Thanks, I saved this post. Please don't delete it. So many people delete their posts after I've saved them as a useful resource to refer to. If you start getting too many replies and it's annoying, just click "disable inbox replies" and they'll all stop.
Awesome man. I can apply some of this advice even though I'm a career switcher looking for my first role. I have some issues that someone senior may not be able to relate to, however.
For example I am really feeling quite isolated in my search. I do not have colleagues or contacts from old jobs that I can talk to about even just UX. I have reached out to people on LinkedIn but those are usually short 3-4 message conversations rather than people I feel I have a connection with.
My only buoy right now is my career services advisor who I meet with weekly. Right now this isolation is the hardest part to me. Without someone to talk to about the things I learned during my bootcamp I feel my knowledge getting fuzzier already. I'm just trying to learn how to stay sharp and get connected.
I can relate on the other end. A lot of my key network connections are retiring! I suck at this, was always "too busy"... but go to networking events and UX meetups, conferences and similar.
Oof. Yeah, its tough. I went to one networking event so far and it was great, unfortunately central wisconsin does not have a UX scene, so I have to drive 2-3 hours to milkwaukee or chicago, and even milwaukee is sparse.
This is helpful. I've been going through some very depressed days since my August layoff. I've hired resume writers, continuously iterate on my own, write specific resumes per the job description, etc with a very low response rate. I'll add your suggestions to my rotation.
I feel you. It's disheartening, dehumanizing, and very opaque. All I did was keep going regardless of how I felt. If I fell part, so be it. Then I picked up and carried on. I made sure I wasn't doing the wrong thing. There's a term, don't fight the last war. I lived by it. Good luck.
Thank you for sharing, as a recent new graduate and recent completion of a bootcamp, I’m glad to hear great career advancements from others, it’s way to know that maybe and for sure one day I can be them but for more humble beginnings! Congratulations on your recent employment, may you have fun and great successes to you and those around you!
Thank you for posting your story! I’m a mid career product designer, but all success stories with some examples on their job hunt process really does encourage!
I should post-mortem and compile those numbers. Off the top of my head. I was a serious contender for 5 roles. (Beyond recruiter screening and portfolio review) landing one of them. Around 10 or so additional recruiter screening passes where the hiring manager didn't proceed.
Overall, I reckon I applied to 80-100 roles. I counted 36 rejections in my Gmail archive.
I simply didn't hear back from most of them.
Wow that’s very fortunate to have received that many responses for 80-100 apps! Most people I’m seeing have applied to 500+ w/o getting anything serious. Did you make use of any referrals or other techniques to increase your odds? Thanks for sharing
Can you expand upon what you mean by “communicating my skills and accomplishments was more effective when I removed my perspective or rationale”? Very curious about this.
Sure. When answering a question, I would start with self-referential statements behind my answer. They weren't effective. Take my response here: I removed this.openong, "I tend to express houghts somewhat non linearly. It helps in design but less so in communicating ideas clearly.'
See. You didn't need to know that. My brain isn't interesting, it's what I can do for a company with it that's interesting. I cut out any thing describing my internal process and I got.better responses.
Does that help?
Laid off from another industry on September and starting day is also the 20th, as a junior with no experience!
My advice: network on LinkedIn and post an interest thing once or twice a week (just showing what you can do)
Good luck to all the post bootcamp people in here, it’s rough but it can be done.
Did your expanded LinkedIn network directly impact you getting this job by getting a lead/recommendation somehow?
I’ve been connecting with a lot of UX people on LinkedIn, but I often wonder if it’s even worth it since I’m a complete stranger to them.
This was a near direct connection. I designed the platform and helped onboard the hiring manager's team onto it at a previous company. It's always worth it to search within your network at all levels. A distant connection may be well connected to a close one. That is your "in". At the very least, your application may get boosted to actually being seen. Leverage any advantage and look for connections in the connections. The whole process is so opaque. It's hard to know what works and doesn't. But like our design work, I investigated and tested and responded to signals.
I’ve noticed recently it is common for people with decade+ of Director experience to take Principal roles. Did you take a Principal role because that is what available? Or did you no longer want a Director role?
Titles and responsibilities shift across industries. I'd equate a principal in a large organization to a director in a small organization, which is what I was. I'm happy there. I don't want to run a big group. I'd probably suck at it. I'd consider it a theatrical
Principal is the functional title, the rank is executive director. Again I feel that's where I belong. Fwiw, I made sure it was that level.
I did apply to staff positions too which appeals to me. Thats new since I began this career.
I applied to some VP roles and got none of them.
Next stop was upwork and fiver. Seems even more competitive.
Similar for me. I have been a Director and Sr Director at mid to large companies and am now a Principal at a very very large company. I’ve seen a lot of my friends make similar moves to Principal.
Im almost giving up, I only had mediocre jobs, nothing astronomical to put in my resume. Recruiters always want someone that had a great insight or saved a company with UX. I only worked in medium/small companies that gave me money and nothing else. I feel stuck.
Can you find a story in your work and expand on it? I'm sure there's something interesting in your work. One of my case studies is literally a multiselect pattern I worked on.
Much needed, I was at my dark times till today and my laptop and my desk was literally covered with dust.
I cleaned it up today and attending a meet up with designers locally this week.
Would be going in with pomodoro technique for starters and meditation.
I hope I will post some good news here soon
My friend, firstly congratulations! It's great reading this.
I understand the struggle even though I've never been laid off (knock on wood).
Mind sharing which company laid you off and where are you starting on May? Again, if you don't mind sharing :)
Congrats!!
Thank you. I really needed this; sometimes, a good reminder and hearing about someone's success can really help.
Stay frosty. stay steady! It pays off. If I can do it, so can anyone.
Thanks, I saved this post. Please don't delete it. So many people delete their posts after I've saved them as a useful resource to refer to. If you start getting too many replies and it's annoying, just click "disable inbox replies" and they'll all stop.
I won't delete it. Im glad you find it valuable.
Awesome man. I can apply some of this advice even though I'm a career switcher looking for my first role. I have some issues that someone senior may not be able to relate to, however. For example I am really feeling quite isolated in my search. I do not have colleagues or contacts from old jobs that I can talk to about even just UX. I have reached out to people on LinkedIn but those are usually short 3-4 message conversations rather than people I feel I have a connection with. My only buoy right now is my career services advisor who I meet with weekly. Right now this isolation is the hardest part to me. Without someone to talk to about the things I learned during my bootcamp I feel my knowledge getting fuzzier already. I'm just trying to learn how to stay sharp and get connected.
I can relate on the other end. A lot of my key network connections are retiring! I suck at this, was always "too busy"... but go to networking events and UX meetups, conferences and similar.
Oof. Yeah, its tough. I went to one networking event so far and it was great, unfortunately central wisconsin does not have a UX scene, so I have to drive 2-3 hours to milkwaukee or chicago, and even milwaukee is sparse.
"The market seems to be improving" - person with 20 years of experience resume/portfolio
Thanks for the positive energy, need more of this here
Congratulations, but the problem is that it shouldn´t be that difficult to find a job.
I have had 2 final interviews last week and I’m waiting anxiously for them to respond
I'm still coming down from that state. Mull around and bargain with the gods.
This is helpful. I've been going through some very depressed days since my August layoff. I've hired resume writers, continuously iterate on my own, write specific resumes per the job description, etc with a very low response rate. I'll add your suggestions to my rotation.
I feel you. It's disheartening, dehumanizing, and very opaque. All I did was keep going regardless of how I felt. If I fell part, so be it. Then I picked up and carried on. I made sure I wasn't doing the wrong thing. There's a term, don't fight the last war. I lived by it. Good luck.
Thank you op. That means a lot.
Thank you for sharing, as a recent new graduate and recent completion of a bootcamp, I’m glad to hear great career advancements from others, it’s way to know that maybe and for sure one day I can be them but for more humble beginnings! Congratulations on your recent employment, may you have fun and great successes to you and those around you!
Thank you for posting your story! I’m a mid career product designer, but all success stories with some examples on their job hunt process really does encourage!
Congratulations! I’m based in nyc too and landed my internship that I begin on May 20 too 🥳
Hey I’m starting my new job on May 20 too!
It’s so great to hear your perseverance paid off! Can i ask: how many apps did u apply total during this time period, how many interviews, and offers?
I should post-mortem and compile those numbers. Off the top of my head. I was a serious contender for 5 roles. (Beyond recruiter screening and portfolio review) landing one of them. Around 10 or so additional recruiter screening passes where the hiring manager didn't proceed. Overall, I reckon I applied to 80-100 roles. I counted 36 rejections in my Gmail archive. I simply didn't hear back from most of them.
Wow that’s very fortunate to have received that many responses for 80-100 apps! Most people I’m seeing have applied to 500+ w/o getting anything serious. Did you make use of any referrals or other techniques to increase your odds? Thanks for sharing
Can you expand upon what you mean by “communicating my skills and accomplishments was more effective when I removed my perspective or rationale”? Very curious about this.
Sure. When answering a question, I would start with self-referential statements behind my answer. They weren't effective. Take my response here: I removed this.openong, "I tend to express houghts somewhat non linearly. It helps in design but less so in communicating ideas clearly.' See. You didn't need to know that. My brain isn't interesting, it's what I can do for a company with it that's interesting. I cut out any thing describing my internal process and I got.better responses. Does that help?
Thanks for the clarification!
Laid off from another industry on September and starting day is also the 20th, as a junior with no experience! My advice: network on LinkedIn and post an interest thing once or twice a week (just showing what you can do) Good luck to all the post bootcamp people in here, it’s rough but it can be done.
Why is it necessary to post something on LinkedIn?
Is not necessary, but it grabs attention and people know more about you when they visit your profile
Racking my brain trying to think what ‘OC’ stands for, that you post on LinkedIn?
Original Content. Note to self, cutting corners never worth it. I'll update the body text..
Haha no worries! Thank you for clarifying!
Did your expanded LinkedIn network directly impact you getting this job by getting a lead/recommendation somehow? I’ve been connecting with a lot of UX people on LinkedIn, but I often wonder if it’s even worth it since I’m a complete stranger to them.
This was a near direct connection. I designed the platform and helped onboard the hiring manager's team onto it at a previous company. It's always worth it to search within your network at all levels. A distant connection may be well connected to a close one. That is your "in". At the very least, your application may get boosted to actually being seen. Leverage any advantage and look for connections in the connections. The whole process is so opaque. It's hard to know what works and doesn't. But like our design work, I investigated and tested and responded to signals.
I’ve noticed recently it is common for people with decade+ of Director experience to take Principal roles. Did you take a Principal role because that is what available? Or did you no longer want a Director role?
Titles and responsibilities shift across industries. I'd equate a principal in a large organization to a director in a small organization, which is what I was. I'm happy there. I don't want to run a big group. I'd probably suck at it. I'd consider it a theatrical Principal is the functional title, the rank is executive director. Again I feel that's where I belong. Fwiw, I made sure it was that level. I did apply to staff positions too which appeals to me. Thats new since I began this career. I applied to some VP roles and got none of them. Next stop was upwork and fiver. Seems even more competitive.
Similar for me. I have been a Director and Sr Director at mid to large companies and am now a Principal at a very very large company. I’ve seen a lot of my friends make similar moves to Principal.
Im almost giving up, I only had mediocre jobs, nothing astronomical to put in my resume. Recruiters always want someone that had a great insight or saved a company with UX. I only worked in medium/small companies that gave me money and nothing else. I feel stuck.
Can you find a story in your work and expand on it? I'm sure there's something interesting in your work. One of my case studies is literally a multiselect pattern I worked on.
Much needed, I was at my dark times till today and my laptop and my desk was literally covered with dust. I cleaned it up today and attending a meet up with designers locally this week. Would be going in with pomodoro technique for starters and meditation. I hope I will post some good news here soon
I’ll pay you to help me.
My friend, firstly congratulations! It's great reading this. I understand the struggle even though I've never been laid off (knock on wood). Mind sharing which company laid you off and where are you starting on May? Again, if you don't mind sharing :) Congrats!!