Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody | UX, Product Design, UX Research

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  192: UX Hiring Insights: Sylvain Maretto, Director of Design, on Why AI Hasn't Taken Over Hiring and What He Looks for in UX Portfolios 14.09.2026 45мин

  UX hiring managers are looking for three things right now, and UX isn't specifically one of them. Not exactly reassuring if you've spent years polishing your process pages. That's the reality Sylvain Maretto lays out in this episode, and it's coming from someone actually reviewing applications, not theorizing about them.At the time of this recording, Sylvain was the director of design at Ecosia, the search engine that funds tree planting with its profits. He's spent 15 years building and leading design teams across Berlin, Tokyo, and beyond, with stops at Omio (joined when it was 25 people), Zalando, Tour Radar, and GetYourGuide. He also helped seal the acquisition of Holoplot, the audio technology behind the sound system inside the Vegas Sphere.He joined Sarah after leaving a comment on a LinkedIn post arguing portfolios need to be more experimental. He disagreed, and what follows is his actual answer: a triangle of AI fluency, UI craft, and business acumen. UX gets treated as a given, not a differentiator.From there, Sylvain walks through what happens inside an applicant tracking system when 500 people apply for one role. Why the AI built into most of those tools produces noise instead of signal. What a job description is actually telling you, if you read it twice. And how to talk about results when a project got canceled before it ever shipped.If you've ever wondered what's actually happening on the other side of your application, this is that answer.Topics Discussed✅ The three things Sylvain actually screens for when he opens a portfolio, and UX isn't one of them✅ What happens to your application the second it lands in an ATS, and why you're one of 500 people applying for the same slot✅ Why the AI built into most hiring software is, in Sylvain's own words, mostly noise✅ The STAR framework he wants every case study to follow, and why your "action" section is probably too long✅ What to say about a project that got canceled or never shipped, when you still need to show results✅ How reading a job description twice instead of once changes what you should actually be highlighting✅ Whether hiring managers expect different things by country, or if it's really just about company stage✅ Why Sylvain thinks a narrow, specific niche beats trying to check every box on a job post✅ The values-based signal he built into his own hiring process at Ecosia that most candidates don't see comingLinks & Resources🔗 Connect with Sylvain on LinkedIn🔗 Learn more about Ecosia🔗 Sarah's book: The Product of You🔗 Ioana Teleanu's LinkedIn post that started this conversation 🎯 How I can help with your UX job search📋 Get my UX case study template👋 Follow me, on LinkedIn, Instagram, & YouTube
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  191: UX Portfolio Myth: Your personality is not what UX recruiters want in your portfolio (Myth 5 / 5) 07.09.2026 11мин

  Adding personality to your UX portfolio is one of the most repeated pieces of advice in the industry, and Sarah closes out her five part portfolio myth series by explaining why it's actually working against you. Personality and passion don't get you the interview. Proof does. That's the whole myth this episode takes apart.Sarah argues that trying to inject personality into a portfolio usually competes with the actual content instead of supporting it. A font chosen to feel "personal" can make a case study harder to read. Extra design elements, background flourishes, or animation pull attention away from the work itself, and animation in particular can even make some viewers physically ill. A personal logo shrunk down to fit a slide often becomes illegible. None of it proves you can do the job you're applying for, which is the one thing recruiters and hiring managers are actually scanning for.She backs this up with a line from Steph McDonald, lead recruiter at HubSpot focused on UX design roles, who compares a well edited portfolio to a fashion designer who puts on all her jewelry, then takes a few pieces off before walking out the door. The move isn't to avoid adding things you care about, it's going back afterward and cutting what isn't earning its place. Sarah's takeaway is direct, less personality, more evidence that you've done what the job description is asking for.This episode also wraps the full five part series. Sarah runs through a fast recap of all five myths, from project count to portfolio websites to showing failed work, and asks listeners who followed along to share whether it changed how they think about their own portfolio.Topics Discussed✅ Why personality and passion don't get you an interview, and what actually does✅ How trying to show personality through fonts, animation, or design flourishes can work against your portfolio instead of for it✅ Why a personal logo in your portfolio often backfires once it's shrunk down to a smaller size✅ What Steph McDonald, lead recruiter at HubSpot focused on UX design roles, said about editing a portfolio before you hit send✅ Why Sarah says the goal is proof over personality, and what that actually looks like in practice✅ A full recap of all five UX portfolio myths covered across the series✅ Where to learn more about Career Strategy Lab if your portfolio has been stuck in redesign mode for monthsLinks & Resources🔗 Episode 168 of the Career Strategy Podcast, Sarah's full interview with Steph McDonald🔗 Episode 187, Myth 1 of 5, on why you don't need three to five projects in your portfolio🔗 Episode 188, Myth 2 of 5, on why your portfolio doesn't need to be a website🔗 Episode 189, Myth 3 of 5, on why your case studies don't need to show the full UX process🔗 Episode 190, Myth 4 of 5, on why you can show projects that didn't launch🎯 How I can help with your UX job search📋 Get my UX case study template👋 Follow me, on LinkedIn, Instagram, & YouTube
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  190: UX Portfolio Myth: You can't show projects that didn't launch (Myth 4 / 5) 31.08.2026 9мин

  UX portfolio projects that didn't launch or didn't go as planned are exactly the kind of work recruiters and hiring managers want to see, not the kind you should hide. This is week four of a five part series on UX portfolio myths, and this episode tackles the belief that a canceled, pivoted, or unsuccessful project doesn't belong in your portfolio.Sarah pushes back on this directly. Smart hiring managers understand that things go wrong in real UX work all the time, and a project that didn't launch says nothing about whether you're a good researcher or designer. In fact, she argues that a messy or canceled project is one of the best opportunities to show how you adapt, collaborate, and think under real constraints, exactly the soft skills recruiters are trying to evaluate.She walks through common scenarios people worry about, like research getting cut entirely or not being able to run usability testing, and gives specific ways to handle each one in a portfolio. Rather than hiding the gap, she suggests explaining what happened, what you did instead, and what you would do differently with a do-over, which turns a limitation into a chance to show your thinking.She backs this up with a clip from her interview with Jeni Bible, a UX Manager at Home Depot and a Career Strategy Lab alum who is now hiring herself. Jeni's take is simple, projects get canceled constantly, and what she actually wants to hear is what you did, what you learned, and how you collaborated along the way. If you've been sitting on a portfolio project you assumed was too messy or unfinished to include, this episode makes the case for why it might be exactly what you need.Topics Discussed✅ Why a project that didn't launch doesn't signal that you're a bad researcher or designer✅ How to handle a portfolio project where research got cut or skipped entirely✅ What to include if you never got to run usability testing on something you worked on✅ The "do-over" framing Sarah recommends for showing what research or testing you would have done in hindsight✅ What Jeni Bible, a UX Manager at Home Depot and Career Strategy Lab alum, said she actually wants to hear about canceled projects✅ Why a canceled or pivoted project can be one of the strongest ways to show adaptability and collaboration✅ A preview of the fifth and final myth in the series, coming next weekLinks & Resources🔗 Episode 173 of the Career Strategy Podcast, Sarah's full interview with Jeni Bible on hiring and portfolios 🔗 Episode 187, Myth 1 of 5, on why you don't need three to five projects in your portfolio🔗 Episode 188, Myth 2 of 5, on why your portfolio doesn't need to be a website🔗 Episode 189, Myth 3 of 5, on why your case studies don't need to show the full UX process🎯 How I can help with your UX job search📋 Get my UX case study template👋 Follow me, on LinkedIn, Instagram, & YouTube
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  189: UX Portfolio Myth: Your case studies don't need to show the full UX process (Myth 3 / 5) 24.08.2026 14мин

  UX portfolio case studies don't need to walk through every single step of your process, and trying to do that is actually working against you. This is week three of a five part series on UX portfolio myths, and this episode tackles a big one, the belief that every case study needs to show the whole end to end process for a project.Sarah argues the opposite works better. Going deep into just one or two parts of a project beats trying to cram in everything you did, especially for projects that spanned six months, a year, or longer. Trying to show it all just skims the surface of everything and overwhelms the person reviewing it, which is the opposite of what you want.She backs this up with a clip from her interview with Alexander Zeh, former Head of Product Design at ManyChat, who said he's specifically listening for problem solving language, phrases like "I facilitated," "I unblocked," "I synthesized," because those signal maturity in how a candidate thinks, not just what they produced.The bulk of the episode is a screen share walkthrough where Sarah rebuilds a weak case study slide by slide, showing exactly what it looks like to go from a shallow "next, I made some wireframes" slide into one that explains the problem, the decision, the reasoning, and the impact. If your case studies currently read like a list of what you did, this episode shows you exactly what to change and why.Topics Discussed✅ Why cramming your entire UX process into one case study actually works against you✅ What Alexander Zeh, former Head of Product Design at ManyChat, said he's actually listening for in a portfolio walkthrough✅ A live screen share breakdown showing the difference between a shallow case study slide and one that goes deep✅ Why "next, I made some wireframes" is what Sarah calls a five alarm fire in a portfolio✅ How to handle a case study for a project that spanned six months, a year, or longer without trying to cram in everything✅ What questions your case study should actually be answering, beyond just what you did✅ Why you might choose to highlight different parts of the same long project depending on the specific role you're applying forLinks & Resources🔗 Episode 172 of the Career Strategy Podcast, the full interview with Alexander Zeh, former Head of Product Design at ManyChat🔗 Episode 187, Myth 1 of 5, on why you don't need three to five projects in your portfolio🔗 Episode 188, Myth 2 of 5, on why your portfolio doesn't need to be a website🎯 How I can help with your UX job search📋 Get my UX case study template👋 Follow me, on LinkedIn, Instagram, & YouTube
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  188: UX Portfolio Myth: Your UX portfolio does not need to be a website (Myth 2 / 5) 17.08.2026 18мин

  UX portfolio websites eat up months, sometimes years, of time that could be spent applying, and Sarah argues you don't need one at all. This is week two of a five part series on UX portfolio myths, and this episode takes on one of the most repeated pieces of advice in the industry, that your portfolio has to be a website.Sarah's counter is a portfolio presentation instead. It's free, doesn't require learning new software, takes weeks instead of months, and can be duplicated and tailored for each specific role in under an hour. She walks through a full comparison of time, cost, customization, and what she calls interview readiness, the idea that a presentation portfolio doubles as the exact thing you'll need to present in interviews anyway, so you're never scrambling to build something new once you land one.She backs this up with two hiring manager perspectives. Patrick Neeman, Director of UX and AI Experiences at Workday, told her he prefers presentations because that's the format his own team works in day to day. Steph McDonald, a lead recruiter at HubSpot focused on hiring UX designers, said presentations are completely fine as long as the craft level is polished. Sarah also shares Marcus's story, who got hired as a Lead Product Designer at NAVA after building his portfolio as a presentation instead of a website.If you've been stuck for months trying to wrangle a website builder instead of actually working on your portfolio content, this episode is a direct permission slip to stop, and a breakdown of exactly what to do instead.Topics Discussed✅ Why a portfolio website can actually hurt your first impression with recruiters and hiring managers instead of helping it✅ The alternative Sarah recommends instead of a website, and why it takes weeks instead of months to finish✅ A full breakdown of time, cost, customization, and interview readiness for a website versus a presentation✅ What Patrick Neeman, Director of UX and AI Experiences at Workday, said he actually prefers to see in a portfolio✅ What Steph McDonald, a lead recruiter at HubSpot, said about presentation portfolios and craft level✅ How Marcus got hired as a Lead Product Designer at NAVA using a portfolio presentation instead of a website✅ Why "link to portfolio" on a job application doesn't actually mean your portfolio has to be a website✅ The exact question to ask anyone who insists you need a portfolio website, and why most people can't answer itLinks & Resources🔗 Episode 155 of the Career Strategy Podcast, Sarah's full interview with Patrick Neeman on portfolio presentations versus websites🔗 Episode 168 of the Career Strategy Podcast, Sarah's interview with Steph McDonald on what recruiters want to see in a portfolio🔗 Marcus's episode, sharing how he built his portfolio presentation and got hired at NAVA 🔗 Last week's episode, Myth 1 of 5, on why you don't need three to five projects in your portfolio 🎯 How I can help with your UX job search📋 Get my UX case study template👋 Follow me, on LinkedIn, Instagram, & YouTube
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  187: UX Portfolio Myth: You don't need 3 - 5 projects in your UX portfolio (Myth 1 / 5) 10.08.2026 12мин

  UX portfolio advice is full of numbers that sound official but aren't backed by anything. This episode kicks off a five part series on UX portfolio myths, starting with the most common one: that you need three to five projects before you can apply.Sarah says the opposite is true. One strong, detailed project beats five surface level ones every time. She backs this up from an interview she did with Alexander Zeh, former Head of Product Design at ManyChat, who said he'd rather see one or two case studies that map directly to the job description than five that walk through every step of the design process without any real depth.The episode shares two specific examples. Laura got hired as a Principal Product Designer in cybersecurity with a single, unfinished feeling project still sitting in Figma slides, and was actually found and reached out to on LinkedIn before she even applied. Leon, laid off after 11 years at the same company and an author of a book on wire-framing, got hired after focusing on just one project instead of trying to rebuild an entire portfolio from scratch.If you've been stalling on applying because you don't have "enough" projects yet, this episode is a direct challenge to that belief, and a reason to ask where that number actually came from in the first place.Topics Discussed✅ Why the three to five project rule is a myth with no real backing, and where it likely came from✅ Why one detailed project beats five surface level ones, and what "confuse and lose" means for a UX portfolio✅ What a former Head of Product Design at ManyChat said he actually wants to see in a portfolio✅ How Laura got hired as a Principal Product Designer with one unfinished project, and was found on LinkedIn without ever applying✅ How Leon got hired after being laid off from an 11 year role, focusing on just one project instead of rebuilding his whole portfolio✅ Why working on your portfolio alone can make you more critical of it than recruiters and hiring managers actually are✅ The question to ask yourself if you believe you need three to five projects, and where to trace that belief back to✅ What Sarah says to look for in UX job descriptions instead of following a generic project countLinks & Resources🔗 Episode 172 of the Career Strategy Podcast, the full interview with Alexander Zeh, former Head of Product Design at ManyChat 🔗 Laura's episode, sharing in her own words how she got hired with one project in her portfolio🔗 Leon's book on wireframing for UX🎯 How I can help with your UX job search📋 Get my UX case study template👋 Follow me, on LinkedIn, Instagram, & YouTube
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  186: Why Positioning Is The Most Underrated Skill in the AI Era of UX 03.08.2026 26мин

  Positioning is quietly becoming the skill that separates people who stand out in UX and product from people who get left behind, especially now that AI can build almost anything in seconds. In this episode, Sarah makes the case for why the ability to build fast is no longer the advantage it used to be, and why knowing what's worth building, and framing it well, matters more than ever.Sarah traces this back to a belief she used to hold herself, that good work speaks for itself. It doesn't. She shares how she avoided a required public speaking class in college, only to realize later that the real skill was never about sounding polished or the delivery. It was about the thinking that happens before you say a single word, or type a single sentence, or design a single sales page.She also shares a recent story from her own business, where a team she hired to build an AI tool ignored the detailed context she gave them and rushed straight into building, producing a prototype that missed the mark entirely. She ended up building it herself, faster, because she had the clarity they skipped in the process. That story becomes the jumping off point for two ideas Sarah argues will define who stands out in UX and product going forward, knowing what's worth building, and framing the work so people actually say yes to it.If you've ever felt invisible in a meeting, passed over for a promotion, or like your UX job search ideas keep getting ignored, this episode reframes that feeling as a positioning problem rather than a skills problem, and gives a concrete way to start fixing it this week.Topics Discussed✅ Why "good work speaks for itself" is a myth that's quietly keeping talented people invisible✅ The real reason some ideas get funded, approved, or hired for in UX, and it's rarely because they were the best idea✅ A story about hiring a team to build an AI tool, and what happened when they skipped the thinking and rushed straight to building✅ Why knowing what's worth building is about to matter more than how fast you can build it✅ A real example of a stakeholder update that got buried, and the exact rewrite that would have gotten a faster yes✅ Why leading with the "so what" instead of the "what" changes how quickly people respond to your ideas✅ How the same positioning skill applies just as much to your UX job search, your portfolio, and a promotion conversation as it does to a pitch✅ A simple challenge to try this week on your next email, Slack message, or updateLinks & Resources🔗 Future Product Days in Copenhagen, September 22 to 24, where Sarah is giving a talk and workshop on positioning🎯 How I can help with your UX job search📋 Get my UX case study template👋 Follow me, on LinkedIn, Instagram, & YouTube
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  185: The one thing you can't DIY in your UX job search 27.07.2026

  DIYing your UX job search feels productive right up until you realize you've been doing it for six months, twelve months, or longer with nothing to show for it. If you've been telling yourself you're one tip away from finally landing interviews, this episode is worth sitting with.The core question Sarah asks is simple and a little uncomfortable: if you gave yourself three more months on your ux job search, your portfolio, or your resume, what would actually be different? Because more time doesn't automatically mean better results. More applications don't automatically mean more interviews. If you can't answer what you'd change, you're just planning to spend more hours doing the same thing that hasn't worked yet.Sarah backs this up with research from her own program, Career Strategy Lab. After analyzing over 1,700 responses from people who didn't join, the two most common reasons were not feeling ready, or wanting to keep trying the DIY approach first. But when she surveyed people after they did join, a pattern showed up just as clearly: regret over not joining sooner, and months lost to portfolios or ux job searches that stayed stuck.The episode also gets specific about the one thing Sarah says is genuinely hard to DIY, which isn't your resume or your portfolio. It's relationships and proximity to people who are actually hiring. She shares two real examples, Marcus and Heather, both laid off, both stuck after months of solo applying, and both hired only after they stopped going it alone.Topics Discussed✅ Why simply giving your job search "three more months" rarely changes your outcome unless your strategy actually changes✅ The specific question to ask yourself before committing to another few months of DIYing your portfolio or resume✅ What over 1,700 survey responses revealed about why job seekers hesitate to get outside help, and what those same people said after they finally did✅ The popular portfolio myth about needing three to five projects before you can apply, and why it can quietly cost you months✅ How one person got hired with only one project in her portfolio, and was found on LinkedIn without even applying✅ Why relationships and proximity to people hiring are the hardest thing to build alone, no matter how much networking you do on LinkedIn✅ How a referral from someone he knew got Marcus hired as a user researcher after six months of rejections and ghosting✅ How one person's post about her manager hiring a contractor turned into a job for someone else, which then led to five more people getting hired at that same company✅ Why being part of a smaller, closer network can make you more visible than posting into the endless scroll of LinkedInLinks & Resources🔗 Episode 122 of the Career Strategy Podcast, Marcus's full story in his own words🎯 How I can help with your UX job search📋 Get my UX case study template👋 Follow me, on LinkedIn, Instagram, & YouTube
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  184: Natalie got hired for a Director level UX role (and now she's the one hiring for UX roles) 20.07.2026 39мин

  Landing a Director level UX role doesn't happen by accident, and neither does becoming the person on the other side of the hiring table a few months later. Natalie Kurz did both. She spent six months on a UX job search after a layoff, landed a Director of Experience Design and Content role at NextGen Health, and within months found herself reviewing over 600 applications for her own open positions.Natalie spent 25 years in UX, most recently as a people manager, before being laid off last May. She joined Career Strategy Lab during that UX job search, and the shift she describes isn't really about tactics. She stopped using the "spray and pray" method long enough to get clear on what she actually wanted in her next UX role. She let her LinkedIn profile, UX network, and a background she almost left off her resume, do some of the work for her.What makes this episode different is that Natalie is now the one hiring for UX roles. A few months into her new position, she's already brought on multiple UX designers, including someone from Career Strategy Lab. Natalie now experiences the exact hiring process she was on the other side of not long ago. So this conversation moves between her UX job search story and what she now looks for as a UX hiring manager, which gives listeners a rare before-and-after view of the same process.If you're currently employed in a UX role and feel like your resume, portfolio, or LinkedIn presence isn't ready to go if an opportunity showed up tomorrow, this episode is worth sitting with.Topics Discussed✅ How a recruiter found Natalie and reached out about a completely unrelated UX role, purely because of how her LinkedIn profile came across✅ Why she eventually stopped applying to every job with "UX" in the title, and what she focused on instead✅ How a cold, polite message to a lead UX designer on a team she wanted to join turned into a warm handoff before she ever talked to a recruiter✅ The background she almost left off her resume entirely, and why it ended up being a key reason she got hired✅ What it was actually like reviewing over 600 UX applications as a hiring manager, and what made a resume or portfolio stand out in the first three to five seconds✅ The line she now tells every UX applicant about generic resume bullet points, and why it matters more than people think✅ Why she doesn't see contract roles, career gaps, or career changes as red flags in a UX resume, even now that she's the one hiring✅ How she uses AI to check her own UX hiring decisions for bias, rather than to write applications✅ Why she believes she'd be far more prepared for her next UX job search than she was for her last one, and what she does now to stay that wayLinks & Resources🔗 Episode 180 with Eric - UX Hiring Insights: Eric Shumake on Healthcare UX, Specializing, & Thinking of Your Career as Gigs​​🔗 Natalie Kurz on LinkedIn🎯 How I can help with your UX job search📋 Get my UX case study template👋 Follow me, on LinkedIn, Instagram, & YouTube
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  183: 3 Things I’d Do If I Was Laid Off From a UX Role Today 13.07.2026 19мин

  Just laid off from a UX role? If you’re tempted to open LinkedIn and easy-apply to every role with UX in the job title, don't do it! In this episode of the Career Strategy Podcast, Sarah Doody breaks down what she would NOT do after a UX layoff (e.g. play the numbers game) and the 3 things she’d prioritize instead. You’ll walk away with a clear order of operations: get specific about the UX role you want, get visible where hiring actually happens, and start showing up for the work you want to be hired for.🎯 In this episode we discuss:- Why easy-applying to every “UX” job backfires after a layoff- How to get ruthlessly specific about the UX role you actually want- Auditing past jobs and naming your “superpowers” (and why to ask others)- Where UX recruiters and hiring managers actually hang out- The LinkedIn order of operations: headline first, then everything else- Why turning on Open to Work is a signal, not desperation- What to post on LinkedIn so your profile gets found, without becoming a “thought leader”Timestamps00:00 Intro01:30 Why I wouldn’t play the numbers game in my UX job search02:50 Step 1 — Get specific about the UX role you want07:37 Step 2 — Increase your visibility13:23 Step 3 — Post about what you want to be hired for16:17 Putting it all together17:44 UX Layoff checklist + final word🎯 How I can help with your UX job search📋 Get my UX case study template👋 Follow me, on LinkedIn, Instagram, & YouTube
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  182: 6 ways you'll get hired in UX faster with Career Strategy Lab (the tour you've been asking for) 06.07.2026 10мин

  This episode is a full walkthrough of how you'll get hired in UX faster with Career Strategy Lab and exactly what happens after you join. Sarah shares what genuinely helps UX people in their job search, after coaching UX and Product people since 2017 and running Career Strategy Lab since 2021. What You’ll Learn in This Episode:✔️ The six things that help UX and product people get hired faster✔️ What your first 30 days inside CSL look like✔️ Why positioning comes before your LinkedIn and resume✔️ How the portfolio, case study, and critique process works✔️ How monthly recruiter Q&As and the 850-alumni referral network help you get hiredTopics Discussed:✅ The 6 things Sarah has found consistently help UX people get hired faster✅ How the first 30 days inside Career Strategy Lab are structured and why every step is intentionally sequenced to build on the last✅ What a Compass Statement is and why it comes before everything else in your UX job search prep✅ How getting clear on your positioning makes fixing your resume and LinkedIn significantly faster✅ How the weekly critique system works and why submitting imperfect work early beats waiting until everything feels ready✅ The monthly recruiter and hiring manager Q&A sessions: who shows up, what you get to ask, and why this is one of the most underrated parts of the program✅ How Career Strategy Lab's 850-person alumni network functions as a UX-specific job referral network and how members are actively using it to get hired✅ The open to work area, interview debriefs, and hired recaps and why watching other people get hired in real time is some of the most useful intel you can get in a job search🎯 How I can help with your UX job search📋 Get my UX case study template👋 Follow me, on LinkedIn, Instagram, & YouTube
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  181: How UX people are leveraging relationships to get hired with the help of Career Strategy Lab 29.06.2026 13мин

  The UX job market is rough right now. If your LinkedIn feed looks anything like Sarah's, you already know that. But while everyone is complaining about the market, almost nobody is focusing on the part of the job search they can actually control.In this episode, Sarah breaks down why the job market feels so impossible right now, including the surprisingly outsized role that one-click apply has played in flooding recruiters with hundreds of applications per posting and what you can do about it. (Hint: The answer isn't more applications.)Sarah shares real examples from inside the Career Strategy Lab community of how alumni are leveraging relationships to get referrals, introductions, and job offers, including one person whose hire two years ago has now led to four or five other alumni landing roles at the same company. The through-line is simple: the people who benefit most from their communities are the ones who actually show up in them.Topics Discussed✅ How the one-click apply button has made the job search harder for everyone and what that means for your strategy✅ Why relationships matter more than ever in this job market, and why you need to start building them before you need them✅ Why people say no to referral requests and how to change that✅ Real examples of Career Strategy Lab alumni using community relationships to get referral links, introductions, and job offers✅ How one hire two years ago has cascaded into multiple alumni landing roles at the same company✅ The difference between existing in a community and actually participating in oneLinks & Resources🔗 Jared Spool: Why is the UX job market such a mess right now?🎯 How I can help with your UX job search📋 Get my UX case study template👋 Follow me, on LinkedIn, Instagram, & YouTube
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  180: UX Hiring Insights: Eric Shumake on Healthcare UX, Specializing, & Thinking of Your Career as Gigs​​ 22.06.2026 58мин

  Most UX professionals spend years trying to be good at everything. Eric Shumake, founder of HXR Labs, spent 20 years getting really good at one thing and it kept opening doors he didn't expect.Eric is a principal UX researcher and a well-known voice in healthcare UX. His career has taken him through companies like Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Myriad Genetics, and AliveCor.He also teaches, including a popular course on Maven on breaking into healthcare UX, and has been exploring how AI can meaningfully (and responsibly) augment research without replacing the judgment that makes research trustworthy.In this episode, Eric and Sarah cover a lot of ground: how specializing almost always beats generalizing, what surprises people when they try to bring standard UX practices into clinical environments, why Eric thinks of every role as a gig, and what he'd prioritize if he were managing someone's job search like a product.Topics Discussed✅ Why specializing beats generalizing and how to niche down even when it feels risky✅ How transferable skills work in practice: why experience in one highly regulated industry (like finance) can open doors in another (like healthcare) ✅ The biggest blind spot people bring into healthcare UX✅ Why "recommendations are where insights go to die" and how to tie research to decisions and numbers so stakeholders actually act on it✅ Treating every role as a gig and why that mindset is more practical than it sounds in today's job market✅ Why posting consistently on LinkedIn is one of the highest-leverage things a UX professional can do in a job search right now✅ Where AI genuinely helps in UX research (desk research, competitive analysis, automating the time-consuming parts) and where to draw a hard line✅ What neurodivergence in the workplace looks like from the insideduring a job searchLinks & Resources🔗 Eric Shumake on LinkedIn🔗 HXR Labs🔗 Eric's Maven course on breaking into healthcare UX🎯 How I can help with your UX job search📋 Get my UX case study template👋 Follow me, on LinkedIn, Instagram, & YouTube
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  179: Feel Burnt Out & Invisible in Your UX Job Search? How Emmanuel Re-Entered the UX Job Market After a Career Break 15.06.2026 31мин

  Re-entering the UX job market after years away is harder than most people expect, especially when you're doing it alone.After 12 years at Constant Contact, growing from associate interaction designer to principal UX designer, Emmanuel relocated, took a deliberate career break, and then tried to re-enter a job market that had completely changed. He spent three months rebuilding his portfolio alone, then another three months applying and hearing almost nothing. His LinkedIn hadn't been updated since 2017. He burned out.In this episode, Emmanuel shares what finally got him unstuck; why working on his resume, portfolio, and LinkedIn in parallel changed his messaging faster than tackling them one at a time; how early feedback from coaches and a community shortened iteration cycles he'd been stuck in for months; and what shifted when he started applying only to roles that actually fit. He's actively interviewing now, and the inbound LinkedIn requests have started coming in too.Topics Discussed:✅ What re-entering the UX job market after a long tenure at one company feels like and how to close the gap✅ Why working on your resume, portfolio, and LinkedIn in parallel sharpens your message faster than doing them one at a time✅ How long iteration cycles quietly stall your progress and what to do instead✅ Why submitting imperfect work for feedback early is one of the highest-leverage moves you can make✅ What AI tools genuinely help when job searching and where human judgment still matters more✅ The confidence cost of mass applying✅ What changes when you get more selective about the roles you apply to🎯 How I can help with your UX job search📋 Get my UX case study template👋 Follow me, on LinkedIn, Instagram, & YouTube
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  178: Stop Mass Applying: How Carlos Got Hired in UX and Promoted to Senior Product Designer 08.06.2026 25мин

  If you're sending dozens of applications per day and you aren't hearing back, this podcast is for you.Carlos was applying to dozens of UX jobs a day, swiping through listings like a job board version of a dating app, and hearing almost nothing back. Out of hundreds of applications, he got two responses and both were rejections, but he knew he was a good designer.In this episode, Carlos shares how he went from mass applying with no traction to landing a product designer role at Covenant Eyes and then getting promoted to senior product designer within the same year. He talks about what changed when he stopped treating the job search like a numbers game, how he used the same frameworks he learned in Career Strategy Lab to make his case for a promotion once he got there.Topics Discussed:✅ Why mass applying isn't productive and what to do instead✅ How to use the skills from your job search to land a promotion✅ Why confidence in interviews matters more than having a perfect portfolio✅ A portfolio website vs a portfolio presentation✅ How research a hiring manager before your interview helps you stand out✅ How the skills you learn during your job search transfer directly into your work after being hired✅ Why waiting until you feel confident enough to start is the wrong approachLinks From This Episode:🔗 Free UX Case Study Template🔗 Career Strategy Lab Syllabus🎯 How I can help with your UX job search📋 Get my UX case study template👋 Follow me, on LinkedIn, Instagram, & YouTube
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  177: Getting ghosted in your UX job search? You're not invisible — you're unpositioned 01.06.2026 22мин

  Are you getting ghosted in your UX job search despite knowing you're qualified? When you have 5, 10, 15 years of experience and you're applying to 20+ jobs a week without hearing back or you're not making it past the first round, it's natural to start thinking you're the problem.You're not. You're just unpositioned.In this episode, Sarah makes the case that ghosting is usually a positioning problem, rather than a skills issue. Positioning is how you communicate what you do, who you do it for, and why it matters. It's the thread that connects what you've done in the past to what you could do for a team if they hired you. When that thread is missing, recruiters and hiring managers move on because your materials aren't clearly paining the picture for them.Sarah walks through what it actually takes to fix your positioning, starting with the one foundational step most people skip: getting clear on who you are and what makes you different, before touching your resume, portfolio, or LinkedIn.Topics Discussed:✅ Why getting ghosted in your UX job search isn't usually a qualification problem✅ What causes recruiters to move on from your resume✅ What "positioning" means in the context of a UX job search✅ The step most people skip that ties everything together✅ How applying to fewer jobs can get you more interviews✅ Creating a Compass Statement and how it acts as a filter for every career asset you create✅ How niching down your job search to a specific industry or type of company can transform your UX job searchLinks From This Episode:🔗 How to stand out as a candidate by focusing on your benefits vs features🔗 Developing your positioning through a career roadmap and compass statement🔗 Free UX Case Study Template🎯 How I can help with your UX job search📋 Get my UX case study template👋 Follow me, on LinkedIn, Instagram, & YouTube
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  176: Stuck at the Final Round of UX Interviews? Andrew Re-Did His UX Portfolio and Got 3 Offers (Including Blue Origin) 25.05.2026 59мин

  What do you do when you have years of experience, you're making it through rounds of interviews, but you still aren't getting offers? For Andrew, the answer was scrapping his entire UX portfolio and starting over.Andrew had been applying to jobs for a year. He was making it to the final interview rounds at companies like Facebook, Amazon, and Google, but he wasn't getting offers. On paper, everything looked great. He couldn't figure out what was missing.Eventually he did. After six years at GE, he'd gotten so deep in the work that in interviews, he'd talk at length about how interesting the products were and the intricacies of the industry. He was selling the products instead of himself. So he scrapped everything and rebuilt his portfolio around a single core message: what he does, what he's good at, and what he can bring to the companies he's applying to. The clarity changed how he talked about himself in interviews. By the end of each conversation, hiring managers knew exactly who he was and how he'd be an asset. Three offers followed, including one from Blue Origin, where he accepted a role that brought him back to the intersection of hardware and software that drew him to UX in the first place.Topics Discussed:✅ The difference between selling the product you worked on versus selling yourself to a potential employer✅ The value of working on your resume, LinkedIn, and portfolio in parallel rather than sequentially✅ Why making it to the final round but not getting the offer might signal a problem with your portfolio✅ How perfectionism and long iteration cycles quietly destroy your confidence and what breaks the pattern✅ What it looks like to rebuild your career materials around a single core message and how that clarity shows up in interviews tooLinks From This Episode:🔗 Free UX Case Study Template🎯 How I can help with your UX job search📋 Get my UX case study template👋 Follow me, on LinkedIn, Instagram, & YouTube
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  175: How to Deal with NDAs When Creating Your UX Portfolio 18.05.2026 14мин

  NDAs stop a lot of UX professionals from including their best work in their portfolio, but they might not be the obstacle you think they are.Sarah has spent nearly a decade coaching UX professionals, and one of the questions she gets most often is how to handle NDA-protected work in a portfolio. In this episode, she walks through what NDAs typically do and don't restrict, how to write about protected work without violating your agreement, and why UX recruiters and hiring managers aren't looking for pixel-perfect deliverables (and what they are looking for instead.)Sarah also shares a concrete example of how to frame a confidential project in a way that's compelling, specific, and respectful of any agreements you've signed. If you've been leaving projects out of your portfolio because you weren't sure what you could share, this episode is worth a listen.Topics Discussed✅ What NDAs actually restrict vs. what most people assume they restrict (they're not the same thing)✅ A concrete example of how to write about a confidential project without naming the company, showing screens, or violating any agreements✅ Why UX recruiters and hiring managers care far more about how you think than what the final product looked like✅ Practical ways to include visuals from protected projects without revealing anything proprietary✅ How NDA concerns often uncover the real problem: not knowing how to structure a UX case study✅ How to go back to a former employer and ask the right questions to clarify what your NDA actually allows✅ Why your UX portfolio doesn't have to be a website and how a presentation format can sidestep a lot of NDA concerns entirelyLinks From This Episode:🔗 Free UX Case Study Template🔗 UX Hiring Insights: Alexander Zeh of ManyChat on Diverse UX Teams and Standout Portfolios🔗 UX Hiring Insights: Ben Peck on UX Generalists, Soft Skills, & Standout Portfolios🎯 How I can help with your UX job search📋 Get my UX case study template👋 Follow me, on LinkedIn, Instagram, & YouTube
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  174: The Bar to Stand Out As A UX Candidate is Lower Than You Think 11.05.2026 17мин

  Have you been applying to UX jobs you know you're qualified for and still not hearing back? Chances are, your experience isn't the problem, it's how you're presenting it.After nearly a decade of coaching UX and product professionals and reviewing thousands of resumes, portfolios, and LinkedIn profiles, Sarah has seen the same red flag mistakes show up again and again. The candidates making them are talented, experienced designers who simply were never taught how to market themselves.In this episode, Sarah breaks down one major red flag mistake for resumes, portfolios, and LinkedIn. Spoiler alert: fixing it doesn't require months of work.Sarah also shares the story of Jonathan, a UX director with 20 years of experience who was getting ghosted on 75% of his applications. He was qualified, but his materials weren't telling his story effectively. Once he addressed the right things, he landed an executive-level role at the University of Houston.Your materials don't have to be perfect... they need to be 10% better than everyone else making the same, avoidable, mistakes.Topics Discussed✅ What hiring managers and applicant tracking systems are silently penalizing you for✅ Why showing deliverables without context, process, or decision-making is leaving hiring managers cold✅ What to put in your LinkedIn headline instead of just your job title and company name (and why)✅ How to optimize your LinkedIn profile for the algorithm✅ How to rewrite vague resume bullet points so they communicate scope and outcomes✅ Why talented UX professionals with years of experience still struggle to get interviews✅ How to break out of the perfection trap that's keeping you in research modeLinks From This Episode:🔗 Free UX Portfolio Case Study Template🔗 Optimizing Your LinkedIn Headline🔗 How to optimize your resume for the ATS so you can get more UX job interviews🔗 EP 170: Jonathan's Journey From UX Layoff to UX Executive🎯 How I can help with your UX job search📋 Get my UX case study template👋 Follow me, on LinkedIn, Instagram, & YouTube
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  173: UX Hiring Insights: Jeni Bible, UX Manager at Home Depot, on How She Got Hired, What She Looks for in Candidates, & Presenting UX Case Studies 04.05.2026 1ч 2мин

  Do you ever wonder what happens on the other side of a UX job application, like who's reading your portfolio, what makes them keep going, and what makes them close the tab? Sarah sits down with Jeni Bible, a UX Manager at Home Depot who has a uniquely full-circle perspective.Jeni went through Career Strategy Lab, landed her role at Home Depot just four months later, and is now the hiring manager evaluating candidates for that same type of position. Jeni brings 27 years in the design industry, starting as a graphic designer, running her own agency for two decades, and making her way into UX through e-commerce. She now leads the online UX team at homedepot.com, focused on critical touchpoints like checkout, payments, and promotions.In this conversation, Jeni gets candid about what she looks for in a portfolio, why most candidates miss the mark in interviews, and what she told recruiters to help them filter the right people for her team. If you're in the thick of a UX job search or considering a career pivot, this interview with Jeni will be insightful.Topics discussed in this episode:✅ How to get your application through a UX recruiters initial filter✅ What portfolio format impresses UX recruiters more than a polished personal website✅ The questions to ask a UX recruiter that the job description won't answer✅ Why UX recruiters want to see failed tests and pivots, not just polished outcomes✅ The panel interview move that almost always advances candidates to the next round✅ How to include a canceled project in your UX portfolio without it hurting your chances✅ Home Depot's UX career ladder explained and how contractor roles can open the door✅ How Jeni uses peer feedback as a hiring managerLinks From This Episode:Home Depot CareersContractor DepotTimestamps:00:00 Introducing Jeni Bible, UX Manager01:13 Online vs. enterprise UX at Home Depot02:32 Jeni's 27-year path into UX05:35 Translating agency experience to in-house roles07:47 What to ask recruiters on the first call11:32 How CSL helped Jeni find direction15:04 Tailoring a portfolio for a manager role22:36 From 1,500 applicants to 1024:07 Password-protected portfolios29:08 What Jeni looks for in case studies33:32 Candidates who don't ask about the team36:27 Let the hiring manager choose your case study39:22 Video case studies and prototype demos that stood out41:48 The art of the pause during portfolio presentations49:40 How to handle a canceled project in your portfolio51:27 Reaching out on LinkedIn: what works, what doesn't🎯 How I can help with your UX job search📋 Get my UX case study template👋 Follow me, on LinkedIn, Instagram, & YouTube