9 ways to getting that first UX job — Part 3
Part 1 and Part 2 of this series look at the 6 ways to getting that first UX jobs for new and junior designers. Below are my last 3 suggestions in this series.
UX apprenticeship
What do companies like Viget, Nerdery, and Fresh Tilled Soil all have in common? They all offer UX apprenticeship programs for designers (or non-designers) with minimal UX experiences.
Typically these programs run between 10–12 weeks, and if you apply and get accepted, this will not only be an amazing learning experience, but a huge stepping stone towards getting that first full-time UX job when you’re done.
Check out what Mel Choyce and Sanette Tanaka had to say about their UX apprentice experience at Fresh Tilled Soil and at Viget respectively, then listen to the talk Fred Beecher gave at IA Summit 2014 on the apprenticeship program he (help) created at Nerdery.
Do some research and see who else are offering UX apprenticeship! A quick search on the web — at the time of writing — show that companies like Home Depot, Cake&Arrow, Intrepid, and many others are actively looking to fill these roles.
Internal transfer
Nothing is a guarantee in life, but if you are already with a company that you like and they like you as well, you might have an opportunity to work with your manager and plan for a transfer to joining the UX team.
If you are an engineer, a product manager, a QA engineer, devOps, or similar roles, you might already be working with some UXers. Network withthe team and do some homework — find out if they have any openings, what skillsets they need, and what type of UXers they are after. Prepare yourself accordingly and, when the time comes, apply for the job.
In most situations, they will scrutinize your resume & portfolio just like they do with all the external candidates, but where you might have an edge is that you’re likely already a cultural fit, and that they can easily find trusted references from your team who can vouch for you. Furthermore, since you already know the company and its products and services, you will need much less on-boarding time then candidates from the outside. This gives you a significantly competitive edge over external candidates.
What if your company does not have a UX team? It might be a long shot for employers to carve out a new UX role just for you (unless that’s something they are already thinking about), but don’t be afraid to take on extra responsibilities to do some UX research or design work. Taking on extra UX responsibilities not only show your initiatives, but it gives you a chance to practice your craft and apply them on your job. Better yet, you can document these as case studies in your UX portfolio, and that’s another step stone in your journey.
Network, network, network
This shouldn’t be news to you. We have all heard stats like how 70% of the jobs are unadvertised, and some study even claims the percentage in the 80's.
Nina Gannes’ findings from her survey of General Assembly’s User Experience Design Immersive (UXDI) graduates suggest this holds true for jr. level UX jobs as well. Of the 110 graduates surveyed, 41% found their job through networking — 8 percentage point higher than the second category (via General Assembly) and 14 percentage point over the third (online job posting):
A while back an entrepreneur asked me if I was available to consult for his startup. I wasn’t, but it just so happened that a student I met the week prior left me a very positive impression. I introduced them, and that led to a job offer for that student.
Then there was this other time that I advised a student to volunteer at design conferences to expand her network. She took my advice and got to volunteering at Smashingconf, which led to more opportunities — one of those eventually led to her landing her first full-time UX design role.
Things like these happen every day all around us — sometimes even when you aren’t looking. Meghan Schofield, for instance, landed her first UX job indirectly through a new friend she met at a backpacking trip on Angel Island, and she wasn’t even applying for one!
Many UX jobs are out there. What you are seeing is only a fraction of the many opportunities that exist. Get yourself out there, expand your network, and you never know when the next opportunity knocks, and how.
For more articles like this from me, check out /stevenmadesigns.
