From application
to interview
How to get a
great UX job{
Patrick Neeman
Director of Product Design, nPario
@usabilitycounts
http://www.usabilitycounts.com

@usabilitycounts
Jobvite
Director of User Experience
Team of 3

@usabilitycounts
>100
Recruiters & Hiring Managers
10
Customer Visits
> 100
Usability Tests

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Hiring
Manager
Phone
Screen
7-10
people
3 to 5
On Site
Interviews
The Offer
} }
User Research - 100 Recruiters
The typical interview process
Research
20-100
people
}Recruiter
Phone
Screen
10-15 people}

Getting a great job is a lot like dating...
...you have to kiss a lot of frogs
before your find your prince
You’re looking for one job
and they’re looking to fill
one position
Interviewing them as much
you’re being interviewed

@usabilitycounts
Show them
your money,
baby!
• LinkedIn profile
• Resume
• Portfolio
• Side projects

@usabilitycounts
{ Your LinkedIn profile }
• Have a great summary
• Include your skills and specialities
• List the results of your work
• Let brands speak for themselves

@usabilitycounts
{ A great LinkedIn profile }
Great Title
Solid Summary
Accurate Job Descriptions

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{ Your resume }
• An easy to read, parsable format (Word or PDF)
• A clear career progression that tells a story
• Skills and research methods listed for recruiters
• Emphasize T-Skill Set in skills

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{ A great resume }
Solid Opening
Summary
Clear and Concise
Job Descriptions
Skills and
Brands Listed

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{ Job Descriptions }
• Summary of who you worked for and the process
• Bullet point list of accomplishments

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Résume tips
Too many positions Combine all into one position, and list each as a client
Too few positions List projects under a position
Unrelated positions Don’t list them at all, no one cares

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Questions?

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{ Your portfolio }
• Tell a big story
• Tell a lot of small stories
• Challenge, process, solution, results

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{ A great portfolio }
Tell Stories

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{ A portfolio }
Show More Than Wireframes

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{ A portfolio }
Show Process and Thinking

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{ Your portfolio }
• A clean and professional feel
• A solid illustration of your process
• Show clear thinking
• Don’t over design

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Questions?

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{ Other skills }
• Writing
• Visual design
• Prototyping + HTML

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{ Extra credit }
Have a
passion
project

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Networking
{ Why do I want to become a personal
referral? }

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45%of all hires
{ Agency + personal referrals }
9%of all job
applications

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The lowest conversion rate for an application?
A job board
0.41% percent of applications from job boards become hires.
11 percent of applications from referrals become hires.

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Who do
you know
at Google?

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Applying online is a losing bet
• No ATS (Spreadsheet)
• Small to Mid Level ATS (Jobscore, Zip Recruiter)
• Enterprise ATS (Kenexa, Saba, Taleo)
No ATS -- Reviewing every resume by
hand, quickly. Resumes get lost.
Small to Mid Level ATS -- Reviewing every
resume by hand, quickly.
Enterprise ATS -- Poor keyword search,
reviewing some resumes. Resumes get lost.
You really want to have someone as an
internal advocate.

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{ Networking }
• Twitter, the new professional branding network
• National conferences for dream jobs
• Local meetups and hack nights for local networking
• Find super connectors

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56% percent of
people who got a
job got it through
someone they
knew casually.
Mark Granovetter
Sociologist, 1973

@usabilitycounts
Questions?

And remember...
...there’s plenty of fish in the sea

Thank you!
Patrick Neeman
Director of Product Design, nPario
Blog http://www.usabilitycounts.com
Twitter @usabilitycounts