I forgot to mention that while I was job searching, I noticed that I would get more callbacks from recruiters when I removed my General Assembly bootcamp experience. I made sure to focus on my work that I did as a designer rather than the external factors and context of how I got the work. Recruiters generally have a negative perception of bootcamp grads so positioning myself as a budding designer who gained experience through contract work played to my favor. Even though I didn't explicitly label myself as a bootcamp grad, when I was asked during the interview where I had learned to design, I shared that I took a course. A reminder that you don't always have to disclose all the details :)
You have such amazing tips and strategies, I’m so grateful I found your channel. Design is such an intimidating space to enter but your videos are so helpful!!! Thank you!!!
could you do a video going into more detail about this? I'm about to finish up a bootcamp in a few weeks and start applying to jobs and now i'm not sure what angle to go with because I got a degree in english/philosophy and don't have any formal work experience other than what i've done through my bootcamp. thank you!
@@user-ck9ei6re2x Since your friend has a legit business, there's absolutely no reason not to position that as real experience, you also don't need to reveal the ins and outs of your relationship to them. It's absolutely normal to get your start doing work for people you know, everyone has to start somewhere. Just about everyone uses their contacts to their advantage at least some point in their career.
That's really helpful - thank you. It's strange how sometimes we're encouraged to take particular courses, or go to bootcamps, but then it can work against you in applying for work. Love your channel and all your tips are really appreciated! Thank you 🙂
I wanted to address some comments that showed concern about me using 'Contractor' for my design work because the concerns are valid. I called out in 1:56 how I refrained from calling personal projects that didn't involve any interactions with a rep from the company as 'Contractor' positions. There were a handful of projects I didn't include in my resume because they were student projects that didn't involve a contract or agreement with a third party (but I still presented these projects during my interview). Some are saying putting 'Contractor' is considered lying if you never got paid to do the work, but it depends if your definition of "contractor" is solely based on if you were paid or not, which I disagree with. A contractor is by definition "someone who undertakes a contract to provide materials or labor to perform a service." I had a written contract with my clients to deliver honest work in exchange for experience instead of monetary value. With my Levi's project, I worked with a designer from Levi's who wanted deliverables for her team and did a formal presentation with the team at the end of the project. One could label it as a 'student project' or 'real work' depending on the angle you're coming from. I saw my work as 'real-life experience' because I knew my case study and designs would validate it as 'real-work' instead of a personal project. I was also transparent during the interview that my designs never got shipped. With that said, please use your own discretion when writing your resume. Do what makes your conscience clear and be smart about it. I'm simply sharing my own resume but my intention was never to encourage people to be deceptive or unethical. It's difficult to cover all the details/nuances/context in a YT video so I can understand how some might be concerned. I am also not liable for your decisions (don't hit me up if you make a blatantly stupid call lol) As someone who has juggled multiple 'internships' or 'contractor' positions for FREE to transition into a new field (chemistry > marketing > design), I find it a bit demoralizing when people judge my work based on my title rather than giving me their time of day to see my actual experience, skillset, and breadth of work. The good news is, because the design field is so visual, your lack of design background/degree can be overlooked if your design work is stellar. Make your portfolio SO GOOD that they don't have time to ask you in detail if you actually got paid to do the work 😉 Now THIS is hard work. Anything worthwhile takes TIME and long hours of pumping out designs that sometimes never see the light of day. Thanks for reading my essay-long comment :) I'll be more mindful to share more context in my future videos.
I'm all for calling yourself whatever you think suits your role. After all, jobs don't have time to nit pick and it's not like you're cheating someone else out of the job. If anything, I think issues over the term "contractor" may come up when relevant to CA law re-defining the term in Jan 2020 (thanks to gig companies like Uber and Lyft). It was from then on that my boss made it clear that I was a vendor designing for her on my own time, not a paid contractor who can't decide my own work schedule. I'm not sure if that would ever come up for someone interviewing. However it may be good to know the difference between "contract," "vendor," "volunteer," or any similar terms for the sake of government documents such as taxes, unemployment insurance, etc.
As a about to be UX designer (I'm going to grad school for interaction design in SF, transitioning from an accounting undegrad major), AND a small youtube channel content creator, your videos are quite helpful on both UX design topics and content creation! Thanks!
I studied chemical engineering and technology for my bachelor. Then I studied organic chem for my master. But I just realized that is not what I want!! I was suffering. UX really helped me out. Now I’m completely into UX. Building my portfolio, hope I can get a job soooon.
one thing i learned in one of my uni courses was that when printing resumés is invest in resume printing paper! they have a slight weight to them and can add a sense of memorability to your resumé
Graduated last spring with an Art degree and trying to transition into UX right now. SO HAPPY I found your channel. Thanks for being so thorough and real with your advice and experience :)!!
I’m currently taking some UX/UI Design Bootcamp at some college for three months with the aim to transition from the career of teaching Japanese after I finish my program in April. This video was so helpful and I also downloaded your resume. I will work on creating my resume on Figma once I start to make my own portfolio soon. Thank you so much for sharing all of the info. ❤️
Honestly, I live in the developing country, we have not enough sources and lack of motivation and inspiration to land in a new job with no experiences. I decided to start my new chapter for UX/ UI designer a few months ago and your channel, your contents and your tips are really helpful. In every morning, I start my routine learning with your videos - I got a lot of energy drive me to learn things and keep doing this. I can’t thank you enough for what you have done and sharing all! Have a wonderful day, Christine Heejoon Chun AKA Chunbuns : )
That contractor phrase is so important. I worked at a small business as their graphic designer and they refused to pay me the salary for the month I served in full just because I placed my resignation. I was ready to give them notice period but they harrassed me so much I couldn't continue. I wasted 2 months of my time there. I will list that position now as contractor since I took all my designs that I made for them and put them on my portfolio.
I think that it would be a good suggestion to advise on what to put as job description on resume, meaning describing what you did in the position. How to be specific. Etc. When I mentor students, that's one of the most frequently asked questions I get 😀
Hey Christine, this totally worked for me, I was looking for jobs for over 4 months with my old cv and after I updated my cv with your method, Wow! Interview after Interview and it totally worked out. Thank you so much for the tip. Subd and liked🌊🤩
You have no idea how useful these tips were! Thanks so much. Gotta admit, resume-writing causes me a lot of anxiety. Over the past year, I put *so* much effort into the process, creating version after version, correction after correction, and yet I got no responses to the (100+) projects and jobs I applied for. I always assumed it's because recruiters don't bother with someone who's coming from a different field even if they have a promising portfolio, bu t now I wonder if the very layout of individual projects and _titles_ have that much of an impact. Again, thanks a lot for the insight!
Thanks for the extremely helpful video! I always love how transparent and real you are with your content! I’m finding so much inspiration to face this job search phase after my bootcamp from ga. On a side note, crazy that you designed for living hope!! My sister went on a retreat with them that year!
I like the concise paragraph vs. bullet pointS. It seems your resume is project focused. I’m not sure the “concise paragraph” will work for a designer at the same firm for 2-3 years!?? Thoughts?
Thank you for the content!! it is really helpful. Please show us how to make and host portfolios for people migrating to UX. It could be really useful !
Thanks for the tips, Christine! Working on a new case study for my portfolio and after this video, I'm going to go back to my resume and work on highlighting design skills of past non-design jobs!
Thank you for this! Ever since I saw your video from years ago, I've decided to transition from an illustrator to UX/UI design career. I'm flying to Canada in a few months to start with my interactive media design program. Hopefully I can build a nice portfolio and land my dream job. :)
Hey Christine! Really appreciate the insights on UX Designing. It'd be really nice if you could take us through one of your projects, the complete process, maybe like a Vlog if it's possible. Thanks!
Thanks for the helpful video! It's always so tempting to include more (irrelevant) content, but I love how simple your resume is!! This is definitely inspo for me as I continue to edit my resume for UX roles!
The requirements for you actually getting the job after bootcamp is for you to have a bachelors degree just because it looks good . What of people like me with no college at all 😂. I had to read that in the fine print for a job the guarantee at the bottom of the website.
Thanks for everything! You're helping me a lot, I finished the course today and I'm very excited cause I really want to work as a ux designer. Right now I don't know where to start 😂 so I'll watch all your content this weekend 💞
you were not even a fresher. You had done so much work to put on a resume. Watching this didn't help me one bit but made me fear that I'm not job ready 😭😭😭😭😭😭
I’m currently a media major (the closest major to design at my college) and am looking to be a UX/UI designer (among other types related to digital media). The problem is I haven’t been given large scale projects in college so I don’t have a portfolio. How do you start out one of those? Especially without much creativity to do personal projects.
Hi Christine, I love your content! I do have a few questions for you: 1. Was your first job as an entry level UX Designer? 2. What was your interview process for the entry level position? I look forward to your responses. :)
Hey Christine, thank you for the wonderful tips! I love all your helpful videos! Would you recommend labeling projects from a bootcamp as contractor roles even if they never went to "production?"
Im on the transition from Graphic design to UX UI. Its been hard... Updating portfolio, CV, lot of failed interviews so far jeje but I know Im really good at it inside of me, and that i will be commited. Ive done also some certificate courses about Figma and UX UI on Udemy. Guess ill just have to keep trying... Any advice on how can you get that first official UX UI job? (Being a senior graphic designer)
Are the design Bootcamps links in the description working for you guys?? And also @chunbuns , can you check your different resumes somewhere, for inspiration?
Hello Christine. Thank you so much for sharing your resume. Just like you, I want to transition from a my previous job to UX designer however, I am a newbie in this field. In that case, I would to ask if you can also make a video of your case study. How can we effectively write it and what are do's and dont's. This will help us a lot, thank you so much in advance!
Hi, thanks so much for the design resume example! I had no idea it was so different in aesthetic from a regular resume. Was just wondering, how would you list a personal design project where it was just you working through the whole design process from self-imposed challenge up to high-fidelity mockup? Like what would the job title be if you did different roles - ux researcher, ux designer, ui designer, graphic designer. Thanks!
Hi Christine- loved this video! It was really helpful especially since I’m someone trying to break into UX design. I have a question: I’ve been doing a lot of self made projects (like app/website redesign) but I haven’t taken a bootcamp. Would these still be things I should include on my resume or just my portfolio? I’d love to know if anyone else has thoughts on this as well!
I'd put them under 'design projects' and disclose in the description that they were personal projects. Def include them in your portfolio esp if they go in-depth on the design changes you've made.
hi! Do I need to be good at art/drawing for ux design, i cant draw past a stick figure lol. I've drawn wireframes for past projects, but will I need to advance my artistic skills past that?
Thanks a lot for this video, I removed my picture. I wanted to ask .. if in the main title is okay to put 1 role or multiple like 'service designer' or ' service|ux|ui|industrial designer' also, how do you make an email address clickable for the person viewing it to open directly into their default email application ? thanks !
Hey there Christine! Thank you for this useful video. I have a question about UX / UI boot camp. Since you are based in San Francisco have you heard about the UC Berkeley UX UI bootcamp? I am considering it but was wondering if you know someone that had attended and know if it’s a good quality bootcamp. I do have a graphic design degree but wanted to expand my knowledge with UX UI design:) thanks
Hi Christine, you have a really nice resume! I use Figma as well, however when I export the file, it is 2.24MB, and when I reduce it, it's around 600KB. A lot of applications said they aren't able to read my resume, which is a big concern. What did you do to have applications easily read your resume when it was exported from figma?
Hi!!!! This is so useful!!! I do have a question, do I include personal projects or do i leave them aside? Because i dont have work experience at all, not even for free. I have a Behance account though..... Im so lost and im soon to graduate from college. HELP
thanks for the video! not trying to break into UX but i'm personally interested in design and learned a lot watching your videos. I have to ask though, isn't it a little bit questionable if you list work that was not actually done on your resume? or is this something that people do usually? in your situation you didn't know you wouldn't end up actually working on the project, but i wonder how you feel about it now that you have your job. would you put those experiences (planned but not guaranteed to complete) on your resume again if you had the chance to change it?
I took out those two projects after getting my job and I wouldn’t have left them there. I also let the recruiter know that those two projects were in their early stages and I didn’t have designs to present for those yet.
