The student has become the teacher...
I go to a lot of UX Meetup events, and as soon as people find out I was a technical recruiter, they have a million questions for me. So when my UX bootcamp professor asked me to give a talk to his advanced UX course at my Alma Mater, The University of Colorado, I had so much content, it was hard to distill it down.
Every day I come across 10 different recruiters offering hacks for UX portfolios, resumes, etc, offering you the world if you sign up for their course or newsletter. Perhaps one of the most helpful pieces of advice I was given was something I wanted to pass along to these students.
Do the thing you dread the most, frequently.
The thing you dread the most is usually the most difficult for you to do and therefore will require the most practice and mental energy. It's important to Identify what you dread but more importantly, why you dread it.
For me, the thing I dread the most stems from my imposter syndrome. Changing careers has taught me that my shortcomings are at the root of my imposter syndrome. I don't have a degree in art or background as a graphic artist, so I make sure I’m in Figma every day designing something.
I also try to challenge myself to learn or create something new in Figma every day, it's my spin on exposure therapy. There are also great resources out there like Daily UI, Designercize or Sharpen to hone your design skills with smaller challenges that add up over time.
The goal isn't to change everything all at once, but to make smaller incremental changes to my habits that I can accomplish on a daily or weekly basis.
Job Searching
If the thing you dread most is applying to jobs, you are not alone. I also hate applying to jobs. In 2024 applying to jobs feels like a hopeless endeavor.
The best advice I can give you as a job seeker is to diversify. What that means is don't put all of your time and energy into applying to 100 jobs per week on LinkedIn.
- Limit your job applications: Applying to 2-3 quality jobs a day and putting time into the application is better than cracking off 10 LinkedIn easy apply applications for jobs that already have 300 candidates.
- While we are on the subject of LinkedIn, stop doom scrolling. Get on there to contribute content and apply for jobs. And to be clear, contributing content is not replying to someone else’s content.
- Apply to jobs on other platforms: There are plenty of smaller job platforms out there that are targeted to specialties. Some of my favorites are Open Doors, Early Stage Design Jobs, We Work Remotely, and Wellfound.
- Pay it forward: If you come across a job that's not a good fit for you, send it to someone in your network who is looking and is a good fit for that job.
- Network: I’ve never been hired for a job where at least some part of my network wasn’t leveraged. If networking is the thing you dread the most, the next section is for you
Networking
Networking doesn’t have to be so painful. The best way to network is by attending virtual and in-person meetups. If you are an introvert, you will need to get comfortable with speaking to stakeholders and the best way to overcome this discomfort is to practice.
- In a group meetup, starting the conversation is always the hardest part but one thing you can always rely on is that there will be an extrovert there to help avoid a lull in the conversation.
- My advice is to have 2-3 quality conversations and leave when your tank is empty. Feel free to Irish exit if you want.
- Make sure you exchange contact information or LinkedIn profiles and follow up the next day or a few days later.
Your conversations don't even have to revolve around the meetup topic. I met a Sr UX Product manager at a UX meetup and we spoke for 20 minutes about cycling. Since then we connected over LinkedIn, went out for lunch and have given each other advice about job hunting and portfolio content.
Guidelines to Conquering the Thing You Dread:
- Reserve them for your most productive time of the day. Only you know when your body and brain are the most productive to dedicate focus.
- Set time limits and boundaries for yourself. One of the reasons I dread something is that I dive head-first into a task and let it consume my time without finding a stopping point. As a result, I dread doing that task. You will be 1000 times more productive if you set time limits for yourself (check out the audio book linked below).
- Be accountable. Ask for feedback/advice from peers or colleagues. I have a colleague who asks me for feedback when he gets tripped up by an interview question. We discuss it so that he can identify how to better answer the question next time.
Lastly, here's a great audio book that I recommend if you struggle with your productivity and time blocking. Just remember, small changes make a big impact over time.
I hope you can take my advice to do the thing you dread most, and put it into action. What are your tips for conquering the thing you dread most?