As our cohort ended and a new group of young designers prepared to enter the field, I began to double-down on my efforts in terms of UX networking and projects.
Recently, I had traveled to my parents for a quiet weekend at home. It was warm, sunny, and I was studying for upcoming interviews. I already had a dedicated notebook full of details from company websites, job postings, online presentations, recruiter YouTube videos about navigating the corporate interview process and I had even looked at what tools some of these companies offered that I could familiarize myself with should it come up in conversation.
Still I was left wondering: “How else can I demonstrate my value, and what I know to be true in this field, beyond the standard interview?”
Then it hit me. UX — User Experience Design — is not confined to a computer screen, it is all around us. It showcases itself in the machines we use, the applications we navigate, the cars we drive, the elevators we ride to reach our office floor — heck, it’s even in the unorganized restaurant menu that you have to read through at brunch to find your favorite meal.
Everything we interact with has been designed and engineered to elicit a response from those using it. We are the users of our everyday lives. So why not combine the craft of UX with navigating the ambiguity the job market and candidate interview process?
Why not UX myself — showcase my career journey, what I have worked on, how a company’s goals are aligned with my own, and the value I can provide as a UX Designer — in a brief and thoughtful presentation for the interviewer?
Wondering how to go about this? Great. Let’s get started.