Why you're not getting interviews & job offers in UX & Product Design

UX Design is complicated, takes lots of time, user research, wireframing, user testing and iteration. To be able to tell that 'data story' to the audience properly, a portfolio page should include research & testing statistics and showcase the resulting 'experiences' which if done well, requires clickable prototypes, video and video which animates the features.

Unfortunately what is actually happening in the industry is that the majority of recruiters are being 'sucked in' by good visual design (UI) in flat boxes which has very little to do with the design of the experience.

I recently mentioned to a student that if they make their portfolio look stunning, the content could be garbage written by AI, but it would still land them interviews.

A good UX or product design portfolio needs to have 2 things to land you interviews and then a decent job:

1. Look stunning - this will get you past the people who have no idea, to the design lead
2. Your talent at concepting and following a rigorous UX process - only real, talented, senior UX people can see and understand this - however if your presentation is poor, you're shooting yourself in the foot

Ignorance in the UX Industry is rife

The majority of people reviewing UX or product design applications are impressed by 'pretty looking portfolios' with nice colours, typography and whitespace layout. They have absolutely no idea that they are looking solely at visual design and UI design, and not taking into consideration the UX skill of the applicant.

One of the biggest problems in the UX industry is that most people hiring in UX don't even know what it is!!

They then invariably demand that every single applicant do a '3-hour' design challenge to 'prove' their UX skill, and this only goes to show that the company and person demanding the challenge are not worth speaking to any further. You absolutely cannot do any meaningful UX work in 3 hours. The people who 'win' at these design challenges just grab a UI kit and 'throw' some UI elements on the page and there is no UX involved at all.

How to 'game' the system

1. Be an excellent UX Designer by following the UX process - you should have done a respected UX course for at least 6 months full time to be capable <<More>>
2. Communicate the design journey flawlessly with data in your portfolio projects
3. Have amazing visual design skills - I've designed a course to target the skills you need specifically in UX & Product design - << More >>

Useful Resources

Monthly Event

If you're frustrated with the job application process so far, you might like to sign up for my Portfolio Clinic Event which aims to help you land your dream job in UX or Product Design by improving your portfolio to the level of **Stunning**