The portfolio as proof of work

Proof that no longer proves

The portfolio long worked as proof: these images exist, I made them, therefore I can do the work. That reasoning assumes that producing a beautiful image is expensive. The twenty-six recruiters we interviewed consider that the assumption no longer holds.

What they look at now

Nineteen say they now give more weight than before to the account of the process: the versions set aside, the constraints, the trade-offs. Eleven ask for an exercise done in person. Six have introduced a critique scenario, in which the candidate comments on someone else's work rather than their own.

A filter that is not neutral

That shift favours candidates who can put things into words, which is not socially neutral. The recruiters themselves acknowledge as much in nine interviews out of twenty-six. Nobody in our sample has put any corrective in place.

I no longer ask what he made. I ask what he threw away, and why. That answer is far harder to prepare.