Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
Creating a strategy means I know where I want to get at and here's how I'm going to do it. For me, it's just a very organized way to structure your efforts intentionally.
Hello, everybody, and welcome to the next episode. My name is Anfisa, and as usual, I'm joined today by Ioana to talk about an interesting topic, job finding strategy. As you can see, the last episodes of ours are really focused on job hunting, ideas, strategies, ways to stand out. And that's primarily because we understand the big problem this year that is connected to a lot of layoffs that's happening, the tech crisis, the world economic crisis. And I think we
It's a very, very painful theme this year. So we actually want to be as helpful as possible and dig into it as much as we can before we actually move on to more specific, more niche topics. But we're still very, very open to all your submissions. And we definitely will keep your topics prioritized in the next episodes.
So yes, today the topic is job finding strategy, and we will talk a little bit more about what is strategy and what's the best strategy this year, what steps you can follow, what things you should not forget at any cost when applying for jobs. But before doing that, I also want to mention we have a sponsor of this episode, that is Dovetail.
So for those of you who haven't listened to our previous episodes, Dovetail is one source of truth for all sorts of user research, such as user interviews, product feedback, competitor analysis, service and whatnot. It is also perfect for collaborating and contributing user research or any sort of user feedback by the whole team. So for example, research team, PMs, product designers, or anyone really who have an access to user feedback.
So if you're currently experiencing the problem where your research is documented all over the place in different tools with different structures, Dovetail solving exactly that. And you can also start by just using templates. So you don't have to build your own structure. You can literally kick it off with existing structures that Dovetail already prepared for you. Now, I actually want to talk about my favorite feature that is called Insights Hub.
Basically, it all starts from you uploading whatever user research artifact you're having, for example, you know, video interview. And Dovetail would use automatic transcription. So literally from the videos, you would see all the quotes, all the text. And when you see some problem is mentioned, you can create and apply the tag or user need to this problem. For example, it could be like confusing onboarding or parking or anything of that sort.
And then in other interviews, when you keep hearing the same problem, you can apply the same tag. So this way you can start seeing the patterns that are most frequently mentioned across the product. Every time you will access those tags, you will also see the video timestamps, shortcuts, and then the text with the highlighted quote. So you can always gain the context of what this tag actually means, right? The second thing that you can create is actually insights. And insights is something you create based on the tags.
I usually like to create insights from the tags to provide a little bit more context. And for that, I usually like to use some sort of universal format, such as how my tweets or jobs to be done or user stories. So it's universal across the whole team, and it's also a little bit more actionable.
So for example, when let's say my tag was parking slots, I can then create an insight called when I'm booking a hotel room, I want to know if they have a free parking spots so I don't have to search for paid parking around. Now you can see how the small tag is now expanded by insight. And then in one insight, you can have a couple of tags or a couple of video shortcuts that elaborate or back it up on that insight.
And now finally, last but not least, you can also create reports from those insights. This is particularly handy when only design team members are in charge of communicating the research and then save the time of other people, such as product directors, PMs who are not maybe participating in the research.
Usually reports look really, really clean and beautiful. They look a little bit like Notion boards. They're super clean, super structured. You can use all sorts of typography, colors. And in terms of the structure, what I usually like to do is when I'm creating the report, I provide the background of what I was trying to explore.
Then I'm actually adding the evidences or videos with tags. And then sometimes I add extra evidence, for example, some files from secondary search. And finally, I like to conclude it with uncovered themes and suggestions. So this way you can create a really extensive understanding of the
problem, where it's coming from, what you did, what you have uncovered, and maybe what are the next steps that you suggest the whole team to focus on. This way, you can actually improve the UX maturity of your company and ways of working by using the real user evidence. That's really empowering, especially for those teams who are not user needs driven. So to conclude, the insights hub is basically when you create tags based on the tags you're creating insights, and then you can even create reports with much more broad and in-depth data in it.
for all of your collaboration stakeholders. And that's about it. I hope it was helpful, even for those who's not looking for a research repository tools. I personally find it super, super helpful. It organizes my work, it organizes everything and helps me to communicate and advocate for the user needs informed design. And so I really hope it could be helpful also for our listeners. And of course, if you want to read more about it or check out the examples of those insights, tags and reports,
go ahead and check out the link in the show notes and you'll find much more examples right there. So now let's go back to our episode topic and talk a little bit more about job finding strategy. As I've already mentioned in the intro, we think it's a very painful topic. And I think many people today start by literally applying to hundreds of jobs. We have a
think this year we want to prioritize really the best working strategies. And I actually want to start by asking you, Ioana, a very specific and simple question. What is actually job hunting strategy and why you should have one? Why you shouldn't just start blindly applying to hundreds of jobs without thinking who you target, how you target and stuff like that. So what is actually job hunting strategy? What is this mysterious abstract word that we designers like to throw around? Ioana.
It's funny that I have a Domestika course on how to transition to UX design, where to get started, and it's called Create a Learning Strategy. So I'm definitely all up for using this word, although it's very, let's say, encompassing, a bit vague. It became pretty diluted. And I think that most people have their own definition of what a strategy actually is. But for me,
What it is, most of the times it's a very strong plan that's not necessarily very tactical, but kind of captures the big idea of where you're trying to get at. So it's a plan that has the component of intentionality, like creating a strategy means I know where I want to get at and here's how I'm going to do it.
So getting back to our very specific topic for the strategy to become the outcome of your exercise, to have a strategy first, you have to understand what are you creating a strategy for? And then it becomes part of that strategy. Yeah, for me, it's just a very strong way or organized way to structure your efforts intentionally.
I love it. Very straight to the point and very specific. Probably if I tried to define it, I would run around the same lines of text of the same kind of things. But I think for me personally, a strategy is, like you said, intentionality is the key word here. You need to know where you're headed. It's really knowing what's your, not to say vision, vision is also very abstract, but like, you know where you want to go. You know your direction, basically.
And then based on that direction, you have a plan of actions designed to achieve that goal. So you're not just like applying everywhere blindly without thinking just because you find the job offer or job opportunity online and then you clicked in a very simple way, apply and then voila.
No, but it's really understanding who you want to target, how you want to get there, what are your strengths, what are your weaknesses, what's the best way, how do you pave your way to get there. If you have that plan or when you have that strategy, it is easier for you because it helps you build in the confidence. You kind of understand the best way. You're not just, again, blindly applying
and not knowing where you're going, and then you're getting a lot of rejections, and you're getting frustrated, but you actually understand what it takes to get there. And that means it gives you confidence. Even if you get rejections, it gives you an understanding that maybe you can redirect a little bit. So it's really like more rational way of approaching your job hunt. And I think it's very, very important this particular year, because if in the past you
we could see a lot of job posts even for seniors, and a lot of seniors would have a lot of demand. This year it's a completely different story, and seniors would spend months even of applying to jobs. I was recently running, as you know, master course about job hunting strategy, and I was like sending in Slack a couple of screenshots of designers with like a lot of experience working in great companies in the past, having these fang titles in their CV, and still they would spend months of
applying to jobs and they would kind of have those Gantt charts or whatever charts showing how many job applications they had to go through. And some of them actually mentioned that 200 and then get only one job offer. And when this is a situation, which is very frustrating, as you understand, it's very not easy to approach, especially when you're a junior. Junior was never an easy way to get into the job. I think
In this case, you really, really need to be strategical, you need to be intentional, and you need to be prepared. So again, at least you're in the right mindset, because we all know it's very easy to get frustrated when you constantly get the rejections and sort of fail. With that definition being said, I think we can kind of talk about the strategies we personally believe in this year. And basically, I want to ask you, Ioana, what's the strategy you would recommend designers to follow in 2023?
I feel that the market has changed pretty drastically because of the economic climate, all the layoffs. There's so much talent out there that's currently looking for a job. So not only is it just more competitive, but I think the strategies that used to work don't work so well anymore. In the past, I think people were very focused on applying to a lot of jobs, maximizing their chances of landing interviews, and then focusing almost exclusively on the portfolio to create a perfect portfolio.
Which is always never perfect. And so they were putting their efforts in the process. But I think what changed this year or what this year made more prominent is the need to focus on relationship building and to focus on, I hate the word networking, but in a way it's the word that sort of is closest to what I'm trying to say, which is that you really have to be humanly intentionally.
in your efforts in 2023, because there are so many people out there, it's really hard to stand out just by having a very strong application. So I feel that's not enough anymore. And then you need to cultivate these contacts, these conversations, this one-on-one relationship to people, to folks in the companies you hope to work in. And again, I'm a very strong advocate of not being pushy or not being spammy. You really have to do it with
care and in a very meaningful way. But I think that if you have enough self-awareness, which will lead me to like the foundation of an entire strategy, if you have enough self-awareness, then you are able to understand how to approach people in a way that feels natural and is natural. And it's not salesy, like, hey, hire me.
So conversations, relationships, focus on that as much as possible. I think they should stand at the core of your job hunting strategy. But also, I feel that you need to put in more effort than you would in the past. So if in the past you would just apply to a job and people were always looking for designers and they would say, oh, here's an applicant that has an interesting portfolio, I'm going to call them. Now they have so many applications that you really have to go the extra mile to sort of convince them or get your foot in the door.
And going the extra mile might mean really researching that company, really making sure that you understand what the job is about as much as possible from the job description, really understanding what the product or their mission, their values are. So going in prepared and showing genuine interest. So I think it's similar to the dating side.
seen when if you show interest, if you really put in the effort to know that other person, then definitely your chances will increase. And it's the same with job hunting. Try to get to know the companies you want to work for and as much as you can spend some time to figure out how you can have better conversation points, ask more meaningful questions. This is what it will translate into, right? A better conversation. Those are some of the things that are top of mind and I'm going to hand it over to you to
And Fisa has a course about getting into UX jobs. So she knows a lot about this. So I'm going to hand it over to you to expand on that. Sure. Not that I'm like the guru or anything.
I think I just did the research and for me it's kind of more clear at this point about some of the things or components that you need to consider. And so I'll just go ahead and talk about those components very generally. Obviously, I'm planning to do the course around it that will be self-paced and recorded. And so all the details will be farther on. But a couple of the things which I believe strongly in today...
as of 2023 at least, is really, like Ioana mentioned, that strategy or like best job application strategy in 2023 kind of revolves all around matchmaking process. And as for me, the best strategy for UX designers or product designers is to do the heavy lifting of matchmaking. Approaching this process with an empathy to hiring design managers that are busy, that are constantly under stress, that are constantly seeing the same portfolio, that don't have so much time to review your portfolio.
And once they do, you kind of still have to stand out. You really have to convey your key messages, your values and all of that and strong sides. And so you really, I think for me personally today, when it's so hard to stand out, the best approach or the best strategy is to do the heavy lifting of matchmaking.
which, of course, makes it much harder, much longer. Let's say, put more effort into this application process and into the strategy per se. But that really, really, really could help you to be intentional and strategic about this process. And by doing the matchmaking, what I usually mean is that you kind of understand that there are two sides of this equation, right? There is you, you with your potential, especially if you're a junior, it's more about potential than the experience, real life experience.
So there is you, with your baggage, with your portfolio, with your experience, with your thinking process, with your point of view, with your strong sides and weak sides, and ideas about how you want to grow. And then there is a company. The company that needs somebody to solve their problems. Somebody who has gaps, somebody who needs people to solve their problems, to help their businesses grow, who needs to have certain personality traits to fit in culturally, who needs to...
share the same maybe outlook on the company values, on the product values, on the same mission and stuff like that. So your goal with your baggage is to match their missing piece, right? To fit in just perfectly. And so to do that matchmaking, to cross that bridge and stand out and show the hiring managers that you potentially the perfect match for their gap, you kind of have to do the research.
I think a very common thing we all forget to do in the job hunting process is to actually start, like we are usually starting with UX design, starting by researching. And then what I mean under research, obviously, it's not the same research as you would do practically with UX projects, but it's still research and still understanding what's happening at the market without jumping right into designing it.
jump into application. For me, the research usually compounds of two components. First being understanding the market landscape. Second being understanding yourself. And then, like I said already, matching those. Let's talk really high level about the market and what are the components that I personally see on the market, but I'm pretty sure there could be more and anybody could probably add their five cents on what are the important components of market understanding. For me, everything starts from understanding the customer or understanding your company's
that you're targeting, so key US, and really understanding what types of companies there are and which one do you want to start targeting. It comes from understanding of the market landscape, right? There are product companies, if you're targeting product companies, and I'll talk about that because I'm more specialized in product companies than, let's say, agencies and, I don't know, consultancy agencies and...
similar like freelancing, let's say. If you're targeting product companies, if you want to work on specific environment with specific mission, you need to understand the stages of growth of that company. Because every product goes through like early stage startup when they have messy processes, when they're figuring out their zero to one strategy, business model, they have to build and scrap a lot of things. You have to be dynamic, you have to be quick. There is no maturity there yet. And you have to be really like trying everything
to help the company build in the foundation. And then of course the company grows and needs to establish UX maturity. It's kind of becoming the scale up where you have an income. The company already starts having some sort of investment rounds. Since they get the investment from investors, they could start investing in different aspects of the product building, such as design maturity for us.
So then there is a startup, then there is a scale-up stage, then there is pre-IPO preparation when the company needs to become a little bit more secure, a little bit more protective of the data, they have to comply, processes are becoming more bureaucratic, let's say. They could reach the IPO stage, they could go public, and then the company becomes enterprise-based.
And suddenly grows, actually from the scale up stage, it usually grows really rapidly, builds the team, builds the culture. From the IPO stage, it becomes a very big company. So now it's a lot about the relationship. It's a lot about being able to communicate strongly, being able to build storytelling and stuff like that.
So it's really understanding at which stage of the company's growth you want to target. Is it scale up, startup, pre-IPO, post-IPO, or very low old company, 35, 40, 50 years old on the market. So they have this legacy kind of problems. And by understanding their problem, obviously you understand if those are the problems you are aspired to solve, or you have experience solving, and that's already a big, big thing, understanding of the gap.
Then other aspects besides of understanding of the company growth stage are design maturity of the company. NNG defines six stages of growth. You can definitely go ahead and read more about it at the NNG website. They have an article about it. It's very nicely laid out there. But understanding the UX maturity will help you understand also what kind of processes it is, what you can expect from the company before you even talk to them.
What it will give you is understanding of how well would you match. Because the more UX mature company is, the harder it is to apply there. And the more likely your role will be actually in a way diminished. Because let's say the company is super mature. They have a very strong team of, I don't know, 50, 100s of designers. Everybody already brought something to the table. So how are you going to stand out among those 100s of great designers? And it's so much harder to really stand out because the design manager will be thinking...
What will we learn from this new designer? What is this strong power of this designer, right? So the more you design a mature company is, the harder it is for you to stand out and really make a cut. And I was yesterday talking to a design manager in one of the Czech companies here. And he would mention that we had recently 150 applications for senior product designer and we selected none because I know how strong is our team.
And even though we had 150 senior designers applying, none of them were strong enough to contribute to the team. So we actually keep continue searching. And for us, it is easier to say no than to take someone and hope they will bring something on the table. So the more mature design company is, the harder it is for you to stand out and
the more junior you are, then you need to understand that you probably want to be somewhere in the middle because you want to grow and you want to learn from people around you who have experience. If you go to the startup, it will be super, super chaotic for you. You will not learn because it will be messy and nobody will be guiding you and giving you feedback. So you don't want to go into absolutely not use amateur companies. But at the same time, you kind of want to target companies that already have a
list some UX maturity understanding, some processes, some design leadership, which will help you growing and progressing in your career. So that's the second piece, right? The maturity. The third piece for me is also understanding the organization, type of the design organization, type of the design management, and types of the reporting.
That's a very big and long topic I don't want to go into too much. But there are a couple of models how design orgs are operating. There is this agency model. There is this tribe model when you work within the product. And then there is this hybrid model. And that would really majorly impact the way you work, the way your process will be structured, how impactful will be your design voice and stuff like that. And you really want to research that as well right before so you understand what's the best company strategy for you.
best company organization for you. Each of them would have pros and cons. Some of them would be falling more into the agile processes. Some of them will be more like waterfall-ish processes. Again, pros and cons for each, but it's your call. You have to decide which one is for you. And then a few more components that I also found important and impactful in this process is understanding the differences between juniors and seniors, the levels, right? Career ladder, the reflection on
where do you believe you are fitting well? And that kind of correlates a little bit with the company design maturity level, simply because, you know, the more you're an ex-mature company, the more demands they have for the seniors. And maybe in one company that is less design mature, you will be considered a senior. But then if you're applying to more ex-mature company, you will be then given the title, maybe middle. And downgrading, it's something also you have to decide if you're willing to do for the growth you possibly
probably will receive at this company. So yeah, again, having a clear understanding of different levels at the career ladder and what defines what and potentially what correlates with what design maturity levels. And last but not least, also understanding the company specifics. So really more about application
of your skills, the kind of experience you have. Is it more B2C or more B2B? So really, what's the differences between them? How does it matter for designers? Where you should be more qualitative? Where you should be more quantitative? Where you should be focusing on business metrics and where you should be focusing more on qualitative research and communication along the team because of the specific of the
those different, let's say, market applications. Because B2C is definitely a little bit more quantitative, while B2B more qualitative and more communication and relationship-based and really like kind of being able to be a strong communicator within the team. But again, it's a long story, so I'm not going to go into all the details. It's just that I'm trying to mention all those components you want to consider. Let me call them one by one to conclude, because I think those will help you understanding where you need to target, where do you want to go and why. Those are the questions.
hiring manager will be asking you. So the components again are: know your customer, at which stage of the product growth it is, then design maturity of the company, then design organizations, UX organizations, how leadership positions, how strong is their voice, how they build the teams and how you will be fitting in, your personal career ladder, and then specifics of the market such as B2C versus B2B and so on.
I'm sure, again, there are more aspects to consider, but those are the things I personally found very impactful for your strategy. And then the last, but not least, a very, very important part of the matchmaking process, as for me, of course, is really understanding your strengths and weaknesses. So really reflecting on who you are as a designer. We all come with a certain luggage, or we all come with some understanding of how the world works, our outlook, our experience, our values, our strengths,
our personality traits, right? And there are a lot of aspects that could make understanding yourself and your strengths confusing, right? Because it's kind of intervened with what's your level? What have you done before? Probably as junior designers, we were not super strategic in the beginning of our careers.
And probably we did not plan our career so well. I'm sure if you took Ivana's course, you'd do it much more intentionally and strategically. But if you didn't, like most of us, most likely you were going into the dark, trying out different things. You were going into that industry, that industry. Let's say you were freelancing, you were working in the agency, you started doing more consultancy work, etc., etc. And so you have all those puzzles. And maybe you are still transitioning, right? So you have the luggage of previous experiences.
and soft skills you have developed there. And you don't understand how to structure that and to kind of understand who you are as a designer. And I personally think it's a very, very important step because that's something that signifies you're willing to reflect, you're willing to take control of your career, you're willing to grow and to, again, be this person that is not just like following the same food paths, but practices and learns from their mistakes and reflects and keeps...
growing, keeps moving on, kind of having the aspects of growth mindset just so, so important as well during the application process. And I don't think we have enough time to talk about the ways of understanding your strengths and weaknesses, but as for me, the reflection here is the key. And the
What helps me personally a lot is to understand your personality type. I think we kind of talked about it a bit in the previous episodes. So understanding your personality traits or type, like we talked a little bit about this 16 personality test and how your thinking style, being it introverted or extroverted,
and more logical or more thinking and more reflexive could impact the role you could have and the roles you should apply, at least the specifics of the roles you could apply for. A few more things that you can reflect to just give an example is really all around soft skills and hard skills when you're applying. Because again, you will be tested through those during the application process. And by knowing your strong things, you build the confidence and you understand how to leverage it better.
what to prioritize and what to shine with while maybe trying to be more attentive or more careful, prepare better with the things you're not so experienced at. But talking about reflection again, there are soft skills and hard skills. When it comes to hard skills, we're talking about like your technical skills, your strategical
strategic thinking, your business skills, your leadership skills, mastery in the craft. And there are so many things we can talk there, right? There's visual design, direction design, usability, prototyping, research, workshops, writing, presentation, all of those. There's a lot, obviously. You just kind of want to reflect and
Give yourself some sort of level, some sort of evaluation based on the feedback you got from previous peers or on your personal gut feeling, let's say. Then understanding your personality and how your personality affects the way you work. Maybe also understanding your values, what's important for you in the company, what kind of people you want to work with.
And also, growth mindset for me is very, very important. So really, how do you want to grow? How feedback is a part of that process? How did you integrate feedback previously in your experience? And stuff along those lines. There is also the piece of the transferable skills and how it could fit in and how the soft skills actually...
fall into the place because soft skills is also a huge part of what we do as designers, right? Being able to talk to different people, being able to switch heads, being able to rationalize your thinking. Critical thinking is a huge part of making a good designer and stuff like that. So maybe that's what I wanted to ask from you, Joanna, because I know you do have a course around building your path into UX design. And I also know that you're a huge advocate for self-reflection. If you want to share some tips around how can designers...
think internally, reflect and understand who they are as designers and how could this mapping, this kind of exercise help them in the job application strategy? I'm trying to think of a universal answer here because I think in the end it will come down to a very personal exercise, very personal perspective on what this means. So I know that some people need to reflect and
Visual exercises, like now I'm talking methods, right? They need to reflect by sketching or putting post-its on a wall or just drawing or writing down their ideas, like stream of consciousness kind of random words. So reflecting may take different shapes based on what works best for you. Some people need to meditate and then their ideas will pop out. Some people just they're in the shower and then that's where they have the biggest conversation.
clarity on what they want to do with their lives. So I don't have a, let's say, a very tangible tactical recipe for reflection, although I will have a few pointers. But to come back to your broader question, like to answer it more like an overarching principle, reflection means or the purpose, the most important part about self-reflection is for you to really understand the purpose of it. And the purpose is to get to know yourself better.
And then once you get to know yourself better, you can articulate the things, the exterior elements that would make you happier or more satisfied with your job or give you more meaning or purpose or drive. And so you always start from what's inside and then try to create the environment that supports whatever you find inside of you.
And to find that, I would say what helped me personally. So I don't have a recipe, but what always worked for me is looking back at past experiences and trying to unpack them and reflect and analyze and try to understand how I felt, what thoughts I had, what I enjoyed, what I didn't enjoy, what was I good at, what was I bad at, and what do I want to be better at and stuff like that. So taking each UX project, each job, even interactions with people,
Everything is subjective when it comes to our minds. But at least I try to be as neutral as possible when I look at those things. And then with everything that I do, I learn something about me or I reinforce some of the previous learnings. Like I understand that I like working in big teams and I've worked in small projects and I've reflected on how I felt and I didn't feel as happy and as motivated as being in a bigger team or I like being in the office. And I've tried everything.
working from home for longer periods of time. And I've been in the office as well. And I observed both of these situations and then figured out what's important for me.
So the key here is, I think, exposing yourself to as many experiences as possible, which doesn't mean just saying yes to everything, but like choosing the things that you feel will help you learn more about yourself and then doing that learning. And yeah, to start reflecting, just set time aside with yourself. I think it's smarter if you're alone, right?
But you can always be in the company of someone who asks you the right questions. Either they're a friend or they're a mentor or right. Somebody can facilitate this process for you. If you feel stuck, a coach, I don't know, whoever you have in your life, or even it could be a paid service.
And then in this context of focus, try to put all the things in some shape, in some artifact, be it a sketch, even like just words in a conversation. And then at the end, extract the gist of it, extract the essence. Like, what does this all mean for me? For example, to get more concrete, because sometimes I'm very abstract.
What it might mean is that I'm a person who loves working in big teams. I don't thrive in startups because I'm a person that likes predictability. I'm very passionate about doing research, but I don't really enjoy doing UI design or the other way around. I love UI design, but I'm not so much into talking to users. What's important for me is to grow or for me, what's most important is to make a lot of money or for me, what's most important is to meet a lot of people.
So you will always be able to kind of by exposing yourself to different things and then reflecting what those things felt like, you'll be able to figure out, okay, I'm going to stick with this or that in my future, or I'm going to aim for that. I love this. I love that the fact that you mentioned that it's all about mapping all those aspects and
being through the mentor or being it you know if you just look through the lens of how the market works today and you understand the market better do it yourself right and mapping this experience and just either saying yeah or no right like it's my thing or not my thing and really it's so helpful to just build that kind of almost like design portrait what kind of designer i am
And when we talked about it in the beginning of the episode, it's a matchmaking process. It's literally you hanging that portrait with all the pros and cons or whatever, like the kind of persona to the design manager so they could see if that's the perfect match or not. And by doing it as soon as possible, you're eliminating a sort of heartbreaking point when in later stages you figure out that you're not a great match. And that's harder to process because you already invested so much time and heart into it.
I love this point and I like how you always make reflections seem to be not so hard. But with that being said, let's quickly do one key takeaway from today's so we don't go into a huge debate again around the three takeaways. The key takeaway for creating a job hunting strategy is, I think it's my key takeaway in life, to start from yourself. But what's very important is to understand the need for a strategy.
So don't minimize it. I feel that for many people, it feels abstract. Like I can do without, I'm just going to apply to whatever job I like and then it's going to happen. Don't minimize the importance of having a plan with everything you do. And this makes no exception, especially under the difficult climate situation that we're in. And yeah, I think everything you can do to maximize your chances, you should do. And a strategy and a plan are definitely something that are crucial. So don't minimize them, even if it feels like it's abstract.
Even if it feels like I should spend more time just perfecting the portfolio instead of thinking about what my strategies and what kind of industries I want to work on and just do it because it's going to turn out to be more valuable than you could expect it. That's my key takeaway.
I love it. And I actually want to build on top of that by saying that by putting more effort, definitely doing more homework and having the job application strategy, you're contributing to your own confidence and let's say well-being because it's super, super, super frustrating when you keep applying and you get no results and you think you're not worthy, you're not a good enough designer and you literally want to stop doing this, right? You want to drop.
And that's really damaging because you might be a great potential, great designer. You just didn't think about the strategy and you were doing it in a very messy way. So you really need just somebody to remind you about the fact of personalized matchmaking. Sort of strategic approach to this process because it's still a project.
Unfortunately, it's a project and in complex or hard years like this one, unfortunately, you kind of just have to do more work upfront than to just hope for a chance. And like, yeah, you know, if I apply to hundreds of jobs, one of them will have to be a perfect match for me.
Yeah, but not this year, unfortunately. So for me, like having this strategy contributes and helps you to build the confidence. I would like to finish with the quote that Tanner Christensen, which we had the interview with, I think in March, so around like four or five episodes away, go ahead and check it out.
He said, and I really like this quote, is that one of the greatest way to lack confidence on the interviews is to actually blindly apply to hundreds of companies. As to get on the phone with one of them and to have no understanding what they are trying to do. That's the worst strategy. So you really want to prevent that and do the research, right? Do the research, do the introspection exercise and come prepared.
That will be the best thing you can do for yourself to help you being confident and to really also be aware of who you're looking for. Because sometimes companies are also not a great match for you as you start talking to them. So that's it on our side. I'd like to finish here. And thank you so much, everybody who was listening through this episode. If you have questions, if you have specific cases, please keep them coming. We're actually planning the backlog of topics we want to go through from our listeners. And we're really always excited to receive questions from you.
Other than that, if you listen until this point, probably it was interesting for you or you learned something. So we really appreciate it. And we would also really appreciate if you would leave us a review either on Spotify or Apple Podcast. We're pretty much on every other podcast platform and it makes our day. It helps us to keep going. So we really appreciate if you can give us a rating. And that is it on our side. Thank you so much and have a great day. Bye-bye. Thank you so much. Bye, everyone.