Essential Resume Tips to Secure Your Next Job as a UX Designer

Growth in the UX design industry continues worldwide, with a 10% increase in the industry expected in the coming years. As an emerging and evolving field, experienced UX designers can be hard to find, and businesses are looking to snap up top talent before the competition.

Experienced UX designers know that you have the upper hand when it comes to securing the roles that you want. In fact, it’s common for UX designers to receive multiple job opportunities and offers.

While a killer portfolio is essential, that doesn’t mean you can slack off when it comes to your resume. Otherwise, you might find your competition one step ahead of you. So how can you make sure your secure your next dream job? Here’s a list of resume writing tips you need to know.

Before you start on your resume

It’s important to remember that hiring managers for companies want to recruit the top talent as soon as possible. This typically means that the recruitment process happens fast, and this is something you need to be prepared for. This means making sure you’re ready for your interview before you’ve even sent out your resumes.

In addition to these points, leadership skills are also essential, depending on the role that you’re applying for. If you’re applying for an experienced UX designer role, in most cases, leadership qualities are expected since you may be working with a team of writers and graphic designers to produce the final product. Be sure to include these factors in your skills and experience sections of your resume.

Start with experience

The first section of your resume, like all resumes, needs to be your personal statement as a kind of introduction to your resume. However, as an experienced UX designer, companies are going to be interested primarily in where you’ve worked in the past to start with this section.

However, you don’t necessarily have to order these in chronological order.

“Put the company where you achieved the most or had the most responsibilities first as this is was your most successful role and therefore the one that they’ll be most interested in,” shares Jenny Valentine, a resume proofreader for Assignment Help.

it’s essential to include a paragraph or two that talks about your communication skills. Show proof of how effectively you can communicate with customers and members of your team and how this level of effective communication contributes to your success as a UX designer.

Online tools and resources

When it comes to actually writing the content for your resume, you don’t have to feel like you’re alone when you’re trying to produce quality work. Instead, here is a list of tools you can use to guarantee a high-quality resume;

1. Resume Service – An online resume writing service with templates and builders you can follow for correct formatting.
2. Easy Word Count – A free online tool for tracking the word count of your resume.
3. UK Writings – An online writing agency that can help you with writing your resume, a quality review of which you can find at UK Top Writers.
4. Affect vs Effect & Grammarix – These two online blogs are full of information and posts for improving your grammar knowledge.
5. Essayroo – An online writing agency that can write your resume on your behalf, as recommended in Essayroo review.
6. Cite It In – A free online tool you can use for properly formatting quotes and references in your resume.
7. Boom Essays – An online writing service that can help write, edit and proofread your resume, as featured by the Huffington Post in Write My Essay.
8. State of Writing / My Writing Way – Two free online blogs that contain a tonne of information and writing guides you can use to write a professional resume.

Consider the language you use

More often than not, the recruiter and hiring manager that you’re dealing with will probably not really understand what a UX designer actually is and will simply be looking for a list of skills and traits that their employer has given them to find.

With this in mind, make sure you list out your skills and traits clearly in language that they’ll understand and match to the list that they’ve been provided. This will dramatically increase your chances of securing an interview since they will actually know what you’re talking about.

Use keywords to get past recruitment software

When it comes to major companies that are hiring UX designers, many of them use application scanning apps to match candidates to job roles. These computer systems scan for keywords in the content to see whether the individual is a good match.

Recruiters are looking for the very best UX talent they can. They’ll do everything it takes to source the best individuals for their vacancies. With this in mind, it’s vital that you find balance when you’re considering content and design.

This can cause problems if you’ve designed a rather ‘fancy’ resume which includes pictures, images, infographics or comes in a PDF format since the software can’t effectively scan them, if at all. With this in mind, it’s sometimes easier and more beneficial to play it safe and stick to using text documents, rather than trying to show off your design skills. Instead, keep your design skills aside for your portfolio, the document that can be freely used to show off your design skills.

And don’t forget your portfolio

Another important factor for UX designers to consider in their application stages is a portfolio. This is the proof of your experience and skill as well as your work history, and it’s essential that you provide one alongside your application.

With proof of your skills and your experience, companies are more likely to choose your application as they can see exactly what you can achieve and how they can apply your talents to the needs of their business.

Conclusion

There are many elements you need to consider when it comes to writing a resume for a UX design job. To recap, the most important takeaway points include showcasing your skills and experience, aiming for an accurate and professional document, understanding the industry and never underestimating the importance of a well-designed portfolio to compliment your application.

 

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by Mary Walton via UX Mastery