#82 Standing out as a UX designer during job hunting
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One of the main roles of a designer is to align people around a common goal, a common vision for what will make the user's life better. So collaboration is key. Showing as much as possible collaboration. I think there's this obsession in the market, especially in the hiring layers.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the next episode of Honest UX Talks. My name is Anfisa, and I'm joined today by my co-host Ioana. And today we're going to talk about how to stand out as a junior designer, or in other words, how to get your feet at the door, especially when you're trying to find your first job or one of the first jobs. It's always the hardest topic. I think a lot of people are struggling with this. And I think it was always hard. But this year, it just feels like a mission impossible, at least to me. It sounds like...

Not that before we had a lot of junior opportunities, but today it's just impossible to find any. And so I think the pain is really real. After the pandemic, a lot of people tried to transition to UX design, and now suddenly there are absolutely no jobs. So I think we can just talk a little bit about how do you stand it now? How do you make your portfolio noticeable with little experience? But

But before we dive into the topic of today's, I actually want to announce a very exciting news. We just partnered up with Dovetail. It's a one source of truth for all sorts of user research insights. It's the tool that I'm personally using at my work. I really, really love it. That's why I'm really excited to talk about it a little bit today.

They have a lot of features all about capturing and tagging and creating insights from their user research. And the best thing about it is that it could be a one source of truth for multiple contributors, starting from the research team to product designers to

product managers, et cetera, et cetera. You can create evidence from user interviews, like videos from different product feedback or competitor analysis or surveys. So multiple, multiple sources. But really the best part for me as I'm using it right now at my workplace is that it's also scalable.

So in the past, when I was working in other companies or in other environments with like maybe smaller companies, smaller teams, the problem was always that everybody brought their own patterns and tools. And so sometimes some people would document research in Miro, sometimes in Figma, sometimes

sometimes in Confluent, sometimes in Slack, in Notes, and so on, so on, so on. And so you end up in this environment where there is no one central space where everybody can add their research insights. And so at the end of the day, nobody understands what's happening in the product. You don't see evidence, and it's just very messy, right? It's not scalable. And the more people join in, the more they need to actually be able to understand the problems of the product. And if you don't have this one centralized place to store the user research and

then it's just impossible to create the case. And for us as product designers to also advocate for the user and the needs for the users, right? So basically Dovetail solved that problem. And my favorite feature from Dovetail is that it creates automatic transcriptions from video interviews. Basically, you have multiple interviews, right? You have multiple evidences or multiple complaints, pain points, user needs captured in the video. But the cool thing is that it creates automatic transcriptions

transcription that you can capture and create tags. So you can actually have the tags with like pinpoints or user needs and see the pattern. So how many times it was repeated throughout the whole product. And also different teams can see, okay, this seems to be a real problem. That seems to be a trend, right? And for us as product designers, the cool thing about it is that it helps to create this bulletproof argument and evidence. Look, we have a real problem. Everybody's

complaining about that and this feature. We really need to invest our time into improving it. For me, it's a great place where I can always refer to and say, hey, there is a problem. Here's an evidence. Here's how many times it was complained about. We really need to do something about it. And that's like a bulletproof thing, right?

But apart from that, there are so many more things to talk about. So we will keep some of the interesting features and discuss them in the next episodes. There are things such as Insights Hub. There are lots of integrations. There are community where you can also use different board templates and stuff like that. So I'm not going to throw everything at once. Let's talk about it in the next episodes.

And if you want to check it out, just go to dovetail.com and you will be able to see much more examples, much more boards, how it works. It's really, really interactive and easy to use. I loved it and I could immediately start using it from the first time experience. All right, that's it about our partner Dovetail. And I think we can start talking about episode topic of today's.

Okay, Ioana. So talking about getting your feet at the door and standing out as a junior designer, I already gave a little bit of the context with the fact that in this year, it's not easy to stand out as a junior designer, probably at all. It just sounds like an impossible mission. So what is your take?

let's just start very generally and start talking about why is it happening? Imagine we are junior designers. How can we stand out? What would you do if you were on this path today in 2023? Yeah, right. So hi, everyone. Thanks for tuning in. Uh,

We're going to go ahead and unpack this sensitive topic of standing out as a junior designer in a tough market. So two things happening at the same time. It's pretty difficult to kickstart your UX career, and it's furthermore difficult to do that in a strange economic climate and in this, let's say, space in which we're seeing a lot of layoffs, a lot of talent that's being left on the market. So how do you compete with that? And how do you stand out, especially in your early days? Now, I want to start by saying that people...

focus a lot on getting as many certifications as possible. I need a diploma. I need this, I don't know, Google stamp or whatever. And I think this is the most common, let's say, pitfall or the first mistake that they make. They think that if they choose a particular course or a particular brand or if they have whatever

name on their educational CV, they're going to get their foot in the door. And the truth is that I'm now looking at Google's UX Coursera homepage, and I can tell you that 900,000 people have taken the course, or at least enrolled in the course, right? So it's close to 1 million people taking this course. So definitely, I'm not talking about its value. Definitely, there's a lot of value in

going through the theory, going through any learning process. And I think that Google UX Coursera course is a great place to start to build a foundational understanding of the theory concepts, like what UX entails and everything. But it's 1 million people that have that on their CV as well. Running after certifications or having whatever thing that you can put in your window and then expect people to hire you, that's not going to happen.

So this is the first thing I wanted to clarify. And then, yeah, I feel that what's most difficult is to compete with very similar descriptions of what I can do, right? So let's say I'm a hiring manager, right? I have 10 junior portfolios on my desk. Most of the times, they're pretty much the same. They have this cool... You probably have hundreds, let's be honest. Yeah, let's say 10 just for the sake of...

Probably hundreds. Like sometimes I think for very juicy jobs, it could be in the realms of thousands. So, but let's say I have only 10 jobs. I don't have this juicy position, right?

It's just a regular position that people are not struggling for. I have these CVs and portfolios on my desk. And the main problem is that most of the times they pretty much look the same. They typically feature this very unpersonal, very generic description of who they are. My name is and I'm passionate about UX design and building products that people love. Like literally everybody has that source of variation of that. Of course, now I don't want to be mean. What can you say when you don't have experience? But we're going to get to that.

My name is and I'm passionate about UX design and building products people love and then case study that's most of the times a school project like from the Google UX Coursera or whatever bootcamp or course you took so it's a fictional project that doesn't really show that you've worked with people.

on that project that you've actually interviewed real users, went in the wild and went through the challenges of learning and understanding and applying UX design. So there's this generic course. And then most of the times candidates aren't able to articulate what they can bring to the table that's different or special or...

unique from their background and personality and everything. So it's just a bunch of generic portfolios that pretty much look the same. And for me, I have to understand, do I call all these people in an interview because they're pretty much presenting themselves in the same way? Or is there someone who feels like they might be relevant for my particular role? And this is where personalizing your applications will come in. These are, let's say, the main problems I see in the market right now.

I feel that junior designers, but maybe this is also the case for senior designers, I don't mean that they're lazy. Sometimes they might apply to like 100 jobs a day. And so they're very performant. They spend a lot of time, they invest a lot of energy in their job hunt, but sometimes it's either misplaced or they just apply to every easy apply job on LinkedIn and then they wait to magically be called and get the job. And I don't see people understanding or figuring out

what goes into an efficient job hunt effort. They're a bit, let's say, either passive or inefficient in how they apply to jobs. And that's what makes it very difficult for them to stand out. So just the simple way they organize their job hunt. So these are, let's say, the main elements of the problem space. So yeah, I'm curious to hear what else you feel makes it a problem to stand out in the market right now.

Oh, yeah, I love your points. Really, I think it's so common. And it's true that there is for some reason, I don't know who said that. And I don't understand how it became such a big thing. But every single time somebody is telling me, okay, I'm transitioning to design, I'm like following or pursuing this certification or this bootcamp.

like it will get your feet at the door. I don't understand who spread that notion, which is not the truth. Everybody's doing this. I love that you brought this point with like Google certification. Almost 1 million of designers trying to use this. Yeah, it's true that you just have to think a bit more outside of the box and be a little bit more creative. Back to the question here. And

the reasons why it is the problem and the reasons why it feels like it is impossible for many people. One of the key mistakes a lot of people do, especially if you're a junior designer and obviously you don't have a lot of experience applying to jobs, understanding your strengths,

and stuff like that. And to be honest, it's not just a junior problem, but I can see this as a problem across the whole industry. When we start applying for jobs, we forget that it's literally the same user-centered process. We forget who we are targeting. We forget that it's also about tailoring your portfolio, tailoring your CV, and tailoring...

your story to the companies you're targeting. Every single company, every single hiring manager will have a perfect portrait in their mind about who do they look for. They would know exactly what features for trades, what kind of portfolio they want to see. It's really this matchmaking process, which for some reason we forget or fail to think about. And we just create this default portfolio, default CV with default cover letter.

Everybody sends those similar portfolios, starting from ourselves specifically. Okay, these are my last projects and I'm going to talk about my last projects and not thinking that the companies you're applying to might not have relevant problems to these projects, might just not see this as, okay, that's a great project, but not necessarily going to help us

solve our typical problems in this company. So first problem, in my opinion, is always forgetting who you're targeting and tailoring your portfolio. And it's very, very common, not just for juniors, but mainly for most of the designers. And the other day I had the ADP list mentoring session, and there was like this

fantastic designer. I'm sure she might be listening to this episode. And she had a very good and strong portfolio. And she worked in the industry for 10 years. And she started showing me the projects. And there were so many projects there. And she felt like, oh my God, which projects do I pick? Which one do I show? How do I prepare it? How do I redesign it to make it relevant? And I was like, but who do you target? You never mentioned that. And that's like, again, the first thing you should think about. And I picked those projects.

or specifically work on the project that will be strategically fitting that profile of the company you want to go for. And that's the first problem. The second most common problem, and this is now more common for junior designers, is that they would usually follow the beaten path.

of the application process. And by beaten path, what I mean is that they will go to job boards, they will apply with one click button, right? They'll pump that LinkedIn number by just applying in one click. And yeah, you will see that, okay, for that job, there is already hundreds of applications

it's already hard to stand out there. And again, it's just going by this very default path, almost like this. If you know the concept of red ocean, blue ocean, it's basically following this red ocean where everybody's going for, right? It's just very crowded there. When you are consciously applying through that most crowded path, yeah, you're kind of making it very hard on yourself to stand out. Also,

Also, we forget about how the system works, right? The bigger the company is, the more likely they are going to use some sort of ATS, application tracking system. And that requires you to sort of tweak your CV and tailor your CV specifically for that role. That means that your CV has to be super plain, no images, almost no colors, should use the same keywords. And people don't think about it, right?

They just create those beautiful CVs full of images, full of color, full of layouts. But ADS system discard those. And we don't think about it, right? So again, this bidding path, when you apply with one click button and then you throw beautiful CVs with multiple layers,

and then you expect somebody to notice you, but nothing happens, magic doesn't happen, is because we don't think about the process, right? We don't personalize this process. That's, again, the biggest problem I think designers do. And I think it's very important that we try to think creatively and outside the box and don't follow that path. Think what are the other ways that you can apply and make your way without following what every other designer is following.

And I think the last problem I still was mentioning specifically for junior designers is that most of the portfolios of the junior designers, when you're applying for the junior role, is lacking the business experience and the collaboration experience. Because most often when we're talking about those first projects we work on, they're happening in the educational setup, in the bootcamp, or in the course. And that's usually just you trying to understand the process of following the double diamond or design thinking stages.

and kind of almost checking up the boxes. There is no problem with that. So you need to figure it out. You need to go through that process once or twice and understand how it works and analyze it. And it's just educational experience. But you forget that when you're applying, it's not that hiring a design manager is looking to see that you know what is design thinking. They expect you to know what is design thinking by that point. They want to see as much as possible the business context,

experience, and they want to see the evidence of collaboration with others. We usually don't have this in our first educational projects. So one of the goals you would have to strive to get in your portfolio with applying to junior positions is to approximate any sort of

business experience and collaboration experience in your project as possible to insert it there in any possible ways. So maybe working with like, I don't know, local startups, working on your own startups or helping local businesses, et cetera, et cetera, but showing that it's not just fake projects, but real projects. Okay. So again, a lot of words here, but if I try to conclude

I think the three common problems are also: 1. Bidding path 2. Forgetting who you target 3. Lack of business and collaboration experience in your portfolio Now let's talk about the ways to actually stand out. We discussed the problems when I established the scene. So what are the ways that junior designers can actually make their way? What they can do today specifically to make their portfolio stand out?

Yeah, so I feel that you already started touching on some of the points that I feel are super valuable and important, like showing as much as possible collaboration. I think there's this obsession in the market, especially in the hiring layers, where people really want to see that you're able to work well with others. And I think it's very understandable.

So collaboration and one of the main roles of a designer is to align people around a common goal of the user, a common vision for what will make the user's life better. So collaboration is key. And generally speaking, people want to hire people that are nice to work with. By nice to work with, I don't mean that they don't raise challenges or they're not difficult or like then they don't stand up for their opinions, but you can

work with them and they do the job. So collaboration is key to showcase somehow. And I feel that also, indeed, as much as possible, show real work in your portfolio. So you mentioned the point that I love very much, like UXing your job hunt. And I feel that if we frame it as a process for landing a job, the first step is like the discovery space, right? The problem space, like, what am I doing here?

is the first question you want to start with. And this leads me to one of my favorite topics in the world, which is self-reflection, self-awareness and introspection and stuff like that. So what you want to do is you want to ask yourself, why do I want a job in design? And probably by now you would have an answer to that because you put some effort into it. So you should have an answer. And what kind of job do I want? Do I want to get started in a big company because I want to learn from big teams or

am I passionate about a certain field or industry? Or do I want to work in a startup because I'm a very dynamic person and I want to see how messy that can get. And so start from understanding what kind of job you're targeting. I know that it might sound I'm speaking from a place of privilege, like, hey, I'm a junior designer. I will take any job.

I don't have the luxury of choosing. I'm just going to take whatever will hire me. But it really helps frame your efforts and guide your efforts and focus your job hunt efforts around some goals, around some hopes, around a mission, right? So start with understanding what kind of jobs you want. And then

then the other very important foundational space you want to explore is what is it that I can bring to the table? What is it that I can offer? What is it that makes me unique? What in my background, if anything, what in my personality, what in my training or in the projects I've worked on, what is valuable? Like

And that can be an intersection of what I want to work on, like what I'm passionate about. I'm great at research. I want to do more research. The intersection of what you like doing and what you've been doing. Like, hey, I've worked in sales. I am able to understand what people expect from products from a sales marketing standpoint. I don't know. Just...

Find your unique value proposition and try to articulate it as clear as possible. Because as we were talking earlier even, and I think there's an entire industry talk about that, recruiters and hiring managers don't have time. They scan through your application. They scan through hundreds of applications. So they don't have time. You have to make it as elevator peachy as possible. Like just one line that tells them why they should give you a chance. And very explicit and very well refined.

So that's the first step. And then when it comes to your actual portfolio, and then later we can talk maybe on how to present yourself in interviews. Oh, one point around framing. One, one, let's say step I skipped is like, then how do I get the jobs even before the portfolio? How do I apply the jobs? And if you have...

the answer to the first question I was talking about, like what kind of jobs I want, then you know where to start. You're going to start from the companies that sort of respond to your expectations, hopes, needs, dreams, and start with those. And to start with those, just what I personally advise my mentees is that they go on LinkedIn and they find a person that works there, either in HR, who's the recruiter, who's the hiring manager, or they find another designer that's in the

team and they reach out personally and they don't send a generic message that's super obvious that they send to everyone but really think about what might be a personalized message where they would kind of get their foot in the door and stand out and send something that's smart witty and meaningful and well thought right and very intentional so you can reach out directly and

to increase the chances of landing that first conversation at least. And then your portfolio, that's a whole different conversation. I think it deserves an episode in itself. And I think we have some and we might have future ones as well. But one of the key points here is what Anfisa was talking about, collaboration, real work. How do I find real projects to work on?

It's not that hard. You can just reach out to your entire network. Like tell everyone in your network, friends, family, past co-workers, someone you met on the street. Just tell people, hey, I'm moving into UX design. I have some UI skills, maybe. I'm looking to help anyone who has a design problem or like,

a website they want to improve or a restaurant they want to rethink the experience of booking a place at or whatever. Just tell people what you're doing and that you're looking for projects to volunteer on or even get paid for. So just reach out to everyone you know and offer your services. And sometimes people will kind of feel, oh my God,

I was actually thinking about it. I wanted to hire a UX designer at some point in the future, but yeah, sure, let's do it now. And so you'll get some real experience under your belt. It's not sophisticated experience. Like I worked at the Instagram for my first job. It's not going to be impressive, but it's going to be real and that will matter.

And yeah, I think those are some of the things that are kind of top of mind. I'm going to pass it over to you. It's so hard to add something because literally all the points you had, it's the same exact points I had in my head. And to be honest, I actually built this masterclass around almost the same points. It's literally very similarly structured. So for me, it's also first things first. Your portfolio has to have real business experience and collaboration aspect involved.

If you do that, that will make your junior portfolio already standing out because 99% of the junior designers, the people out of the bootcamp, they don't have that in their portfolio, in their case studies. So by adding those two components, you already are in a winning position. Secondly, and like Ioana said, there are multiple ways. Reach out to local startups, go to IndieHacker, find real problems,

I don't know. I personally was a kid or a product of hackathons where I found my first freelance clients who were working on real businesses with real users, with real problems and needs. And so that actually helped me a lot to have in my portfolio. Well, I'll talk about my portfolio in a second. I actually didn't have a portfolio, but...

in my experience baggage, I had these components. And that helped me a bunch. That's the first thing. For sure, I agree with you, Joanna. That's something you have to nail. Now, like you also said, you kind of need to know where you're heading. So you know this quote from Alice in Wonderland, when Alice was talking, I don't know how is that character called in the English version, but I think it's a cashier cat, the cat that was like striped. And then Alice is asking that cat,

So where am I supposed to go? And the cat is answering, where are you targeting? And Alice doesn't know where she's targeting. And the cat is replying, well, if you don't know where you're heading, how am I supposed to help you with the road? You kind of need to know where you're heading. And that always starts from yourself. And like Joanna mentioned, from reflection and from the research. And then that equals matchmaking, actually. Because finding the job is...

is literally a matchmaking process. You're finding the partner who you will be spending a lot of time. In this case, it will be a company. And you need to know, right? You need to know your strong sides. You need to understand your level. You need to understand your goals. You need to know your values. You need to understand really what's a no-go for you

And what are the most important things for you in the company? These are the questions that hiring manager will be asking you. So without doing this homework, you're doomed to fail, actually. And then the research, it's also trying to understand the market landscape. Are you targeting local companies? Are you targeting remote companies? Are you targeting B2B or B2C companies? What kind of experience you think you will better tailor? What kind of design organization it is? What kind of product growth stage it is? Is it a startup? Is it a scale-up? Is it a corporate environment? They all have it.

different work specifics. And we actually have episodes about that. So go ahead and listen. And they all will need designers with different skill sets. So you need to know how your core, your design strength will match that kind of company. And even like things such as design maturity, you know, you need to understand that the more UX mature company, the harder it will be to get in with junior portfolio. The more experienced you are, maybe it's actually making sense to target less UX mature companies because you can then help build in

UX maturity in those companies. So it's really the puzzle game and a matchmaking game. And without understanding the market landscape and what you've got to offer, you cannot target intentionally and build this kind of roadmap to

to your company. So targeting, targeting, targeting, researching, understanding, and self-reflection, just like Johanna said. And my last point, I'm kind of adding to everything Johanna already mentioned, but I feel like these are really key points. The last point is really all about how you're reaching out.

To me, there are two key words here. First is networking, and the second one is reaching out. We can take this passive way, right? When you're just going through those job boards where everybody's applying, it's going to be crowded there. You have to really hack the system to be able to get it as a funnel, right? To the next stage. Or you're taking the proactive path that for some reason not many designers are taking, and you're reaching out intentionally. You're looking for people working in those companies you have researched,

You decided intentionally to apply for it because you believe that you have what it takes to work there. You did your homework, essentially, right? And then you start looking for people who work there. So you start kind of getting closer to them and avoiding literally these ADS systems where you're designing your CV for robots and not for the hiring manager. So you need to start thinking about a strategy there. So you can start by cold reaching out, essentially without any introduction, or warm reaching out.

There are so many ways to do that, right? You can leverage your network. You can use a DP list and look for mentors who work in those companies. In LinkedIn, you can see the posts with hiring hashtag. You can find hiring manager for the position you have seen. And like Iona said, send them a very personalized message.

And not just like say, hey, here's my portfolio, check me out, right? But actually trying to build a connection with them, trying to explain your motivation behind your reaching out. Like again, being strategic in how you're doing this. Yes, it's more effort, but it's also much, much better impact. I guess my bullet point here is please try to avoid the beaten pathos, job boards, and how everybody's using it. And instead being proactive and think how you can reach out to the right people.

And also my story is actually really simple. I never ever had a portfolio. I didn't even need a portfolio. It was always network. It was always me building connections with designers, with the freelancing circles. And then people started spreading the word and recommending me. So I didn't even need to build a portfolio because for the first nine years, I was not applying to those jobs. It was like jobs coming my way and I was deciding if that's the right thing for me or not.

So with all those points that we just discussed, I think it's a lot already. Maybe let's dive into the takeaways and I will let you speak first, Ioana. Well, something that we do on Honest UX Talks and I love is that the takeaways are sometimes not necessarily something we've discussed, but many times the takeaways are completely new. There's just new ideas that didn't get mentioned in the episode.

So we're mentioning them now. And one of those ideas I'm going to start with is something that I feel is not talked about enough, but there's an opportunity for being very creative and innovative and let's say a bit wild in the way you approach your job.

And it might be a risky move to do something that's really unconventional, but it could also really help you stand out. And examples might be sending a video of yourself, like here is me talking and explaining why I want this job and why I think I'm a good person.

fit or creating something, some sort of artifact that communicates why you would be great for that role and why they should give you a chance. Like it could be an infographic. It could be, I don't know, a slide deck of three slides where you simply show them a photo of you and your pet and

and why you're a nice person they should hire, or just a song. I have no idea. Just open your perspective on how to stand out. And also you can ask yourself, if I were to hire someone, how would a person impress me? Like, what would be something that I would say, oh my God, that's so cool. That person thought of doing that. And I think they're at least deserving a conversation.

Do you remember that story? It was maybe two or three years ago before coronavirus, when one guy was really, really looking forward to start working with AgenSmart agency that is located in Berlin. He recorded the video on YouTube that went viral. And in that video, he was like asking, please, people share this video.

And I want them to notice me. I really want to apply. Please help me. And everybody started sharing that video. And then Jonathan, the founder of the Aegean Smart Agency, was like so, I guess, thrown away by that. And he actually replied to it. And I don't know if the guy worked there, but for sure it was a thing. And he definitely got his feet at the door. So that was a great story.

That's a great example. Yeah, I'm talking exactly that. I mean, you can't do that for every job, right? You can't do like 10 viral videos where you're the same person talking about how one job is your dream job and then the next week another job is your dream job. So you can't overuse it. But when you really want a job and when it feels the right thing and you might be the right fit, then you can go a bit over the conventional path and try to do something that literally helps you stand out like best.

wow, this person thought about this idea and I think it's really interesting. And as designers, sometimes we will be doing crazy eight exercises. Rarely, I can tell you, like probably once or twice in our career. But we do need to be able to think out of the box and like push the obvious path beyond the obvious path of doing anything. So I think that's a great thing. And then in terms of other takeaways, I would say focus less on understanding...

the traditional path, because I see that my mentees and people I talk with in their early days, they're literally obsessed about recipes and they're obsessed about steps they need to take, like what's the first step and the second step. And so I really understand where that comes from, because there's so much uncertainty. There's so much information out there. It's absolutely overloading and paralyzing. I have a

course on Domestika, where I talk about how to navigate the early days in your career and create a strategy that's personalized for yourself, just because I know how big of a problem it is. So I really understand where they come from when they need clarity and steps and recipes. But try to think beyond those recipes, because the output of applying a recipe is that you're going to end up with the same result as everybody else. So it's just doing the same things with the same output. And then the hiring manager will see 10 of the power.

or a hundred of the same things. So move beyond the traditional path and think about, I don't know, maybe moving things in real life, maybe going to meetups, maybe focusing more on building relationships that feel random or irrelevant, but sometimes some opportunity might arise from those and stuff like that. So try not to focus on how do I tick boxes of a process

And the same advice goes for the portfolio, which is also a very similar problem. Like all portfolios look the same. I always talk about a checklist portfolio where I've done this and this and this and this. And so at the end, everybody knows how to wireframe and everybody knows how to build a persona. And then how do I choose?

If like all the skills are pretty much evened out. And then the last point was going to be very, very cheesy, but I'm going to go ahead and say it. Just love yourself in the process. Understand why you're valuable and really, really trust that you're valuable. They're not giving you a chance. You're also giving them a chance.

You don't need to convince them. They also need to convince you. And so just this level of deep self-respect, which is very hard to acquire. I don't know a lot of people who have that deep self-respect. Most people have imposter syndrome. They have a lot of anxiety. They stress a lot. They feel like they're not worthy. Everybody has their internal struggles. It's absolutely natural. So if you have them, don't worry. I have them. Everybody has them.

But try to always recenter on this idea. Hey, even if I'm a junior, even if I don't have experience, even if I don't know how to do complex UX projects yet, I'm valuable. I'm a good person that will do hard work. That's very ambitious. That can bring value to any project I will be in, in one way or another. That has done this and that, which are not UX things. But there are things that could be transferable or could translate in one way in UX. So just...

Just love yourself. And those are my top three takeaways. I love these. I really love it. And I think it's so important. The other day I had Elsa, the class was the masterclass students. I was talking a lot about those strategies and how to get noticed and all that, like the tactics, warm reach out, cold reach out. And then at the end of the day, people would still ask, but am I good enough?

And it's just so common. It's a mindset. And I totally understand it. Again, like it's very normal to have it because we all feel imposter syndrome in the beginning. I felt it for the first like three or five years. It's crazy. But I really loved your point that it's really about understanding who you are. And if you do your homework with self-reflection and understanding your transferable skills and the skills you can bring on the table and understanding how your skills can help this company that you are targeting, you're actually building that

kind of acknowledgement and strength and understanding what you've got to offer. And really, I think my first takeaway and my first key point would be it's a mindset that you have to work with. Putting yourself out there is a part of the process. But what's important is that don't forget, it's still a much-making process. It's a process in which not only the company is looking for a designer, but also you are looking to whom you will invest your next few years, to whom you will outsource your growth and

and really early stage of your career. And that's also important and valuable because, yeah, at the end of the day, you're looking for a place where you want to grow, you want to be happy, you want to contribute, you want to do meaningful work, work that actually helps users, like you say, in your portfolio most likely. So it's also sometimes okay to be a junior and say no. I know it sounds probably crazy, right?

as a junior to say no to a job that comes in in 2023. But to be honest, that's the mindset you have to go into this process. You have to stand your ground practically. So mindset is number one. It's a matchmaking. You're okay. You should be able to say no if you feel something is off.

with the company. And you shouldn't just bend over and align with any company that doesn't maybe align with your values, let's say. Second point or second takeaway is also very cheesy or very typical. And we keep talking a lot about this, but I will just repeat it again. Just invest in the networking early on as much as possible. Please don't underestimate the networking effect. Even though it's almost like a beaten path, it's a variable beaten path.

and you never know what kind of people you meet. Please don't expect that by meeting people, they will immediately start referring you. No, that's not what I mean. But what I mean is that try to just be proactive, meet people on different meetups, go to conferences, I don't know, communicate on social media or Slack channels or whatever, whatever, whatever. That already will make you stand out. And a lot of juniors, when I see them being proactive, usually you can feel their energy and you want that energy on the project. You want people to be curious.

You want people to be helpful and empathetic. And that's usually the key resources or key ingredients of a good networking. So doing that networking, building the connections, you never know what will it lead you. Will it lead you ever to the right path? But it will certainly help you. And at some point you will see the effect. And I think the networking also works because of one story that I really want to bring

to bring as an association, I guess. Forget about design industry for a second and think about the real life, real world. I really like this story because it's so related to design. So imagine you're a mom and you're looking for the nanny for your child. So you have two options how to find the nanny.

You can post an advertisement on Facebook and overnight receive 100 answers from unknown people. Or you can ask a friend. You can do both. And the question is, who would you most likely going to trust at the end? One of those messages on Facebook from unknown people or a friend who recommended you.

And my guess, most likely, it's going to be asking a friend. And if the friend says, oh, I have this nanny and she's amazing, I will probably reach out to that nanny. It's an easy path. It's a trustworthy person. Somebody already worked with her. I don't have to think about it twice, right? So that's why networking works. If somebody recommends you, they probably know you're a great person. You already proved it.

that you either have what it takes or you're proactive or you have a great energy, whatever it is. But recommendations really work in the early stages. And that probably will be my last point as we already have captured so many things here.

I really hope that episode was useful and maybe we'll give some ideas to our early stage designers. If so, please let us know. Please rate our podcast on Spotify or leave us a new request about the questions you might be having. We are very open and always happy to hear them out and answer those in the next episodes. And also don't forget to check out our partner, Dovetail. The links will be in the show notes. And that will be it for today.

Thank you so much, everybody, for listening. And we're hoping you're having a great day. Bye, everyone. Bye-bye.