Curiosity Tank

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29 Job Listings + 15 Interviewing Tips

michele ronsen

Ask Like A Pro alumni tips for job interviews

Last week four Ask Like A Pro alums shared their varied experiences landing their current UX research positions in our private Alumni mixer. They talked about their individual journeys, presented case studies, shared preparation tactics, and offered lots of tips and tricks they wished they'd known when they began their latest job search. Amy Santee, UX career coach and strategist, also shared best practices on user research case study formats, selection criteria, visual design, and channels, and offered a generous discount to all Ask Like A Pro alums.

The community really benefited from their candor, humility and humor! Huge thanks to these special FIVE peeps!

Here is a quick summary:

  1. Target your applications; don’t apply to dozens of positions.

  2. Sharing your work is a storytelling exercise. Interviewers aren’t nearly as interested in the detailed data as they are in learning about you and how you think.

  3. Talk about yourself (briefly!). Be authentic. Show your personality, interests, what you learned, and/or your reflections. Demonstrate your passion for continual learning. This will help ascertain culture fit. It’s important to find the right match.

  4. How you position and brand yourself matters. Make sure your story is cohesive in all of your business artifacts.

  5. Remember, you are not your user! Consider what the hiring committee is looking for — be emphatic!

  6. Hands-on UX research experience trumps all (including the prestige of most degrees). One alum detailed how including his PhD and academic accomplishments actually hindered his job searching process.

  7. Demonstrate your command of product design; confidently speak about the product, business challenges and goals; and execute applied research with our cluster of terms! If you haven’t conducted UXR studies, then make this a priority.

  8. Your user research network is KEY. It will open doors for you. Referrals go a long way — so build your network!

  9. Be prepared to speak to methods and why you chose which ones, the tradeoffs, etc.

  10. Do not share confidential information! Blur this out in your case studies.

  11. Include the impact your work had. This could be impact on the product, team, process, culture, end-user, industry, etc. Think big and broad!

  12. Leverage your previous domain experience and current interests. This Fuel Your Curiosity edition speaks to this specifically.

  13. Simple presentations are MUCH more effective. When in doubt, simplify.

  14. Pilot everything. Pilot your pilots! And prepare for different lengths of presentations.

  15. DON’T GIVE UP. Thie job interviewing process is a humbling learning experience in itself. It’s iterative, just like the work we do to help others build better experiences. The Present workshop has great tips, templates, and examples.

The Ask Like A Pro alums who presented were incredibly honest, humble and generous. The recording of this event will be available in our Alumni community Curiosity Tank learning portal next week.

Please keep this feedback in mind as you continue on your own journeys. And speaking of, here is a terrific lineup of super exciting new user research positions!

Junior-ish

Mid level-ish

Senior-ish

I’m cheering you on from the sidelines and available to support you on the front lines too! Want to feature an open position next month? Please let us know!

Speak up, get involved, share the love

And that’s a wrap!

We try to alternate between a theme and UX/UXR jobs, events, classes, articles, and other happenings every few weeks. What do you think? We're constantly iterating and would still love to hear your input.

Stay curious,
- Michele and the Curiosity Tank team

PS: The Ask Like A Pro series is a great way to get hands on user research experience, build a case study and your network. Schedule time with Michele here to learn more. She’ll happily introduce you to alums as well if desired.