Speaking - Stand Out With Your Story

20 Sep 2023

Video, slides and notes from my talk at ADPList.org’s BeMore Conference on September 20th, 2023

• Video:

• Figma slides with illustrations by Blush
• Speaking notes:

Hello! I’m James

I don’t know everything…

• My career has not been a straight line. I studied Industrial Design in college, worked at design agencies, did side work on web dev, and tjem switched to architecture. Next, I joined a startup where I found UX and loved it, so I switched roles to make that my focus.
• These days I’m deep in design systems, product UX, and accessibility. I love improving patterns and processes to build better products for himans.
• ADP list mentoring - I love to learn and help others grow their careers.

I know some things…

• Journeys are individual, the things I did won’t work for everyone.
• Your life to this point has not been a copy of someone else.
• I will share some things I’ve learned from both sides of the hiring process.
• You need to interpret how to use this guidance in your life.

So the big question: What can new UX designers do to get a job?

• Note this can apply to many roles in UX, marketing, research, and content.
• When the job market is on the downturn, lower experience/entry level roles dry up first.

How does someone get through the stack of candidates competing for the remaining fewer roles?

I’m going to cover three challenges you need to take on:

1. Demonstrate your experience
2. Stand out from others
3. Learn to sell yourself

So lets go…

Challenge 1: Demonstrate your experience

• But what if you don’t have it?

Build experience in creative ways

• Creativity in action is rare, many can talk about it but few dig in and demonstrate it. Be a person of action.
• Make it clear you get things done, this is attractive at all levels of skill or experience.

Some ideas for building early experience:

1. Donate your time

• Free: Volunteer your services for a non-profit, then share the story.
  • Do you care about Kittens? Cancer patients? Green cities?
  • Many charities could use your design skills for promotion, products, processes and by working with them you can gain experience by donating your time to something that matches your values.
  • Show up for something you care about, see where it goes. Write the story into a case study.
  • Shows values, initiative, action, flexibility

    2. Be your own boss

• Fiction: Self-initiate a project to showcase your skill and passion
  • Use inspiration from your life, pain points you see, hobbies you enjoy.
  • Some free ideas: Outdoorsy? Design Arbnb for kayaks, mountain bikes, surfboards. New parent? Baby care training like Duolingo.
  • Just take something you know and start designing. Use your friends for research.
  • Craft the story around the design process.
  • Maybe use a friend or freelancer to build it for real.
  • Shows values, initiative, action, adaptability.

3. Take Gigs

• Paid: Freelance/agencies/contracting
  • Big companies that cut back roles often turn to outsourced talent.
  • Don’t lock yourself into expecting a FT role at a big corporation - its not the only or best option for starting your career.
  • Look for small agencies, look at early startups, the wide variety and fast paced work can help you refine your skills and find your favorite parts of the design process.

Challenge 2: Stand out from the sea of candidates

• Use your experience to tell a special story we won’t forget
• You are special, so make your portfolio special. Know what sets you apart from other UX designers.
• Design your personal brand to reflect you as a unique person.
  • Don’t be generic and forgettable.
  • Hiring teams see way too many boring portfolios that are easily forgettable.
  • We don’t want to hire boring people, that would make boring products.
  • Inspire us to care about you and the perspective you could add to our team.
• Go beyond the standard template and tell a good story about you and your work.
  • Of course make your portfolio easy to navigate, read, scan, and browse, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be boring. Function plus beauty.
  • Don’t just give me boring data, tell me a story thats memorable.
  • Share your journey: How you got into design. Where are you now. What do you love most. What you care about. Where do you want to be?
• Ask yourself, what part of design gets you most excited?
  • Where are your passions and values?
  • Find a area you enjoy or care about.
  • It could be anything you can relate back to your career.
  • Some examples are social justice, accessibility/disability rights, design ethics, new design tools, brainstorming processes, design sprints, minorities in tech, international innovation, ethnographic research, sustainable tech, empathetic design etc…
  • Use that topic as a framework to demonstrate your skills (see self initiated work above) and showcase it in your personal brand in all your materials: portfolio, writing, social, videos, podcasts, etc Become known for a specialty, passion or cause.
  • Hiring teams don’t have time to dig through your entire portfolio and find out who you are and what you care about.
  • Bring that story to the front of your materials so its easy for us to learn and remember. Be memorable.

Challenge 3: Learn to sell yourself

This doesn’t come natural to most designers but you need to practice selling yourself.

Be ready for a callback

• Practice presenting your story in-person/phone/zoom interviews and presentations.
  • What makes you special? What are you passionate about? Be ready to share why it matters to you - have you talking points down.
  • Don’t talk about tiny project details, talk about your design decisions, how you got to the solution is way more important than the results.
  • Share roadblocks and pivots, tell how you overcome obstacles.
  • Demonstrate collaboration, design is a team sport so tell us how you play together.
  • Adjust your story to fit your audience with various levels of detail (recruiter, hiring manager, senior leader).
• Practice answering interview questions.
  • Learn behavioral interviewing and practice your answers, have a friend or mentor (ADPList) mock interview you.
• Practice asking questions back to the hiring team. Always have question for them when they ask.
  • Be ready to ask about their team structure, company culture, leadership vision, how the could use you.
• The more you practice, the better you will be able to sell what makes you unique.
  • Introverts don’t like this naturally but its essential to getting the right job. Get support if you need to learn presentation/speaking skills.
  • Don’t expect to be a great speaker if you have never trained for it. Find training - courses, clubs (Toastmasters), meetups, apps etc.

Be ready for rejection

• Rejection is not a failure.
  • It was not the right fit or timing.
  • This does not mean you are not good enough.
  • You could be just as qualified as the chosen candidate.
  • There are so many factors that are out of your control so don’t put it all on yourself.
• Stay confident and look for new opportunities.
  • Maybe your next role will be a pivot you didn’t plan for but will lead to greater things.
  • A big-name company is not the only/best way to start your career.
• Look for mentors and teammates in any size/type of company.
• Take what you learn and improve your story, so you are ready for the next one.
• Your journey will continue.

So remember these takeaways

1. Don’t wait for an opportunity, work for it.
   • There are no shortcuts for a successful design career.
   • Put in the effort to get the rewards.
   • It takes work to find what you are good at, build a unique portfolio, find roles that fit, and sell your skills to the hiring teams.
2. Don’t limit yourself, try different paths.
   • There are many ways toward your goals
   • Be willing to experiment and learn with your career
3. Tell a great story about who you are, in every touchpoint and conversation you can.
4. Stay engaged and teachable, so you can adapt to the ups and downs of career progression.

Go share your story!

Thanks for following along. Share your thoughts and questions with me.

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PS

After the talk I saw that Tom Briggs shared a similar theme that fits well with mine. Check out his slides here: Sustainable Personal Branding for Life & Career.