Why You Have Not Been Hired After Your UX Bootcamp & What You Can Do About It
By: Sarah Doody
Tags: User Experience Design, Ux Bootcamp, Ux Portfolio, Ux Jobs, Ux Careers

Job Search Pivot Step 1: Conduct An Audit To Identify What’s Broken

When a startup launches a product and things don’t go as planned, there are many variables to consider. Are people not interested in it? Are people interested, but not buying? After people use the product, are they confused or do they see the value of it? Focusing just on the marketing, the problem could be that the marketing is attracting the wrong people. Or, the marketing message is confusing and people don’t see a strong enough reason for why they should be interested in the product.

As you can see, there are tons of variables involved that could contribute to why a startup’s product is gaining traction including whether or not the marketing is attracting the right people, whether the interested people actually buy at the current price point, and whether people can use the product.

The mistake most startups make when they aren’t getting the traction they hoped for is they often spend time fixing the wrong things because they don’t take time to find the true problem. The same applies to your UX job search.

For a startup, maybe people are not signing up for the product. Many startups might spend weeks “redesigning” the homepage and focus on the visuals, without taking time first to evaluate the message of the homepage or consider if the problem might not even be the homepage! For example, perhaps the marketing is attracting the wrong people, so no wonder they aren’t responding to the homepage and signing up!

If you are applying to roles and not even getting interviews, then it’s time to do an audit of every single thing involved in your job search. In this case, you need to evaluate all the variables involved so you don’t end up wasting time re-designing your portfolio or resume and neglecting other things that might actually be the true problem. There’s obviously a lot to cover, so to help you avoid overwhelm, here are 3 key areas to think about as you audit your job search.

Area 1: Finding & Applying To Roles

As you audit your job search, ask yourself these questions and consider where you may need to adjust your strategy and why you may not be getting more interviews.

Are you just playing the numbers game and applying to 20, 30, 40 roles a week?

Are you applying to the right types of roles that truly align with your skills and experience?

Are you looking for roles beyond the platforms such as Indeed, Glassdoor, LinkedIn jobs, etc?

After you apply, do you just cross your fingers and hope for the best or are you doing anything to help nurture your application and follow up?

Area 2 → Career Materials

Next, you need to audit your portfolio, resume, LinkedIn and anything else that is contributing to the first-impression people have about you when you apply to a role. You have no idea which of these career materials people will look at first, that’s why you must ensure they’re all optimized to send a clear message about your skills and experience.

Does your portfolio include the process and not just jump right to final deliverables?

Is your portfolio easy for a busy recruiter or hiring manager to skim or scan at first pass?

Does your resume provide tangible examples of skills in action and outcomes, or is it just bulleted lists of buzzwords and keywords?

Did you take the time to optimize your LinkedIn profile for both the humans looking at it as well as the LinkedIn search algorithm?

Are you strategically building authentic relationships on LinkedIn or just “connecting” with as many people as possible to build your network? Also, people doing the hiring don’t care how many connections you have on LinkedIn, it’s a vanity metric.

Area 3 → Preparing For & Doing Job Interviews

Lastly, consider how what you say and do in interviews contributes to the overall impression you’re making on hiring managers and your potential colleagues.

Before interviews, are you researching the company, role, and potential people interviewing you?

Can you have a conversation about the project? Or, are you simply reciting or reading content from your portfolio or resume?

When asked about your skills, strengths, etc do you give vague and generic answers, or do you bring up an example of how you used that skill while working on a project?

During interviews, are you asking thoughtful questions to convey this “design thinking” that you’re so passionate about?

After the interviews, are you following up and do you debrief to try and learn from each interview?

If you are applying to roles and not getting interviews, or getting interviews and not getting hired, you have to look at the entire process. There are many variables that contribute to your ability to stand out, get interviews, and demonstrate to hiring managers that you are right for the job. The mistake most people make in their UX job search is they do not focus on all the variables.

It’s not unlike someone who is trying to lose weight. Many people fail to lose weight, and keep it off, because they only focus on a few variables and not all variables involved. Weight loss can be impacted by food, exercise, water intake, sleep, stress levels, and more. It’s all connected. For long term results, you have to focus on all of the variables. The same applies to your job search and career. You must evaluate all the variables.

No amount of re-doing your portfolio or resume will help you get hired if you’re not doing other high-impact job search activities such as looking for roles beyond just what you see on big platforms, building authentic relationships, and tailoring every interview and interaction to the role you applied to.