Senior UX Resume: DOs and DONT's

But what about senior UX research and design resumes? This is just one of the questions received on previous UX resume tutorial videos. This is exactly what I'll unpack today: the good, the bad... and the gray areas to consider.
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[@tuams]

I appreciate the more senior aimed content! Thank you for the tips!

[@eriksoriano]

I did graphic design for 4 years, I liked it but only worked for 1 company in-house so that stunted my growth (despite some freelance work). I then decided to self teach and then also got a masters which included UX not just for apps and websites but also taught me UX for how to code for VR/AR and some AI user experience. It was costly and it’s only been 1 year but I’ve found myself working in one of the biggest companies, but yeah, I agree. Everyday is day 1, and learning is constant, I’ve learned that in UX - you’re always a student and if you don’t like it it’s not for you. The UX research takes a lot of time and sometimes teams don’t get that, so be ready to have a backbone!

[@DAPH1918]

It would be really awesome to see a Senior UX portfolio review or do's and don'ts off the back of this one. There isn't really much out there for that end of experience

[@shaun4787]

Finally, Vax. I've been waiting for this one for a while. Thanks! A lot of good points. Just finish the first pass on the vid. Will go back take some notes. I feel like one-resume-does-it-all might not work any more. Guess it needs to be a tailor fit for each job application. I wonder how much of that "matching" process takes place in resume, how much is in the cover letter. "Your're a self-starter." "You're a critical thinker, but you also embrace and thrive in ambiguity." "You have a vision at 30k feet, and you also don't mind roll up the sleeves doing the ground work, wire framing and prototyping..." We've all seen job descriptions like this and they want everything. I found it's hard to be a perfect "generalist" who can cover all these areas. We all have our strengths and weakness. A more specific role like UXR, UI/Visual Designer, are easier to tailor fit in resume. Others are better described in cover letter, perhaps?

[@vaexperience]

The more senior you get the more tailoring you'll need to do

[@shaun4787]

@@vaexperience Would it possible to do a vid about transitioning type of resume? Moving from a pure IC role into a Leadership/Mentorship/Coaching role, developing more soft skills than hard skills. I know you said the resume is not about what you've done in the past, it should point to where you want to be. Now, there's a chicken&egg problem. If I'm already hit the ceiling as an IC, I don't have as much leadership/managing experience as I have in IC, how do I transition? I've mentored and coached younger designers, but not at the level where they report to me directly on the org chart. Then when I apply for a managing role, I don't have enough experience in that area and I got rejected. I've also started jobs as a team of one where I was promised to build my own team during the interview. Just another way to get in building/managing a design team. But that "team" never came after one year. I was still a team of one...forever stuck with an IC role...

[@vaexperience]

Yeah, I don't think it's a resume issue tbh - lateral transitions are very common, but you do need to be able to showcase the evidence of doing the job. You do have more than you think you do. I'll make a vid on this, but it won't be resume specific 👍

[@vaexperience]

Also if you can email me your resume/linked in in confidence (won't be included in the video, don't worry) that would help as well

[@KerevDesign]

It's interesting to see that you have very similar observations about the resumes that I learn myself across many years :)

[@KristianTheDesigner]

Not gonna lie, you GOT ME in the beginning where you were praising the progress bars in the skills, and i was about to turn it off 😂 Ok, back to the video!

[@pavana2810]

I’m searching for senior interior design resume how to and even if yours is a different field, you have many useful tips for the very experienced in a small field so thank you! I’ve been at my firm for 15 yrs so it’s been a while writing that resume 😂

[@Jadetheleeder]

I’m still learning but this is definitely useful 🎉

[@vickyvijayraj]

Hey brother could you please tell me how a lead UX UI Designer resume and portfolio should be (9 years experience) also how many case studies should be presented in portfolio also what types of works should be displayed

[@servingyahuah9818]

Thanks!

[@FahimAlMamun-y3k]

I notice that you didn't include your image in the resume. Can you tell me why the reason is ? And what your recommendation for this? Should i include image in my resume or not.

[@vaexperience]

Check my other resume videos explain in detail - primarily biases

[@FahimAlMamun-y3k]

@@vaexperience Can you share link

[@alechervemompoint]

realistically, even if you build up an excellent portfolio in a couple months, is there a chance to get hired as a Junior UX Designer if I don't necessarily have years of experience to back it up yet?

[@martaryzhok698]

Geez thanks for the video a lot, it opened my eyes, oh. I've been using the same CV template for years and now I see how ridiculous it is to even include skills in a senior CV at all. Have two questions: 1. I know that sometimes when CRMs scan CV pdfs and there is no such skillset it can automatically reject the CV, what would you suggest to do in this case? 2. I have many years of experience and also side hustles and it just doesn't fit on one page, would you suggest keeping it short (one page) and focusing on the latest experience or is it's ok to have it in 2 pages?

[@psh.pamela]

As someone with a career of shorter contracts and consults gigs, I feel this video puts me at a loss. Am I just screwed? Also, what's your take on Word resumes vs PDF. Are ATS resumes still a thing?

[@vaexperience]

They sometimes are, but depends who you are applying for. UX is such a niche (still) specialty that recruiters do look at the individual resumes even if they go through ATS (experienced first hand in multiple big and medium orgs that uses ATSes...). You are not screwed, just make sure to package things up nicely. If you spend 5 years contracting 20 gigs - list is as an item and the brand names, what you achieved etc. I cant tell you how impressive contractor resumes sometimes are because they pull out the achievements in specifics and list them out.

[@snaakie]

Not sure if this is interesting or profitable for you to make a video about, but I would love to know more about "connecting" and how you build your professional connections over time (or maybe you didn't put much attention to this?). Personally I work in a big city but live quite far away, so it is really hard to regularly go to meetups in the city. Social media doesn't really work either because most of the people online live spread out across the world. Anyway, thanks for another great video!

[@vaexperience]

Hey, tbh social media is a pretty good way to develop your network these days, especially with remote, hybrid and distributed work as a norm. I'll put it on the list and might product a vid with some thoughts

[@misterr279]

The golden era of UX bullshit is seriously done, I made a LOT of money over the last 4 years, people noticed and before I knew it PMs, marketing etc everyone slipped into a UX role. SO last year was the peak, the market was saturated with overpaid 'thinkers' employed through fear, companies thought having a UX person was a magic bullet....they're now seeing it isn't 😅 If you rode the magic carpet like I did then applaud yourself and walk away with a smile...but PLEASE let's stop making out like UX is something it isn't, AI will soon be smashing it out of the park.

[@rudhrarekapally3330]

resume download>?

[@DB-hm7mu]

in the 1/3 of this video you ignore the fact that 99.9999% of job adverts and recruiterswant design unicorns that do everything. You also ignore that the word "senior" means pretty much nothing to recruiters... Recruiters are the first filter and in a effort to getting past them you end up with bullet pointed CVs with lots of job-specific irrelevant information.

[@vaexperience]

grow in your career until you hire someone and work with said recruiters or need to review candidates and then come back to this comment.

[@edwardamaral6819]

Do not listen to this guys advice. That opening resume is horrible for so many reasons. Im sure this guy has gotten hired simply because he has the cool accent.

[@njengathegeek]

Too good to be only 10 min, I like it Va