Career Transition to UX Design: Tips for Resumes

Job Search Part 1

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

Career Transitions are full of challenges, are very time intensive, and sometimes very discouraging. If you are transitioning your career to UX/Product design and you find yourself thinking, “no one is hiring entry level designers” or “I just need someone to give me a chance”, just know I have been there, and this article is for you. I promise the challenges are worth it.

I have mentored many designers over the years, even when I was only 6 months into my own UX career transition and just starting my first freelance project. (I believe there is much we can learn from each other no matter what our career or life stage.) These tips are collected from frequently asked questions, and questions that new designers often don’t realize they can and should ask.

My goal for this article and the “Job Search” series is to help you consistently focus your energy on what is most effective to getting a full time job, and to identify what may be distractions to your job search.

This is part 1 in a 3 part series:

Part 1: Tips for Resumes

Part 2: Tips for Portfolios

Part 3: Tips for Applications

Please Keep In Mind

My goal is not to tell you what skills you need to get hired, because in reality, as long as you have the basic qualifications for practicing UX design, any combination of skills can be a great match for a full-time role at a company. It’s more a matter of presentation, timing and luck.

Hiring managers are pattern-matching your skills and interests with what their current design team needs or what their current product needs. If you can frame your design experience in a way that highlights relevant information, authentically showcases your skills and interests, and additionally take the initiative to round out your experiences where it is sparse, you are well on your way to getting that first interview.

Resume and LinkedIn

Your resume and LinkedIn profile are overviews of your work experiences. They are also what internal recruiters might see first, and what hiring managers, and designers will review before they…