Your Personal Presence

Selling yourself starts with your resume, your portfolio, creating a LinkedIn profile and building your network of connections.

A UX job could attract have anywhere from a handful to hundreds or even thousands of applicants. When you submit a resume, it first goes through an Application Tracking System (ATS). Applicant tracking systems are software that automate the hiring process.

To get past this system, use the proper UX keywords, tailored to the specifics of the job description.

Use the right keywords in your resume:  

  • User Research – include Interviewing, Contextual Inquiry, Competitive Research, perhaps Survey Creation and other items.
  • Design: Wireframing, rapid prototyping, one or more prototyping tools such as Figma, Adobe XD, Sketch, or Axure .
  • Personas, User Journeys, User Stories, etc.
  • Visual Design: What tools do you use?
  • Soft skills include building consensus, leading meetings, presentations.

Do a web search for the current keywords and items you will need to get past automated systems that will throw out your resume.

Customize your resume to the job if needed: Feature the skills they requested.

What do Hiring Managers look for in a UX Resume?

The hiring manager will scan your resume for an average of 6 seconds, looking at your experience level and for relevant skills that the position requires.

As you can see, that’s not a lot of time, so your resume really needs to be clearconcise and stand out from a stack of resumes.

Sample UX Resumes

Your UX Presence: Collaboration Skills

UX is a very public job where you will need to sell your research and design to an audience that may not be prepared for change. Soft skills are critical in all stages of design, from requirements gathering, asking for research time, presenting research, brainstorming solutions, and defending your design. So take care to show how well you can work with others.

  • In your case studies, emphasize how others influenced your decisions.
  • How did you present your designs to your stakeholders or clients? That’s important.
  • How did you coexist with your bosses and co-workers in previous jobs?
  • Think about how you might go about establishing consensus when planning a design. Showing your research – or previously existing research –  is helpful, but not every client is receptive.

Your UX Presence: Interviewing Tips

Don’t memorize a script – it’s easy to forget it and get lost

Instead, create a list of keywords of the things you want to cover. This really helped me and kept me from getting too deep in the weeds during interviews.

Prepare answers for behavioral questions:

  • How have you responded to negative feedback?
  • How would you sell your design to a reluctant client?
  • How would you handle a situation where a co-worker is being difficult or uncooperative and affecting your job?
  • Tell me about a time when a project didn’t go as planned (you can use an example from your previous line of work)

Look up more behavioral questions. This isn’t fun but it’s worth preparing for.

Your UX Presence: Building Your Network

Get in the door! Many of us believe that most jobs are found because you know someone

Attend UX meetups – you can attend online meetups from anywhere

Approach people in a company you wish to work for –  Create a good cold-call letter. Find UX people in that company and express your interest either based on the company’s products or something you admire in the design. Be specific and enthusiastic!

Leverage contacts – Contact UXers you or your friends know. Contact people who went to your university or worked with the same companies as you. Make use of LinkedIn to search for contacts.