Picking up from my last post, which provided a “behind-the-scenes” view into the hiring & recruiting process for UX roles, I want to dive deeper into something I briefly mentioned, as a bit of a teaser:
Four key elements of your UX job search
Shape your narrative to be “fit for purpose”
Align with organizational maturity
Tap into your innate curiosity
Let empathy guide your mental well-being
These elements reflect a blend of my own experiences in job searches with insights per today’s challenging market, while informed by my recent hiring manager duties. Let’s take a closer look at each one.
📖 1. Shape your narrative to be “fit for purpose”
Let's break this down. First, you must identify, own, and communicate your career narrative—the story of your journey so far and where you want to go next. Narrative is key—it’s not some hastily cobbled list of jobs and projects. Instead, it’s a cohesive, authentic story that connects your experiences, growth moments, and successes into a compelling case for your next role. And you should be able to communicate that across various mediums/channels with consistent, credible confidence — in writing, via portfolio or case study, on the phone, over video, in person, etc.
I want to be clear however —this is not about “spinning” a tale. It’s about owning your perspective and framing your unique path in a way that demonstrates your value to potential employers. For example, I’ve often been told that I “hopped around” too much early in my career. Fair enough. 🙄 But instead of lamenting that as a flaw, I shaped my narrative like this:
“I’ve built a strong repertoire of tackling diverse design problems— from patchy enterprise software to clunky IP phones to engaging consumer apps—making me highly adaptable and resilient with ambiguity. Also, along the way I developed leadership skills that I now apply with cultural and organizational impact.”
Your portfolio, resume, and cover letter serve as artifacts supporting your narrative, each tailored to present your qualifications and experience in a way that aligns with the role. Remember, your portfolio should necessarily exist in multiple forms—as an easily accessible website, as a private slide deck, and/or a detailed case study or two—but the purpose is the same: to provide tangible evidence of clear signals of your potential as an effective contributor, per the hiring manager’s needs. ⚡️
Avoid the scattershot approach
A common mistake I see is designers applying to several dozen, or even hundreds (!) of jobs in a scattershot manner. This usually fails. It’s a sign of relinquishing control over the search, hoping that fate or luck will work in your favor somehow — cue the famous line from The Hunger Games: “May the odds ever be in your favor.” 😬 In reality, this approach disempowers and signals disengagement. Not good. 🙅🏽♂️
I totally get the ongoing frustration, exhaustion, and financial pressures that fuel this approach. But rather than applying indiscriminately or randomly, try to pursue an intentional approach:
Tailor your narrative to truly relevant, meaningful roles.
Connect your framing and phrasing to the job description accordingly.
Ask yourself: “How does my story connect to this role? How can I present defensible evidence that I’m the right fit?”
This actually can improve the odds in your favor! 🙏🏽
Understanding “fit for purpose”
In the world of product management, the phrasing “fit for purpose” refers to whether a feature or product is suitable for its intended job, performing as expected. A hammer is fit for driving nails; a spoon is not — as one highly simplified example.
The same logic applies to your job search. If a “Senior UX Designer” role emphasizes rapid digital prototyping with a small front-end engineering team, but your passion or strengths lie in design research informing product strategy, please don’t apply because you think you “might” be able to do it, or as a way to sneak in your passion/goals. That’s just wasting everyone’s valuable, limited time. 😬 Instead, focus on roles where your skills and aspirations align with the organization’s needs as stated in the job description. This approach builds upon your narrative and reinforces your potential to the hiring manager.
📊 2. Align with organizational maturity
Naturally, every company has a different level of design and product development maturity, which shapes their expectations of UX roles, and ability to support them effectively. This typically correlates with their stage of growth:
A scrappy startup may be hiring its first designer, thus unsure of what they truly need. You might face “trial by fire” of teaching stakeholders about design practices while scrambling to “get stuff done” with scant resources.
Also, their JD (job description) might be either inaccurate or very generic given their lack of deep understanding of design roles and levels. Be wary of them, and approach with some “grains of salt”. Be ready to ask more in the interview process.
A rapidly scaling company may have some defined UX processes and career levels in place, but needs help refining and operationalizing them, as new feature teams come online via speedy hiring goals.
Again, per their JD some aspects of scaling might not be sufficiently articulated; exercise discretion in deciphering, and asking about them in the interview process in terms of your expected, measurable responsibility.
A post-IPO / large corporate enterprise likely will have solidly mature UX practices, but also layers of bureaucracy that could feel stifling to someone seeking a more directly actionable place of immediate impact.
For large enterprises, the JD might seem very generic, even boilerplate, but the division, vertical, or business unit likely varies. Thus, you’ll need to consider your match at that level, which might have varying sub-degrees of maturity within.
Understanding where a company sits on this spectrum helps you evaluate whether it aligns with your skills, work style, and career goals — and how the posted JD aligns as well.
💡 3. Tap into your innate curiosity
As UX designers & researchers, curiosity is one of our greatest strengths! We constantly seek to understand users, behaviors, and tools—but how often do we apply that curiosity to our own job search?
Learn how ATS-based hiring works
Instead of doomscrolling or venting about the crappy unfair job market, apply a growth mindset and study the hiring process itself:
Explore how Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) work— it’s not top secret! 😅Many ATS vendors like Ashby, Lever, Workday, Oracle provide videos and demos on their websites, so you can see how filters are set, resumes are scanned, keywords are defined, etc.
Learn about AI-enhanced recruiting workflows by watching free HR webinars on Maven or YouTube explainers. Again, it’s not top secret!
Understand what hiring managers look for in resumes & portfolios and how AI and ATS play into it, like in my previous post.
Learn the parameters & dynamics of the game to play it effectively!
By taking a designerly approach to your job search, you transform it from a frustrating process into an opportunity to gain insights and refine your strategy. This not only increases your effectiveness, but also boosts your internal sense of control & confidence. Who doesn’t want that? 😊
💚 4. Let empathy guide your mental well-being
Finally, amidst everything going on, try to tap into your core UX superpower: empathy.
Job searching today is exhausting — no question! 😣 The endless applications, rejections, ghosting—it’s easy to spiral into frustration and self-doubt. But just remember: on the other side of that ATS is a real human—an overworked recruiter, a frazzled hiring manager, a stretched-thin product team—eager to find the right person so they can move forward and do great things together. Reconnect those feelings of pride, camaraderie, and achievement from a previous project or workplace.
Even with AI tools in the mix, hiring remains a deeply human process.
When you approach your search with empathy for yourself and others, you reclaim a sense of agency:
You can’t control the job market difficulties, but you can control how you choose to frame your narrative, and engage with opportunities.
You can’t eliminate rejection, but you can decide how you respond to it.
By staying grounded in empathy and self-awareness, you protect yourself from burnout and preserve that essential energy & optimism needed to persevere. 🙌🏽
Navigating today’s UX job market is incredibly daunting, but by owning your narrative, understanding company maturity, staying curious, and practicing empathy, you set yourself up for a more purposeful, effective, and sustainable search. Instead of letting the process drain you, use it as an opportunity to refine your story, deepen your understanding, and take charge of your career trajectory.
And most importantly—keep going. ✨