The Mistakes To Avoid When Applying For Your Next Web Design Job

When working in freelance web design, one of the primary ways that you will obtain work is through submitting applications to clients who have posted requests for work online. When you are next filling out an application for one of these jobs, however, you need to avoid making any of the below mistakes, otherwise you could seriously jeopardise your chances of landing the contract.

• Correcting the client’s spelling or grammar
  If you are a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to your web designs, any typos or grammatical errors are going to stick out like a sore thumb when it comes to reading the client’s job posting. If you correct this mistake, however, you are sending the wrong message to the client – you can actually come off as being egotistical.
• Failing to proofread or spell check your application
  Whilst it can be easy to think that the client isn’t going to run a spell check on your email, it is important to proofread your application regardless – you never know when you will come across a sentence that doesn’t make sense or an obvious spelling mistake. These things will stick out the client, too, and will make you look as if you don’t care about your work.
• Giving them too much information
  No one wants to read your life story, nor do they want to be forced to scour through years of past employment that actually has very little to do with web design as a whole. It is easy think that all of this information can be helpful in giving the client the chance to get to know you, it can actually cause them to miss important facts amongst all the junk.
• Failing to provide samples of your work
  Some people think that it is perfectly fine to send in a job application and just tack a note on the end asking the client to contact them if they would like to see samples. Whilst you are right to be cautious about plagiarism, how can you expect to hear back from a client if they haven’t seen any of the work you have done? Just avoid sending unpublished web designs.

There are, of course, a number of other mistakes that are commonly made by freelancers applying for web design contracts (including: asking questions that are already answered, failing to read the entire job posting, and failing to thank the client for their time). The four outlined above, however, tend to be the mistakes that really affect your chances of landing the contract.