Discussing resumes and portfolios is probably the most common topic in all the conversations. When others reached out to me for this topic, I always asked them to share with me their resume, portfolio and a few job descriptions (JDs) they planned to apply to. So that I can try to best simulate the scenario.
People don’t get to talk to you when seeing your resume & portfolio
The reality is, in most cases, the candidate doesn’t get a chance to walk through or talk through the resume or portfolio to the hiring manager in the first place. The resume and portfolio represents the candidate for the first impression to human resource (HR) and hiring manager. In other words, they are trying to picture a stranger based on these materials.
Many times, I received descriptive resumes explaining what the applicants did in the past in chronological order. As a first time reader, I couldn’t see the connection between the resume and the requirement of the job.
Especially for applying for UX roles, do take this experience into consideration.
Demonstrate your UX thinking from the beginning
Seize the opportunity to demonstrate your sense of UX. You have a chance to design a reading experience for the readers. Here are the questions I’d urge you to think about when designing this reading experience:
Who do you want to show this resume and/or portfolio to?
What do you want to show this resume and/or portfolio to them? Why?
How do you want them to feel after viewing the resume and/or portfolio?
What do you want them to remember?
What do they care about? Why?
Would they be able to find what they are looking for?
How can you help them to find what they want?
Many times I received a document with a high destiny of content as the resume. Some of them are more than two pages.
And a long webpage to show off UX cases is quite common as well.
Keep in mind that you’re applying for a UX-related role. Considering the readers’ experience and asking the questions above when preparing the materials.
And one more thing,
Don’t assume people will read through everything!
If the HR or hiring manager spend less than 5 minutes on your resume and portfolio, what do you want them to remember?
Next, I want to share a few approaches for reference:
Read the JDs in detail & try to echo it
When applying to a specific role, read the JD in detail. Try to mark the keywords in the description and requirements. Then think about what are some of the elements from your past experience that echo these keywords marked earlier.
When HR and the hiring manager read through your resume, in many cases they are trying to picture the candidate without any interaction.
My personal approach is to catch readers’ attention and curiosity before they lose their interest, instead of putting all the details in. I take my resume as the ticket to get me into the next step. After reading my resume, the readers don’t need to know me hundred percent. But I hope the reader would want to have a chat with me. That’s it.
Reaching out for feedback and suggestions
Once you have a “good enough” version, start reaching out to others for feedback and suggestions. Remember, share the materials as a stranger, providing context and JDs too.
Suggestions are more helpful if that comes from relevant sources, for example:
Potential hiring manager, or in the same industry, similar field, similar company scale, etc.
People who shared similar experiences, from the same country, same background, etc.
Experts in the targeted market, especially if you’re trying to apply overseas.
What is your strategy for telling your story?
Just like in the product development process, we need to think about unique selling propositions (USP), do competitor analysis, and go to market (GTM) strategy. If “you” were the product to be promoted, the resume would be your brochure to get the buyers’ interest. The portfolio will be a storybook to tell a story of you. And the interview is the chance to promote and sell yourself to the hiring manager.
Some of the angles to prepare resume and portfolio for your reference:
How can you echo the requirements in JD from your resume and portfolio?
If you are switching from other field, help the hiring manager see the extra value you can bring in
Who might apply to the same role? They are your potential competitors.
What differentiate you from other candidates? That’ll be your USP.
Research case
People have different USP but when sharing a research case, the material should demonstrate following skills:
Planning a research
What are the questions to be answered by this research?
What are the details of the research?
How do we plan to find the answers to the questions, e.g. which methodology?
What are the criteria for recruitment?
How do we collect feedback from the users?
Are we going to engage an agency?
What is the project plan, e.g. timeline, budget, etc.?
Conducting a research
What is the research procedure?
Are there any worksheets or artefacts?
What is the information collected from the research?
Are there any other members joining the research?
How to enable the members to help you run the research?
How do you cooperate with the vendors if there’s any?
Analysing the findings
How do you organize the findings?
What are the findings from the research?
Sharing the result
How do you plan to share the results with different groups of members, e.g. core team, leaderships, company wide audiences?
Overview
With all the selected details covered, the case can take a long page. So don’t forget to provide a summary to set the expectation for the readers.
Resume & Portfolio are about you, beyond your project
Lastly, your resume and portfolio are about you. If you have experienced successful projects, that’s great. If not, that’s ok. Success of any project is usually beyond any individual. Share more on what you have learned from the project, what would you do differently if given the chance. Remember, in the process of applying for a job, resume and portfolio is the storybook about the actor — you.
Learnings form 50+ mentorship practice in 2022
In the year of 2022 I took time talking to people who are interested in topics around Product, Design, Research, Career, Asia, etc. After 50+ conversations, I want to write down what I learned from these conversations.
