Vol. 020 - This is how I would stand out in the product design job market in 2024

Hi designers,

Welcome to Vol. 020 of the UX Jetpack Newsletter, where I share job searching tips weekly. This week we are talking about:

1. This is how I would stand out in the product design job market in 2024
2. You don’t need to fit every requirement on a job posting to apply.
3. How do you A/B test your job application?
4. See how other companies structure themselves

If you enjoy those tips, please consider sharing them with your friends. They can sign up at https://uxjetpack.com/newsletter

This is how I would stand out in the product design job market in 2024

Product design job market is highly competitive and standing out from the crowd is crucial. Here’s how I would stand out in the current market

1. Identify your strengths: What sets you apart from other designers? Reflect on your past experiences and determine what you enjoy the most and what skills or knowledge you have that not every designer has.
2. Build a compelling portfolio and resume: Merely telling people about your strengths isn't convincing. Showcase your strengths with a compelling story in your portfolio and resume, focusing on your achievements and providing evidence or impact to back them up.
3. Find companies that match your strengths: Hiring managers don’t just want to hire people who have the right skills; they want to hire someone who resonates with the team. Applying to companies that match your uniqueness will give you an edge.
4. Reach out to people in those companies: Building connections with people who share similarities with you, such as similar backgrounds, interests, schools, or projects. Find anything that you two have in common, this could help build the relationship, which could lead to an interview.

Remember to stay true to yourself and focus on what makes you a good designer.

You don’t need to fit every requirement on a job posting to apply.

A friendly reminder for junior designers:

You don’t need to fit every requirement on a job posting to apply.

Don’t have 2 years of experience?

Never worked on a design system?

Haven’t worked with developers?

Companies don’t expect you to know everything.

But they want to know:

Whether you are eager to learn.

Whether you are passionate about your work.

Whether you are someone they would enjoy working with.

Next time you see a job posting that requires 2 years of experience,

Apply for it.

More importantly,

Reach out to people.

Show you are eager to learn.

Show you are passionate about your work.

Show you are someone people enjoy working with.

This is the key to job searching.

How do you A/B test your job application?

You applied for so many jobs but did not get the result you want?

Why not A/B test your strategy?

Not getting interviews?

↳ Apply for jobs with different variations of your resume

↳ Alter the home page of your portfolios and see if there’s a difference

No one reply to your cold reach out?

↳ Use the same messaging, but reach out to people through different channels

↳ Change the messaging, but reach out through the same channel

Not pass the first round interview?

↳ Use a different tone of voice when speaking

↳ Prepare a script vs. no script

Think of the whole job searching journey as an experiment.

Test out different strategies and methods, and see what sticks.

See how other companies structure themselves

This is a cool website that allows you to see the org chart of companies and see how they are structured. When you are assessing which company you want to work for, it's helpful to see where design sits in the org structure.

Check out 👉🏼 theorg.com

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Cheers,

Ryan Yao

Say hi 👋🏼 on LinkedIn and ☎️ Book a 1:1 with me