General Assembly - How To Get A Great UX Job

From application to interview

How to get a great UX job{

Patrick NeemanDirector of Product Design, nPario@usabilitycountshttp://www.usabilitycounts.com

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JobviteDirector of User ExperienceTeam of 3

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>100Recruiters & Hiring Managers

10Customer Visits

> 100Usability Tests

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Hiring Manager Phone Screen

7-10people

3 to 5On Site

InterviewsThe Offer} }

User Research - 100 Recruiters

The typical interview process

Research20-100people} Recruiter

Phone Screen

10-15 people}

Getting a great job is a lot like dating......you have to kiss a lot of frogs

before your find your prince

You’re looking for one job and they’re looking to fill one position

Interviewing them as much you’re being interviewed

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Show them your money,

baby!

• LinkedIn profile• Resume

• Portfolio• Side projects

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{ Your LinkedIn profile }• Have a great summary• Include your skills and specialities• List the results of your work• Let brands speak for themselves

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{ A great LinkedIn profile }

Great Title

Solid Summary

Accurate Job Descriptions

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{ Your resume }• An easy to read, parsable format (Word or PDF)• A clear career progression that tells a story• Skills and research methods listed for recruiters• Emphasize T-Skill Set in skills

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{ A great resume }

Solid Opening Summary

Clear and Concise Job Descriptions

Skills and Brands Listed

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{ Job Descriptions }• Summary of who you worked for and the process• Bullet point list of accomplishments

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Résume tipsToo many positions Combine all into one position, and list each as a client

Too few positions List projects under a position

Unrelated positions Don’t list them at all, no one cares

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Questions?

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{ Your portfolio }• Tell a big story• Tell a lot of small stories• Challenge, process, solution, results

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{ A great portfolio }Tell Stories

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{ A portfolio }Show More Than Wireframes

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{ A portfolio }Show Process and Thinking

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{ Your portfolio }• A clean and professional feel• A solid illustration of your process• Show clear thinking • Don’t over design

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Questions?

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{ Other skills }• Writing• Visual design• Prototyping + HTML

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{ Extra credit }Have a

passion project

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Networking{ Why do I want to become a personal

referral? }

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45% of all hires

{ Agency + personal referrals }

9% of all jobapplications

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The lowest conversion rate for an application?

A job board0.41% percent of applications from job boards become hires.11 percent of applications from referrals become hires.

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Who do you know at Google?

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Applying online is a losing bet• No ATS (Spreadsheet)• Small to Mid Level ATS (Jobscore, Zip Recruiter)• Enterprise ATS (Kenexa, Saba, Taleo)

No ATS -- Reviewing every resume by hand, quickly. Resumes get lost.

Small to Mid Level ATS -- Reviewing every resume by hand, quickly.

Enterprise ATS -- Poor keyword search, reviewing some resumes. Resumes get lost.

You really want to have someone as an internal advocate.

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{ Networking }• Twitter, the new professional branding network• National conferences for dream jobs• Local meetups and hack nights for local networking• Find super connectors

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56% percent of people who got a job got it through

someone they knew casually.

Mark GranovetterSociologist, 1973

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Questions?

And remember......there’s plenty of fish in the sea

Thank you!

Patrick NeemanDirector of Product Design, nPario

Blog http://www.usabilitycounts.com Twitter @usabilitycounts