-or worse if it's non-existent!- no potential client or employer would take you seriously.

If you are a student, start by reworking your best academic projects and showcasing them in the best way possible,if you have any freelance work,
take the habit of documenting the final work in your portfolio without overdoing it but while presenting it in its neatest form.

Slowly, you will have the luxury to filter out any outdated or irrelevant work as you grow better as a designer with years of experience.

Make sure you work on your portfolio as a presentation aiming to engage the senses and incite curiosity and appreciation
or what would set you apart from others. I cannot tell you what to do in terms of design for your portfolio, you will have to figure it out,
however, I can give you one magical word when applying for any position as a designer: authenticity.  

From the word "au·then·tic" | /ôˈTHen(t)ik/ | adjective, which means "of undisputed origin; genuine".

 
HOW TO BE AUTHENTIC?

Start with The CV
Start by designing a 1-page CV with small visual design details that would make a huge difference and most importantly filling it with relevant info to the contemporary employer.
Try to avoid experiences that would lessen your impact as a designer while writing unique content relevant to you as a person and designer.
If you don't know how, or if you are weak in language, seek help - from a human who is better than you in this, before opting for the help of AI.
And, please, I beg you, do not send a CV in Word format using Papyrus.

In Parallel, Focus On The Portfolio
As I mentioned before, your portfolio aims to engage the senses, incite curiosity, and lead to appreciation.
Any true-to-life employer, with the proper amount of sensibility and understanding of the challenges that fresh designers face nowadays,
would highly appreciate an effort made by a fresh grad to showcase her/his academic work in an innovative form, using a bespoke layout.

I prefer going through a well-designed 10-page portfolio rather than a horrific 90-slide, 500 MB, PowerPoint presentation of low-res images of projects
that will make me close the file after 10 seconds.

Better still, I prefer going through a decent online portfolio link that showcases different projects well presented with the minimum explanation for each project highlighting the concept, the process, and the skills.

Even better still, a sleek portfolio website that sheds light on the designer's persona.

Very important short notes to end this part:

• Your portfolio is the most important of all 3 parts involving a job application for a designer position.
  No portfolio = No job as a designer at a decent agency.
• Include your best work. I mean the best of the best presented in the "bestest" of all bests. Got it?
• Your portfolio is not your diary or your Tinder profile. Ladies and gentlemen, please do not include a "sexy" picture of yourself
  or a "fashionista" one taken at your cousin's wedding party in Summer.
• Your portfolio should be structured and ordered to engage any viewer while presenting the highest visual and content quality.
• Check your spelling.
• Writing is mandatory -for me- so you can't resort to not writing anything to avoid checking your spelling.
• If you are sending a file, make sure it does not exceed 10MB and in case this cannot be avoided, send your file as a link.
  Ideally, having a portfolio page or website is the best especially if you are a designer with a 1/2 years of experience.
• A portfolio file should be designed in RGB mode, 72 DPI resolution, and exported into PDF in the highest resolution while
  downsampling all images to 72 DPI/Highest resolution. If you don't know how to do that, I would be happy to assist you.

And, When Ready, Write The Email
One of the most underrated parts of any job application is the email itself.
More than 80% of all emails we receive as job applications make me want to kill myself... and the sender.

YOU CAN'T SEND ME AN EMPTY EMAIL WITH A LINK TO YOUR PORTFOLIO AND CV AND EXPECT ME TO JUST TAKE YOU SERIOUSLY!

OR SEND A SHITTY TEMPLATE EMAIL WITH 50 AGENCIES CC'ED!

MOST IMPORTANTLY, YOU CAN'T SEND AN EMAIL OF 2 SENTENCES FORMED BY 10 INVENTED ENGLISH WORDS!

I value words a lot, especially when they are written by creatives/designers, as I think they precede authentic actions, so whenever you send an email,
take the time to write it, not necessarily in the Shakespearian way that AI usually writes in.

When you take the time to write authentically, to express your thoughts, you are giving an interesting first impression and showing respect towards
your potential employer. When you do that, I will take the time to read, view, and appreciate it regardless of the outcome.

Still, I will surely value your effort and emphasize your application among the shortlisted ones -as long as the quality of what you have written is also reflected in your portfolio.

A final note would be about the email address you are using to professionally send your application: I know you are emotionally attached
to [email protected] or [email protected], keep them, they are part of your story but don't use them for your application,
you can create a new address that is relevant to the designer you are today, or simply that is composed by your full name!

I tried to shed light on the most important areas of the 3 pillars: CV / Portfolio / Email, I hope that you found insightful parts.
These are based on my experience as an employer, please feel free to share your experience and to add any helpful tips.

Finally, I strongly believe that while all of us designers try to be as authentic as we can, we should be more supportive of each other and,
by doing so, collaboratively lift our industry higher than the blandness and lack of quality it is falling into.