Inspired by Scott Berkun’s emphasis on building good relationships in his excellent talk on the top mistakes UX designers make, I’ve decided to make public an edited version of my job search “cheat sheet.” I originally drafted it last month in preparation for an interview.  Now, in addition to researching the specific company I’m interviewing for, and drafting questions particular to the role, company and hiring manager, I also re-read this writeup. It’s a nice refresher on who I am and what I bring as a person and potential teammate. Particularly helpful to have in my mind when I’m nervous! One of my biggest strategies going into interviews, by the way, is to be myself.  I do the research, draft the questions, review what hard skills I can bring to the role, but I put time aside to remember and work on the fact that being myself is one of the most important things I can do in an interview.

It never would have occurred to me that this writeup could be useful to other people except that I left a hard copy on the kitchen table and my roommate happend to see it, then asked if she could have a copy.  It’s been in the back of my mind to perhaps share it more widely. Blogging about Scott’s talk prompted me to finally do it.  This cheat sheet mostly concerns my soft skills and personal work and UX philosophies (not what prototyping tools I’m most comfortable using, for instance):

What do I want in a company

• Ability to grow and learn and get better and better.
• The ability to have impact.
• Work on important problems.
• Good relationships. To be around people I personally like and respect and where there’s a feeling of camaraderie. Where people help each other succeed. Where someone else’s success is also my success.

What do I like about X company

• From my research and what I can tell…. (You’ll need to modify this for each company)
• X company is working on problems I care about/am interested in, etc… (your research will lead you to reasons why you’re excited about working for X company)
• The UX role sounds exciting because….

Personal Work Mottos:

• Relationships, relationships, relationships. Relationships are the grease that makes things happen.
• Do what you say you’re going to do.
• Ask for help when you need it.
• Be clear on expectations. What other people expect of you and what you expect of them. Communication is so important!
• Have fun, listen, be humble, think big.
• Make friends with smart people in your industry. Have a pulse on what’s going on.
• Share knowledge. Appreciate and acknowledge success.
• Contribute your expertise to the whole team. Do what you do well, and share what you can with others.
• Have fun!

Personal UX Mottos:

• Problem solving is fun.
• You are not the user.
• Important question: how do we understand the user (goals, motivations, who they are)?
• What other pieces of the pie do we need to understand to prioritize: business needs? Budget? Decision makers? What story do we need to tell to make our case? How do we involve people in the decision-making process?
• The field is constantly evolving. Keep your eye on smart people who are part of building the new platforms.
• Make sure to keep an understanding of the big picture (cultural trends) and small picture (best practices + tested methodologies).

Strengths

• I’m passionate about UX + [hopefully something else connected to what the company is doing. [Give an example. For instance, a tweet, article that inpsired me, conference I’ve been to, etc]
• Idea generation and brainstorming
• Optimism and creativity
• Passion, enthusiasm, and domain knowledge about X
• Listener and empathy

* I love really listening to people. And am trained in it!

*Good at understanding behaviors and motivations.

• Thinker

* Big-picture strategy, context, and details.

* Connecting the dots: “You can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards, so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something—your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever—because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference.” ~Steve Jobs

 * Enjoy thinking through the different elements of what will make a good experience on a website or app.

* Natural ability to see what kind of information would be good for people to interact with and have good ideas on how to present it to them.

• Making things happen, putting ideas into action.
• Drive for developing my craft

I’m eager to learn and absorb everything I can related to UX so that I can get better and better and better and better (into infinity!)

• Collaborating with others

 * I’m good at identifying good ideas, but open to being proven wrong. Not forever wedded to an idea.

* Adept at picking my battles, and knowing what are the ideas that are worth advocating for, and really pushing on the things that matter.

• Fun to work with, and have a good sense of humor. I love people, and it shows in my work environment – both with clients and co-workers.

Final thoughts: be sure to think carefully through and come prepared to answer the question, “what are your weaknesses?” Also, research the hiring manager’s (and other people who will interview you) LinkedIn profile, website, Twitter feed and whatever else you can get your hands eyes on.  See if you connect with anything that person cares about or is interested in.  The point is to make a human to human interaction more possible in the interview. If you end up not getting the job, then at least you’ve made a human connection with someone and gotten better practice for the next one. 

[Note: I may be adding to this over time.]