3 Less Obvious Places to Find Your Next UX Career Opportunity

It’s almost the New Year and many people will be looking for their next career opportunity after a time of reflection over the holiday period. We’ve put together a list of places that you might want to go looking in:

Your Current Organization

Too many people start their career hunt by heading to the job pages in the press or on the internet. Yet, if you don’t hate your company but you’re not happy with the role that you currently fulfil for them – it’s a good idea to start there. Ask for a meeting with your direct manager; don’t try and discuss your needs in the office – it’s likely to upset other people and no-one will thank you for it. Explain the situation: how you’re feeling and what you would like to change. Then ask for help in achieving this. It may not be possible, it might not be quick but in many cases it is possible and a couple more months to transition wouldn’t really be that bad would it?

We have a pro-tip for this though; ensure you get any agreement in writing – bitter experience tells us that without it in writing, promises made by managers can be empty things.

Your Network’s Network

Before you starting churning out CVs and cover letters take a few minutes to review the kind of places that you want to work. Are you connected to any of them via contacts on LinkedIn? Then maybe you can score a direct introduction. I always recommend to professionals that they add all their connections to LinkedIn not just their colleagues. It would be akin to career suicide to ask your boss, unless you have a very strong relationship, to introduce you to potential employers. But you can bet your bottom dollar that some of the less obvious connections you have can open doors for you too.

Send a polite note to the person, asking them to keep it confidential and ask them to connect you either directly or indirectly to the next person in the chain. Don’t be upset or angry if someone says “no” – no-one is obliged to help you find another job. But do be persistent and follow up unanswered requests – politely.

Industry Movers and Shakers

If you know that someone from the company you want to work for writes a blog or is active in social media; you can always build a relationship directly. This is a slower process than a LinkedIn introduction. You need to spend time actively studying what they do, offering helpful and constructive commentary on their material before you broach the subject.

You need to wait until that person has replied a few times and it feels like more than just a casual contact online but when it does feel like that – ask. Send them a private message with a “Hi, It’s Joe Bloggs from XYZ UX Forum. I’ve been thinking about a career move recently and was wondering if you knew of any opportunities at your place?” or something similar. You’d be amazed how helpful even strangers can be when approached properly.

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