This seems to be a heated debate in the UX community, does anyone have any insight or experience to share?
Userlevel 3
+1
I think most recruiters and hiring managers don’t care if a designer shares their portfolio on a PDF.
In my opinion, having a personal site provides the slight benefit of showing you can code (or at least design) a website right out of the gate, but again, good work speaks for itself regardless of the medium.
Userlevel 2
As a Graphic Designer and Videographer (-turned-Project Coordinator) perspective:
Having a website is a must have, as this is the easiest form of access to see what you can do, gain more insight into your expertise, and provide various high-level examples to your experience. It’s also a nice medium to bring your personality to a more public level, too. Always try to keep it fresh so that when people return to your site, they notice that you’re working and moving forward.
However, having a PDF on hand is nice when it comes to showing the total work done along with work that is potentially more sensitive. Things that you feel shouldn’t be made available to just anyone, but is still highly applicable and valuable to a company/recruiter and yourself when it comes to leveraging your experience. Tell the recruiter, and also put a notification on your site, that an in-depth PDF is available upon request (you’ll have to vet the requests; just the nature of self-admin). There’s a lot of work I wish I could show people, but I don’t give it out to just anyone, and I secure my own “safety” by having them sign a general NDA at the front of the PDF. Don’t fret over an NDA, but rest easy knowing that you’re instead protecting everyone as a precaution. Always get permission for that sort of thing, too.
Don’t make these exclusive, though. Use both mediums to be the candidate that a company drools over and will fight to win your employment (freelance or otherwise).
I’m not too deep into UX by any stretch of the imagination, but when it comes to freelance work or general employment, I’ve found this to be extremely useful for me.
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