155: UX Hiring Insights: Patrick Neeman on Soft Skills, Strategy & Hiring Red Flags

In this expert interview, Sarah Doody is joined by Patrick Neeman, Director of UX & AI Experiences at Workday, to pull back the curtain on how UX hiring actually works today—and where candidates are getting tripped up.

Patrick brings a rare perspective: he’s led UX teams, taught UX at General Assembly, worked inside applicant tracking systems, and now hires designers in an AI-driven product environment. Together, Sarah and Patrick unpack the biggest misconceptions about ATS systems, why portfolios often fail the six-second test, how soft skills influence hiring decisions, and what senior designers really need to focus on to stand out in today’s market.

This episode is especially valuable if you’re making it to interviews but not offers, feeling unsure how AI fits into your skillset, or questioning whether your resume and portfolio are helping—or hurting—you.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

✔️ Why companies are often bad at hiring—and how that impacts candidates

✔️ The truth about ATS filters, knockout questions, and resume formatting

✔️ Why two-column resumes fail ATS systems (and what to do instead)

✔️ What hiring managers notice in the first 6 seconds of reviewing a resume

✔️ How soft skills like alignment, collaboration, and communication influence hiring

✔️ Why decks often outperform portfolio websites in UX interviews

✔️ How AI tools like Lovable are changing expectations for prototyping

✔️ The role of “weak ties” in landing jobs—and why relationships matter more than applications

✔️ Red flags candidates should avoid during interviews and outreach

✔️ Why being “nice to work with” is a real career advantage

Links From This Episode:

Patrick's Book: uxGPT: Mastering AI Assistants for User Experience Designers and Product Management Professionals

Patrick's Article: What’s makes an effective UX professional

Patrick's Article: What’s your Ideal Designer Profile?

The Strength of Weak Ties: A Network Theory Revisited

The ADP Checklist: Resources about Resumes, Portfolios and Interviews for UX Professionals

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction to Sarah Doody and Career Strategy Lab

00:38 Welcoming Patrick Neiman: Insights into UX Hiring

01:19 Patrick's Background and Experience

04:19 The State of the UX Job Market

07:21 The Importance of Writing Skills in UX

08:49 Applicant Tracking Systems and AI in Hiring

13:28 Contract Roles in UX: Myths and Realities

14:42 Standing Out as a UX Candidate

17:48 Soft Skills: The Superpower of UX Professionals

22:05 Tips for Early Career UX Designers

24:15 Prototyping vs. Figma: The Future of Design

24:28 The Value of Personal Projects in Portfolios

24:57 Challenges in Redesigning Complex Systems

26:10 Misconceptions About Hiring Software

27:23 The Six-Second Resume Test

29:16 Networking and the Power of Weak Ties

33:10 Tips for Advancing in Your UX Career

41:46 Balancing Figma and AI-Assisted Design Tools

43:21 Final Thoughts and Advice for Job Seekers

🎬 Watch Sarah's free UX Job Search Workshop and learn how to stand out in today's UX job market

👉 Learn more about Sarah Doody's UX job search accelerator, Career Strategy Lab.

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