Tips on how to potentially land your first role
My gathered tips from getting my first UX role from personal views, experience and what I have observed. Please use these tips at your own risk.
Feel free to skip a section for your needs.
🧠 1.Mind
Believe in yourself, never give up and keep applying to jobs
Don’t bottle up your thoughts
Someone will believe in you
Expect the unexpected
It’s ok to cry, we are human. Remember you are good at UX and you can do it
If you feel like shit, I repeat...I repeat, speak to someone. Your friend, mum, dad, dog, cat, sibling. Let them know how you are feeling about this whole job hunt. Too many young people are going through a tough time because they are too afraid to speak to someone
⏳ 2.UX Knowledge/ Experience
In terms of creating a portfolio, have something basic and easy to read. It’s amazing to have flying images across the screen but you wanna be able to tell a story. A story of how you approached your work. Better to be functional than disruptive.
I have used notion to create my portfolio. After 3 attempts of doing my Porfolio, I finally got something that was functional and tells the story on my forth attempt. This involves a pitch deck of slides, Adobe portfolio, Wix site and a Notion Site. Notion FTW…
Terms of having the relevant qualifications for UX. A degree is not necessary. You can do a Bootcamp and still develop these research and design skills. Personally, my MSc Human Computer Interaction at UCL was rewarding. I have been able to develop sufficient amount of research and design skills to get by any work. The Professors are single-handedly just amazing. You think and approach tasks differently.
If you do not come from a UX background, your skills gained from work or education are still valued.
In terms of getting UX Experience, ideally you would like to get some form of experience from either your own/ client projects or an internship. Class these own/ client projects as freelance
If you feel demotivated with UX, do a case study to feel motivated again
👥 3.Relationship
Have someone you can share your experiences with. This provides motivation to keep on going, applying to jobs etc
Have a mentor, share every little detail with them
Practice interviews by doing shit job interviews. This is to build up your confidence for interviews in the forthcoming
Keep on networking for opportunities. You never know where you may end up
People have gotten jobs with recruiters. However, some are given a bad name but there are some good recruiters out there and will try their best. Personally, it worked well with applying to companies directly
🦁 4.The Hunt
Enjoy the process of finding a job. It’s a experience you will get a couple of times in your life. Consider this as a trying to find a candidate for your next study but with a Roller Coaster of emotions
For people hiring for positions, if a candidate applies for a job and you are not clear in terms of if you can apply or not, chance it. Never know what might happen. However be realistic with what you are applying for
Use LinkedIn
Use notion to write up your questions, track jobs, research etc.
For recruiters, please consider people with disabilities. You never know when you might come across a genius. You literally neglecting talent cause you have the wrong assumption. Remember, if you want tech products to be accessible, these are the individuals you need for input
I can only speak for the junior UX roles, be open to your salary range, around (25-35k). If you get more, that’s awesome and well done for pulling that off
🔍 5.Interview
Shock the interviewer, don’t ever let them speak
Be creative with how you approach interviews and applications
In interviews, show that you are the shit and you can do it
If you have an offer even after an upcoming interviews, still consider attending them. You never know what might happen next
For hiring managers, don’t book in a interview with a candidate knowing they are in a junior position and afterwards say ‘oh, you don’t have much experience. Your only experience is from this internship and your education. F**k **u, why are you interviewing me knowing that I only have this much experience. This might because they are still trying to figure out what they want from a candidate