174: The Bar to Stand Out As A UX Candidate is Lower Than You Think

Have you been applying to UX jobs you know you're qualified for and still not hearing back? Chances are, your experience isn't the problem, it's how you're presenting it.

After nearly a decade of coaching UX and product professionals and reviewing thousands of resumes, portfolios, and LinkedIn profiles, Sarah has seen the same red flag mistakes show up again and again. The candidates making them are talented, experienced designers who simply were never taught how to market themselves.

In this episode, Sarah breaks down one major red flag mistake for resumes, portfolios, and LinkedIn. Spoiler alert: fixing it doesn't require months of work.

Sarah also shares the story of Jonathan, a UX director with 20 years of experience who was getting ghosted on 75% of his applications. He was qualified, but his materials weren't telling his story effectively. Once he addressed the right things, he landed an executive-level role at the University of Houston.

Your materials don't have to be perfect... they need to be 10% better than everyone else making the same, avoidable, mistakes.

Topics Discussed

✅ What hiring managers and applicant tracking systems are silently penalizing you for

✅ Why showing deliverables without context, process, or decision-making is leaving hiring managers cold

✅ What to put in your LinkedIn headline instead of just your job title and company name (and why)

✅ How to optimize your LinkedIn profile for the algorithm

✅ How to rewrite vague resume bullet points so they communicate scope and outcomes

✅ Why talented UX professionals with years of experience still struggle to get interviews

✅ How to break out of the perfection trap that's keeping you in research mode

Links From This Episode:

🔗 Free UX Portfolio Case Study Template

🔗 Optimizing Your LinkedIn Headline

🔗 How to optimize your resume for the ATS so you can get more UX job interviews

🔗 EP 170: Jonathan's Journey From UX Layoff to UX Executive

🎯 How I can help with your UX job search

📋 Get my UX case study template

👋 Follow me, on LinkedIn, Instagram, & YouTube