Interviews

Companies will be conducting brief 25 minute interviews on Thursday, February 11 at the SFU Surrey campus as a part of TouchPoint 2016. Interviews are not guaranteed as there are limited spots and applicants will be selected based on the strength of their portfolio. You will be notified if you have been selected for interviews by January 31st.

Submission Deadline

The interview application period for Touchpoint 2016 has closed.

General Information

If you choose to apply for this opportunity, please read the below carefully to prepare.

One fundamental way that the TouchPoint conference can reinforce our culture of design is to provide a format for you to create relationships with industry stakeholders. Please understand; to introduce yourself, your work and your interest in design with any company attending TouchPoint is an unbelievably rare opportunity. Great care should go into your preparation for this meeting.

Things to Consider

  • You have limited time, so be selective and practice describing your background, interests, and projects.
  • For most of the interview, be prepared to drive the conversation. Have a rough plan to keep you on track.
  • Remember Matt Conway's advice on introducing a project. You don’t need to literally say this script, but the what, for who, and why are important to say up front:
"The work I want to talk to you about is a [thing, service, interface, process], designed for [some sort of person / group / demographic / audience] so that they can [solve a problem, do something interesting, remove a pain, feel a certain way, achieve or triumph in a certain way]. This has never been done before because [provide reason or caveats about simplicity, cost, complexity] and is important to solve because [provide rationale]."

What to Expect and Prepare

  • 25 minutes maximum for interviews.
  • Arrive 10 minutes before your scheduled interview time. A monitor outside the room will let you know when it’s your turn.
  • An online portfolio showcasing your best work. Be prepared to go through your projects in a limited amount of time. If you have process books, have them available. If your work is digital, have it already loaded and open on your tablets and laptops.
  • If you wish to showcase work you’ve completed with other people, be prepared to speak very specifically to your individual contributions to the group work and finished product.
  • Familiarize yourself with the companies you will be interviewing with.
  • Take the opportunity to inquire about the roles and opportunities with their company.