- If you're one of the many folks who decided to make
a career change to user experience, congratulations.
The world needs more UX professionals like you
to design our products and services.
But changing careers is challenging and stressful.
One way to reduce that stress is to take measured steps
towards your UX career goal.
And if you're planning on applying to UX jobs,
well, you can't just reuse your current resume.
You need a UX-focused resume.
(screeching)
So let's go over the critical parts for a UX career changer.
At the top, there's a small area for personal information.
Include your name, but be careful.
Unconscious bias with your name's assumed ethnicity
can affect the number of employer callbacks.
If you're concerned this may impact your application,
use your first initial or preferred name instead.
Mention only your city, state, and zip code.
Include a link to your portfolio website
or file download service.
Use a professional-looking email address
and list one phone number with a polite voicemail recording
where the hiring manager can reliably contact you.
The following section is for UX experience,
which is the most critical part of your resume.
At least one entry here shows the hiring manager
you're applying your new UX knowledge
and are committed to changing your career.
If you feel stuck and unable to get UX experience
without UX experience, try these approaches.
Work as a freelance UX consultant.
Provide UX services to a nonprofit.
Tap your friends and family for business owners
who might benefit from UX improvements.
Or apply to UX apprenticeship or internship opportunities.
For each UX experience, include the following:
Your job title, and the employer's name.
Use freelance consultant,
or the name of your consulting business
if you weren't a full-time employee.
The start and end dates in months and years.
Use "present" if still working there.
Add the employer's location, or a remote label
if that clarifies the role.
Summarize your job responsibilities
in two to three concise sentences.
Start sentences with verbs and use numbers
when appropriate to communicate the context
and scope of your duties.
List your achievements in a bulleted list using a circle.
Achievements are impactful results you delivered on the job
by applying your skills, abilities, and talents.
Write them using this structure:
Verb, quantitative achievement,
context, using skill, tool, or technology.
Emphasize numerical results and keep them to one line each.
You can also list non-quantitative achievements,
but they'll be less persuasive.
Aim for at least one achievement per job.
Enlist more for more recent experiences
and fewer for less recent ones.
Next, show how you obtained your UX knowledge.
List the credential name and level if it's a degree.
Mention who awarded it, the months
and years it took to earn it, and the location if it helps.
Then describe your coursework
in two to three concise sentences.
Cite specific UX skills or tools you studied
or used in a class project.
If you have any achievements,
use the same bulleted format from before.
But instead, list honors, and scholarships,
or academic awards.
Then list out your non-UX work history.
Follow the same format as before.
Job title, employer, dates,
location, responsibilities, and achievements.
If you earned a promotion, give it a separate entry.
Now, this is important.
You must try reframing these old jobs
with your new UX career in mind.
Reflect on your past responsibilities and achievements
and connect them to job transferable UX skills,
like interviewing, data analysis, presentations,
project management, budgeting, software development,
or designing research tools.
Even if you can't, delivering results on time
and under budget, working effectively on a team,
or successfully leading in developing others has merit.
For any other university degrees,
keep them to one line at the bottom of your resume
and share just a few key details.
Name and level, the university,
the year earned, and location.
For UX career changers, remember to apply your UX knowledge.
Be mindful of what you've achieved
and truthfully reframe your past from a UX perspective.
Use this advice to overcome that resume hurdle
in your job search and resume your UX career journey.
- Thanks for watching.
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