Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody | UX, Product Design, UX Research

Sarah, an experienced UX professional, answers questions on job titles, product strategy, transitioning from internships, and portfolio tips. She discusses the difference between UX and Product Designers, importance of strategy, and the marketability of UX strategy. Sarah also provides insights on career transitioning, job opportunities, and the need for diverse project experiences.

In this episode, Sarah discusses the number one thing holding you back in your career, the benefits of a community, honing in on your goals, and so much more. 01:30 What does advancing your career mean to you? 05:34 What plans do you have in place to get you to your goals? 08:03 Every goal needs a why, a purpose, a motivation 10:00 Set aside some time to map out a plan. What do you need to do to achieve your goal? 11:45 You need a community of like-minded people to help stay motivated 17:28 You have to embody the plan and believe in it 21:00 You can take action without strategy, but eventually you will lose focus and exhausted yourself🎬 Watch Sarah's free UX Job Search Workshop and learn how to stand out in today's UX job market👉 Join Sarah Doody's Career Strategy Lab, a UX job search accelerator for UX and Product people.👋 Say hi and follow our host, Sarah Doody, on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

Welcome to part 5 of the 5 part series on the Job Search. In this episode, Sarah discusses what it means when you’re rejected at different points of the hiring process,  reflecting on what is working and what isn’t, sparking relationships with employees, and accepting that sometimes rejection is a good thing. 01:35 Let’s jump right into how to deal with rejection in your job search 03:12 You’re not getting interviews, but who is rejecting you? An automatic system or a human being? 05:55 Now you’re getting interviews but still not getting hired. Well you’re doing something right! 08:37 Take a hard look at your skills and abilities and work on presenting them better. 10:57 Don’t compare yourself to the people getting hired, there are many considerations outside of your control 12:44 It can be valuable to build relationships with people at the company before you ever apply 15:20 Remember to go over the positive parts of your job search 17:28 I encourage you to find a community of like-minded people. It can help remind you of your worth in your career search. 19:24 A quick recap🎬 Watch Sarah's free UX Job Search Workshop and learn how to stand out in today's UX job market👉 Join Sarah Doody's Career Strategy Lab, a UX job search accelerator for UX and Product people.👋 Say hi and follow our host, Sarah Doody, on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

Welcome to part 4 of the 5 part series on the Job Search! In this episode, Sarah discusses the importance of researching what kind of work environment a company has LONG before you apply by using social media to your advantage. She covers covers how to discern which sources to trust, how to learn about a company's culture, and how to vet reviews and comments you might find online.  In your job search, you do not have time to waste. By researching companies in advance, you'll avoid applying to companies that don't align with what you're looking for and you'll better equip yourself with questions if you apply and do get job interviews! 02:06 Workplace culture is so important because we spend a lot of time and energy at work 03:21 Research Strategy #1: Following employees on professional social media platforms 04:46 Research Strategy #2: Look at the social media presence of the company or your specific department of interest 06:54 Research Strategy #3: Read company reviews and consider reaching out to HR about any concerning reviews you see 09:04 Recap🎬 Watch Sarah's free UX Job Search Workshop and learn how to stand out in today's UX job market👉 Join Sarah Doody's Career Strategy Lab, a UX job search accelerator for UX and Product people.👋 Say hi and follow our host, Sarah Doody, on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

Welcome to part 3 of the 5 part series on the Job Search. In this episode, Sarah discusses why playing the numbers game is not in your best interest as well as how to  recognize red flags in your job search, the value of your time and energy, and how to maximize each application you send. 01:34 Multiple times a week people message me, email me and say, Sarah, I've applied to a TON of  jobs and not had a single interview. 02:47 A lot of people just simply don't know what to do if they're applying to jobs and they're not getting interviews. 03:53 Reason #1 that you should stop playing the numbers game: It’s a red flag that something isn’t working 05:01 Reason #2 that you should stop playing the numbers game: Time & energy 06:41 Reason #3 that you should stop playing the numbers game: You aren’t concentrating enough on building relationships 08:06 Reason #4 that you should stop playing the numbers game: Your mental health 10:24 Recap🎬 Watch Sarah's free UX Job Search Workshop and learn how to stand out in today's UX job market👉 Join Sarah Doody's Career Strategy Lab, a UX job search accelerator for UX and Product people.👋 Say hi and follow our host, Sarah Doody, on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

Welcome to part 2 of the 5 part series on the Job Search. In this episode, Sarah discusses prioritizing making connections with people, following and engaging with people who work at companies you want to work for (without coming off as a creeper!), cold emailing hiring managers, and how to keep your messaging short and sweet. 01:27 Why you need to prioritize people over platforms in your job search. 03:03 How a lot of people successfully find and apply to jobs through the portal 04:38 Focus on connecting with people because people share about jobs before they ever hit the job boards. 07:12 I wanna go through an example that I saw on LinkedIn last year… 08:19 There's no perfect formula to use or template. You have to be strategic 10:54 You really need to proactively be seeking to create or nurture relationships in your job search. 12:57 If you have not prioritized people in your job search yet, it is not too late.🎬 Watch Sarah's free UX Job Search Workshop and learn how to stand out in today's UX job market👉 Join Sarah Doody's Career Strategy Lab, a UX job search accelerator for UX and Product people.👋 Say hi and follow our host, Sarah Doody, on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

Welcome to Part 1 of a 5 episode series about the job search! In this series, we'll cover what to do before you apply for a job, why relationships are crucial, why you should NOT play the numbers game, how to research a company before you apply for a job, and how to deal with rejection. In today's episode, Sarah discusses creating your career value criteria so that instead of panicking and taking the first offer you get, you can feel confident that you’re making the right choice. 01:49 The number one thing you need to do before you apply for a job? what this is, is you need to create something that I call your career value criteria. 03:20 If you don't think about these things, guess what? You might end up taking a job that doesn't align with what you want and what you need. 05:03 It can help you leverage one of the biggest superpowers in your job search, and that is your career community. 06:23 Let's imagine you're buying a house… 08:23 So beyond job title and salary, of course, here are the things we need to think about 09:50 A great way to brainstorm this is to think about the past jobs you've had. 11:31 As much as they are interviewing you, you need to be interviewing them.🎬 Watch Sarah's free UX Job Search Workshop and learn how to stand out in today's UX job market👉 Join Sarah Doody's Career Strategy Lab, a UX job search accelerator for UX and Product people.👋 Say hi and follow our host, Sarah Doody, on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

In today’s episode, Sarah shares a mindset coaching call that the CSL Coaching Team hosted for people interested in CSL to give them a taste of the kind of calls we host on a weekly basis. Each week (and on this call) our coaches discuss a myriad of topics including; your relationship with your past work, confidence in yourself and your materials, and many other challenges you may face while developing your career strategy. Tune in and let us know what you think! 02:00 Introduction 05:42 Sarah speaks about developing your career  as the product of you. 09:48 Let’s talk about staying motivated during the job search. 16:48 Layoffs are absolutely happening and we're also seeing a lot of people get hired. 20:54 Consistency is not the same as perfection. 23:26 Jobs are one of those things where there's beginnings and endings and there's often grief. 27:59 The period between finishing an education and building up a portfolio slash publishing that portfolio, what framing recommendations do you have around thinking about this and not getting bogged down? 29:12 How do I work on my confidence in the workplace? I feel scared to contribute to conversations because I'm scared that my ideas aren't good enough. 30:42 Let’s talk about where confidence comes from. 36:04 What happens when we build self-trust? Your confidence goes up because you trust yourself to do your best in this situation. 40:18 “Enoughness” and ageism. 44:06 Rejection and the job search. 49:41 Rejection is excellent data, and it can be hard on our feelings.🎬 Watch Sarah's free UX Job Search Workshop and learn how to stand out in today's UX job market👉 Join Sarah Doody's Career Strategy Lab, a UX job search accelerator for UX and Product people.👋 Say hi and follow our host, Sarah Doody, on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

Sometimes we can get overwhelmed trying to make our careers into what we want them to be over night. Breathe and remember that your career is a marathon, a journey, and that takes time! This week’s episode was recorded during a long car ride, that helped inspire this episode’s message. During this episode, Sarah recounts her experiences with marathon running, injuries, and the struggles of accomplishing long term goals. She explains how community helps you get where you need to be without the stresses that come with doing it alone. 00:47 If you can't tell, I am not in my regular home studio. I am actually driving in my car across Nevada 02:06  I wanna tell you the story of training and running my first marathon because your career, it's very similar to running a marathon 04:25 I was at the doctor's one day, just like a normal doctor's visit, but I'd always had this weird little bump kind of on my hip. 08:45 I was super proud of my 4 hour and 13 minute debut into marathons, I also thought, man, I think I can do better. 10:18 Between the New York City Marathon and that Toronto Marathon. The difference was for that Toronto Marathon, I followed the pacer and I kept them in my sight for most of the time. 12:05  Having these goals for me in my case running, help me really develop a lot of resilience, a lot of confidence, and have a support system. So that I don't fall into the trap of trying to do it on my own. 14:05 When you try and do things on your own, that's when negativity can creep in. 17:56 If you're struggling in your career right now, I would ask yourself, have I identified the big goal? And is it specific enough? 18:55 Are you trying to be your own coach or could you maybe benefit from a coach?🎬 Watch Sarah's free UX Job Search Workshop and learn how to stand out in today's UX job market👉 Join Sarah Doody's Career Strategy Lab, a UX job search accelerator for UX and Product people.👋 Say hi and follow our host, Sarah Doody, on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

LinkedIn profiles are often not optimized for visibility. They should be treated like web pages, keeping search engine optimization in mind. The right key words can elevate your profile tremendously! Your LinkedIn is its own search engine for recruiters to find out if you fit the position. If your profile is not optimized it will be harder for them to find you. In this episode, Sarah guides you on how to optimize your profile and shares some examples of what not to do. 01:00 LinkedIn is a search engine that recruiters and hiring managers use to find candidates 01:51 The other day I was on LinkedIn and I saw a profile that stopped me in my tracks 04:02 What can we do to help this person write a headline that has more relevant keywords and highlights, unique traits, skills and experience, and help them stand out from other candidates? 05:16 UX researcher with 10 years of experience doing mixed methods research in finance and healthcare with a focus on usability testing and ethnographic interviews. So let's break that down. 07:19 What words, what skills, what phrases would you type into the search box in LinkedIn? 07:49 Recap🎬 Watch Sarah's free UX Job Search Workshop and learn how to stand out in today's UX job market👉 Join Sarah Doody's Career Strategy Lab, a UX job search accelerator for UX and Product people.👋 Say hi and follow our host, Sarah Doody, on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.