Dear Sami,
Any suggestions on how to get recruiters interested in you when you don’t come from a design background? I feel that I’m ignored or blown off because I don’t come from a design background and am new to the UX field. It took me 9 months just to get my first interview.
I graduated from a UX bootcamp and have the same knowledge as those whom I graduated with. They got a lot of interviews when it seems like I had hardly any luck. I’ve been told my portfolio as well as my resume look good. The only difference I can see is my lack of design background.
-Ignored UX Grad in Seattle
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Hey Ignored UX Grad in Seattle!
If recruiters aren’t interested, I suggest to keep working on your portfolio and start other networking tactics.
I find that a student’s networking can have as much of an effect on their job search as any design background. Seattle’s job market is like every other one… who you know is as important as what you know.
You can better your odds by using sites like Angel.co to find smaller startups (15-40 employees) and connect with their CEOs and design leads to pitch yourself. I also suggest participating in hackathons too since its both networking and portfolio building.
And, check out your LinkedIn connections, if you aren’t connecting with recruiters on LinkedIn, you’re missing a chance to be seen by them.
If you do all of that, you’ll get attention from designers and others in the industry. Then the recruiters will follow.
Cheers, Sami