29 Job Listings + 15 Interviewing Tips
Ask Like A Pro alumni tips for job interviews
Last week four Ask Like A Pro alums shared their varied experiences landing their current UX research positions in our private Alumni mixer. They talked about their individual journeys, presented case studies, shared preparation tactics, and offered lots of tips and tricks they wished they'd known when they began their latest job search. Amy Santee, UX career coach and strategist, also shared best practices on user research case study formats, selection criteria, visual design, and channels, and offered a generous discount to all Ask Like A Pro alums.
The community really benefited from their candor, humility and humor! Huge thanks to these special FIVE peeps!
Here is a quick summary:
Target your applications; don’t apply to dozens of positions.
Sharing your work is a storytelling exercise. Interviewers aren’t nearly as interested in the detailed data as they are in learning about you and how you think.
Talk about yourself (briefly!). Be authentic. Show your personality, interests, what you learned, and/or your reflections. Demonstrate your passion for continual learning. This will help ascertain culture fit. It’s important to find the right match.
How you position and brand yourself matters. Make sure your story is cohesive in all of your business artifacts.
Remember, you are not your user! Consider what the hiring committee is looking for — be emphatic!
Hands-on UX research experience trumps all (including the prestige of most degrees). One alum detailed how including his PhD and academic accomplishments actually hindered his job searching process.
Demonstrate your command of product design; confidently speak about the product, business challenges and goals; and execute applied research with our cluster of terms! If you haven’t conducted UXR studies, then make this a priority.
Your user research network is KEY. It will open doors for you. Referrals go a long way — so build your network!
Be prepared to speak to methods and why you chose which ones, the tradeoffs, etc.
Do not share confidential information! Blur this out in your case studies.
Include the impact your work had. This could be impact on the product, team, process, culture, end-user, industry, etc. Think big and broad!
Leverage your previous domain experience and current interests. This Fuel Your Curiosity edition speaks to this specifically.
Simple presentations are MUCH more effective. When in doubt, simplify.
Pilot everything. Pilot your pilots! And prepare for different lengths of presentations.
DON’T GIVE UP. Thie job interviewing process is a humbling learning experience in itself. It’s iterative, just like the work we do to help others build better experiences. The Present workshop has great tips, templates, and examples.
The Ask Like A Pro alums who presented were incredibly honest, humble and generous. The recording of this event will be available in our Alumni community Curiosity Tank learning portal next week.
Please keep this feedback in mind as you continue on your own journeys. And speaking of, here is a terrific lineup of super exciting new user research positions!
Junior-ish
Junior UX Researcher at Back Market (Paris, France)
[INTERNSHIP] UX Researcher Junior (Paris, France)
UX Researcher at Pickle Jar Communications Ltd (UK with an option for remote)
Junior User Researcher at Code and Theory (Remote, a strategically driven, digital-first creative agency)
Junior UX Researcher at Back Market (New York, NY)
Junior Design Researcher at HKS (Dallas, TX)
UX Researcher Intern at Cox Automotive (US Remote)
UX Research Intern at Picnic (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
UXR Participant Coordinator at Ethnio (US Remote)
Mid level-ish
UX Researcher at Noom (New York, NY)
UX Researcher at Marketade (Fulltime and contract, US or Canada Remote)
UX Researcher at Hello Fresh (Boulder, CA)
User Researcher at Warner Media (London, England)
User Researcher - New Product Innovation at Spotify (London, England)
Customer/User Researcher at NN Group (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
UX Researcher at Credit Suisse (Hong Kong)
UX Researcher at Gamesys (Japanese Speaking) (Hong Kong)
Senior-ish
UX Researcher at Ripping (2 positions and more coming)
Senior Researcher at UsabilityHub (Melbourne area, Australia although mostly remote)
Sr. User Researcher at Wealthfront (Remote-friendly)
UX Research Director at Ipsos (Paris, France)
Director of Research at Webflow (US remote)
Senior Design Researcher at Intuit (2 positions, one in the US and one in Canada)
Senior UX Researcher at Disney (San Francisco, CA)
Senior UX Researcher at Turo (San Francisco, CA)
Head of User Experience Research at X-Functions (Brisbane, Australia)
Staff Product Researcher, Lead at Credit Karma (Charlotte, NC)
I’m cheering you on from the sidelines and available to support you on the front lines too! Want to feature an open position next month? Please let us know!
Speak up, get involved, share the love
Follow me on LinkedIn for more UXR tips and UX discussions.
Read about Curiosity Tank workshops (the next live workshop series begins September 19!)
Participate as an On-Demand, or as an Observer, for less!
Register for Michele's General Assembly classes (next class is December 4. Use discount code ronsen-2021 for 25% off!)
Forward this email to someone who you think might enjoy it. Better yet, sign them up here. It will be the gift that keeps on giving.
Ask us questions related to user research. Seriously, bad research keeps us up at night!
And that’s a wrap!
We try to alternate between a theme and UX/UXR jobs, events, classes, articles, and other happenings every few weeks. What do you think? We're constantly iterating and would still love to hear your input.
Stay curious,
- Michele and the Curiosity Tank team
PS: The Ask Like A Pro series is a great way to get hands on user research experience, build a case study and your network. Schedule time with Michele here to learn more. She’ll happily introduce you to alums as well if desired.
