I Got 15+ Interviews in My First Month as a UX Designer — Here is My Secret
UX colleagues were asking me how I got so many interviews from the moment I changed the headline of my LinkedIn profile to UX Designer
They were asking how I did that, and how I was getting so many interviews, so, today is the day, I will share exactly how I did it.
The interviews were for junior/middle-level positions. Also, while going through all these interviews, the first thing that I learned is that real-world experience is well-appreciated and needed to succeed.
— Even for junior positions?
Yes, even for junior positions, I will link an article about how to get your first real project at the end, so you don’t have to go through many interviews before realizing it might be necessary.
I know many newbies are sad because they were never even called to one single interview, so today I will share what I do that works. But get this as a friend's advice, because I can’t promise an outcome for everyone.
This event happened more than a year ago, before writing ''after going through 10 interviews, here is what I learned''. I already gave you a few tips about getting more interviews in that article, but today we will dive way deeper into that.
We will go through it very fast, in 10 simple steps, but first, I would like to emphasize that this worked for me, I am sharing what I did, and you are free to try it out, get insights, and even add your own touches to fit what works better for you.
Okay! Deal?
— Deal
Let's go!
1- Your Linkedin Headline
You don't have to say you are a junior, middle-level, or Senior Designer, because this changes from company to company, so, leave that for later.
Also, don’t say you are an aspiring, or enthusiastic UX Designer, or just a student unless you are looking for internships, if you want a job in the area, embrace the 'UX Designer title’.
Change your headline to UX Designer or whatever title you have inside UX, and give up on your old one. Eliminate from the headline your old career, such as lawyer, Dentist, teacher, or whatever you had there before.
2- Start your CV and Job descriptions from the zero
Rewrite all of your job descriptions only highlighting what is related to UX Design. Also, highlight soft skills and hard skills that you can transfer to the UX Design career. Eliminate what is left behind.
Remember, any experience not related to the UX field should be deleted. But if you think they can be helpful, just create another section called other experiences and have it after showing all the experiences related to UX Design.
3- Write better and short descriptions for your projects
Your UX Projects should be on the top of your CV, (first experience section) they should be short, but straight to the point, and they should link to the portfolio project.
Make sure to highlight your biggest accomplishment with the project, such as KPIs, usability satisfaction, ROI, and so on.
ex: After our UX adjustments, the landing page increased sales by 150%/ users rentenction went from 30% to 60% / As a result the average time spend on task went from 10s to 7s / and so on.
Also, if you worked for a non-well-known company, write a short description of what the company is all about, this way you will save the recruiter time and give some context to the experience that you are describing.
So, for every project or job that you had, you should highlight your achievements in the descriptions and some information about the company.
The same description should be used on the top of your work experiences on LinkedIn. For the LinkedIn profile, they should be short and have keywords that match job descriptions.
Your Linkedin Picture: It is very important that your picture looks professional, and that we can see your face, refer to this article for improving your LinkedIn picture and banner.
4- Your certificates
Put on your LinkedIn profile every single UX Design certification.
On Linkedin, we have space for licenses and certificates and another space for your Academic education, make sure to have each certificate where it belongs.
Skills: We have a section for endorsement on LinkedIn, ask for recommendations from coworkers, and make sure to use skills related to the UX career.
5- Your Linkedin description
First, I wanted to talk about this one and give you some structure, but now I think it can be very personal, so, use this space to captivate the recruiter.
This should have your personal touch, and it is great if you can use UX keywords while writing it.
6- Do the connections
Look for job hunters, recruiters, and hiring managers and connect with them.
Be nice, introduce yourself, tell them what you are looking for, and say you are available for a call if they are interested.
7- Be the first to apply
I don't know how much it helped me, but maybe it did. When I was looking for a job I would check for new roles every day, so, I wouldn't miss any job. If I remember well, Wednesdays are the best day to apply for jobs.
I only apply through Indeed and LinkedIn, because after some time I realized these were the only ones I was receiving follow-ups.
Also, if the job has 20 steps until the last interview, I don't bother wasting my time, because I like simplifying things, and so should the company that I will work for.
8- know what you want
I have a few requirements, and in some of these interviews, I decided to not move forward in the process because it didn’t have my minimum requirements.
Remember, interviews are for both to know each other, and you should know what you want, so you can make questions and avoid wasting time.
I always study a company before going on the interview, sometimes their values look beautiful on the website, but When you make questions you learn they aren’t compatible, and that's probably a red flag.
You will spend 1/3 of your day at work, so make sure it is a healthy environment.
9- Show that you are looking for a job, but not desperate
It is good if you have your last position/project with ended date, but not too long time ago.
If you took a gap year, sometimes is better to have it when you started and ended, plus, what you did during this gap year could be an addition to your career.
— What if I already have a job?
They can still interview you if you already have a job. But for junior positions, they might prefer someone who is already available to start, and won't accumulate another job on top of their offer.
From the day I deleted project descriptions from my Linkedin profile, and added that I have a full-time job, the hunters disappeared.
So, I believe they were coming due to three factors:
a- I was sending applications on indeed/Linkedin and connections to tech hunters.
b - I had my LinkedIn profile well filled with work projects.
c- I wasn’t working in any well-known company at that moment.
— Did you use the feature 'OpenToWork' on your Linkedin profile picture?
No, I didn't use the feature ''open to work’’. Even when I was applying for 100 roles. So, all came without using it.
10- make it personal
I know the way of building CVs can vary from country to country, but When I was leaving in Ireland I learned something that really makes sense.
If I was looking for any job. All my CVs would be intentional, so I had to have one CV for every job that my experiences could fit, well, it happened 7 years ago, and I used to have one for a supermarket cashier, one for a receptionist, one for a waitress position and so on.
So, if you are multi-skilled in UX, have a different CV for every position. Like UX writer, UX designer, and UX researcher.
But better than that would be to make a personal CV for every company and job description that you are applying for.
Less is more. Take your time to read through the job description, and research the company, if they ask a few questions on the application form, use it to your advantage, most of the applicants will fulfill it quickly and only give some attention to the company after being called for an interview, so, instead of 100 generic applications. You are better by sending 10 with purpose.
Make your CV the answer to the requirements in the job description, sometimes it is already there, but you are not highlighting the compatibility.
Conclusion
Do not start applying for any UX job that pops up on your screen, pick the ones that really match your purpose, take more time to send the application, but do your best to get noticed.
Of course, this is only one piece of what you need to be called to interviews, I am supposing that you already have projects, skills, and some experience to stand out. And if you don't, you can still build on the side.
If you want to learn what it was like for me to go through 10 interviews, read this article 👇
If you need help with your portfolio, read this one 👇
And if you are looking for your first real project, this might help 👇
Thanks for reading, and I will see you in the next article
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