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sahar chung

leader in ux research, service design, & visual design

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Taking Control: Strategies for Standing Out in a Difficult UX Job Market

I've seen a lot of posts on LinkedIn lately discussing hiring in UX, especially highlighting how tough the UX job market is right now. There's absolutely no doubt that we're in a difficult job market -- I myself was just recently job hunting and know how few fully remote UX Research roles there were.

We can’t control the nature of the market right now. But what we can do is focus on the aspects of your job search that *are* within your control to help position yourself for success (and get that initial interview!).

🗂️ Portfolio:

I know portfolios are newer for UX researchers but, in a market this rough, do anything and everything in your control to present your skills as a candidate. A portfolio provides another way to showcase your abilities so take advantage of that! Remember, a resume talks about your history, but a portfolio shows how you think -- this is what hiring managers are looking for, regardless of the type of UX role you’re looking for.

📄 Resume:

I always recommend following the "what I did, how I did it, why I did it (impact or projected impact)" formula for writing your resume bullet points. I did a whole post on it here. You can also check out my LinkedIn because the bullet points on my profile are written in the same format.

🤝 Users:

As a UX professional, approach building your resume and portfolio as UX projects. Who are your users? Recruiters, hiring managers, maybe even the ATS! What are their needs? Think about what a recruiter is looking for compared to a hiring manager. And then build your resume and portfolio case studies to be usable and skimmable for both of them. On an initial pass, no one can sit down and read every single sentence of either a resume or a portfolio, even in a "normal" job market. Right now, especially, every role has 100s of applicants! The easier your resume and portfolio are to skim, the better! If you want feedback, use adplist.org to sign up for free mentorship and have multiple mentors review your resume and portfolio.

I personally iterated on my resume and portfolio multiple times throughout my recent job search! Though this job market is a difficult one, I'm hoping that these tips can help you prepare as you search for your next role! 🙌

tags: job hunting, ux, ux research, uxr, presenting your work, case
categories: advice, ux, ux research, career-related
Thursday 02.08.24
Posted by Sahar Chung
 

UX Research Case Study Presentations: Best Practices

📣 Sharing some advice on UX research case study presentations! 🎯

As I wrap up a major research project at work, I've been diving deep into best practices for creating engaging and approachable research reports. Storytelling has been at the forefront of my mind because it plays such a large role in my job as a UX Researcher! I recently took Noam Segal's class The Research Storyteller and I'm currently in Dr. Ari Zelmanow 🇺🇦 and Dr Nick Fine's class The Influential Researcher (both on Maven, both linked in comments below 👇). On top of that, I've been having some enlightening conversations with my mentees about their UX research case study presentations, and I'm excited to share some thoughts and advice with all of you!

1️⃣ Start with Impact 💥 Insights and impact should take center stage in your case study. While it may seem counterintuitive not to organize your slides chronologically, I recommend beginning with a slide that provides some background and context before diving right into the exciting insights and their impact. After, you can move into sharing the process of how you arrived at those insights.

2️⃣ Master the Art of Storytelling 🗣️ Telling compelling stories and understanding your audience is a huge part of UXR. You can do the best research in the world but if you can't share your insights in an interesting, understandable, and usable way, the research may never get used! Grab your audience's attention right from the start by showcasing the most exciting aspects (insights and impact), and then walk them through your journey of how you got there.

3️⃣ Highlight Your Thought Process 🧐 Emphasize your thinking and decision-making process throughout your case study. Don't just list the methodologies you employed; explain the reasoning behind why you chose those particular methods. Showcase your analytical skills and demonstrate why your decisions were essential in driving the project forward.

Remember, your case study is not just a documentation of your work -- it's an opportunity to showcase your expertise, storytelling, and problem-solving skills. I hope these insights help you elevate your UX Research case study presentations (and/or your research reports)! 🚀

tags: ux research, case study, presenting your work, ux, uxr
Friday 07.21.23
Posted by Sahar Chung