Layoff season and what that means for entry-level UX[Nov 2022]

When I was graduating in mid-2020, every single one of my classmates that year lost their internships. If not outright, they were impacted. These were roles that we had been interviewing for since August 2019. For reference, there were an estimated 170,000 open roles according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Currently, in September 2022, there are an estimated 225,000 open roles in the recent report by the USBLS. If we’re going to make an apples-to-apples comparison of what is happening now compared to the market back then, it’s entirely possible that we will enter another recession and the fallout will likely be the same. The senior product designers you read about will be just fine and you will be laid off or waiting for Q’1 financials to come out for new openings.

In this article, we will talk about the lesser-known reasons for hires and layoffs that no bootcamp, certification, and maybe even college programs will talk about.

Table of Contents
- Current Job Market
- Colleges, Bootcamps, Certifications
- How the Industry Hires
- My Strategic Advice(based on Education Level, Age, Circumstance)
- Hiring Rubric
- My recommendations to everyone

In 2020, many of us were at the top of our class with early tech/FAANG experience or successful startup backgrounds. We were all laid off. Our salaries were not the reason for a quarterly financial. We were all laid off. Many of us were double-majored summa cum laude graduates. We were all laid off. Let me be the first to say, it’s really not you. From one student to another, my focus is to get you through this recession in the best shape possible based on your specific situation.

Since 2020, I reckon I’ve done close to 100 final-round interviews for all the jobs I’ve worked at. I’ve completed 55 contracts in Branding, Marketing Design, Print, OOH, UX Design, and Product Design. I’ve put in more than 80-hour work weeks of absolute misery since 2020 to guarantee that I would never be in that position again.

I don’t want to waste your time so here are the most prevalent harsh truths that you can take now if you aren’t landing roles. I’ll organize them in the order I believe will create the most impact.

Low-Hanging Fruit to fix

• Storytelling: roundabout, has no purpose, or has no common ground

Storytelling is quite hard, and there’s nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to learning this craft. However, there is a correlation between great writing and great storytelling. Read as much as you can. Read things you are naturally curious about. Stop listening to podcasts that are endless banter and listen to ones that are about specific topics whether it be about engineering, fashion, etc.

• Proof of Concept: you have no real work or no one to back your work

Imagine building a soccer team since the World Cup is around the corner.

Even the greenhorn bench players still proved their worth in their municipalities/divisions on why they should be considered for the national team. So what is your proof that a company should hire you AND can you verbalize that? We don't talk with our feet in UX. Our industry revolves around social proof or technical proof. You tell me which one is easier to get proof of.

• Points of Parity: no “aha” connection or no authenticity

Every company has its own set of principles and values that matter to them. Every digital file has a chance to create this intimate “aha” moment. However, oftentimes, too many bootcamp graduates post things that have no nature in a portfolio.

We psychologically place people into categories. We process a large quantity of data and our brains simplify the conversion of data to a broken binary system: I can condense this person into 1 sentence or I cannot.

• Sarah is a mixed-method UX Researcher who’s worked in edtech.
• John is a Product designer with 6 years of UX experience.
• Tom is a UX Content Strategist with a successful blog.

I place storytelling as the first point because the best portfolios tell a story. A natural story has natural pain points that people can empathize with. A natural story has points of parity to which the reader can relate.

• Presentation: lack of physical presence, lack of practice, or untargeted messaging

Have an online portfolio, pdf with links to your work, with 15,30, AND 45 minute decks done in PowerPoint, google slides, or keynote. Full stop.

Practice with REAL people. People lose interest during a meeting, it is YOUR job to get them back to being interested or realize that one side or both sides of the table are wasting their time in the interview.

• Time Management: Your case studies lack realistic boundaries

Time Management is a show-by-example case. People naturally digress. Some storytellers have a way with words while others should just stick to a rigid format at first. Storytelling is a skill that is learned on the job. So start with a beginning, middle, and end format and go from there.

Too many times I hear a story with a great beginning. Then out of nowhere, I get hit with 5 middle paragraph-styled digressions to end on an undigestible conclusion by cramming 5 distinct points into an afterthought that is your conclusion.

I would put time management right next to storytelling but for the vast majority, if you skip the presentation and points-of-parity aspects of becoming a UX designer, I doubt you will even get a return interview.

UX & Product will continue to grow, but will you survive the recession?

I’ve noticed the same signs of a recession that I went through that you will most likely go through yourself. Many of you attending college or fresh out of college may have received internships, externships, and apprenticeships. For your sake, do not even entertain the thought that you are safe.

You are safe when you have a full-time offer signed and working on a live operation or soon-to-be live operation. Product and UX is one of the first departments to go into recession. In the best-case scenario, I am wrong and you can keep on and carry on.

If I am right, and I would stake my career that I am right, you will be in the same situation I was in 2020. So what is the cure for a recession? There are quite a few options!

• Go to School or Upskill(Education not only upskills you but it buys you time to find a job)
• Go Travel(Spend time finding yourself. I’ve been traveling for work this past year, and it is shocking how many people don’t have hobbies.)
• Go government-side(governments rarely lay off, in general. What this does is buy you time and de-risks your work experience.)
• Go freelance (There’s too much thought leadership out there, go work freelance and stop buying these damn useless books.)

If you guessed the pattern, the answer is either buy yourself time or go find work opportunities with smaller budgets like freelancing, working non-profits, or building your own B2B or B2C company.

Current Market: Are you getting work experience?

This article will be about the more pragmatic side of the UX hiring cycle that bootcamps, certificates, and colleges choose to not inform you about.

Woody, you did a certification in UX Design and you went to college.

That is very true. I have a dual degree in Product Design and Innovation from a top 40 school and a now total of 3 years of relevant work experience. So why do I champion work experience over education-based case studies?

The reality is that no one cares about your degree. Show me your strategy and execution and nothing else matters to 80% of hiring committees.

Colleges

So why do so many people still go to college for product design if what they teach you in the courses is not industry standard? Networking. You’ve probably heard this word thrown around in the traditional sense. Networking may look different to everyone but the prime example of how networking pays dividends is common ground. The more points of interest you have with a particular person increase the likelihood of a positive reaction instead of a neutral one.

Secondly, and this is one of the largest benefits of accredited college programs, is that internships are easier to get for a very specific tax incentive only for accredited colleges. Internships are the majority of how students turn from complete unknowns to full-time employees.

So why do companies prefer hiring a college grad over a bootcamp grad? Simple. Internal Revenue Code Section 127 is a negotiation piece that allows companies to pay interns from accredited programs much lower by offering tax-deductible benefits. The legal language surrounding this is that it must be a qualified educational program that does not include bootcamps[General Assembly, DesignLabs etc] or certifications[Google UX certification].

Disclaimer: There are college programs that I do believe are great investments. The reason I do not recommend them is due to their low rate of acceptance. So for the many people who do not have the time, money, or overall resources to go to schools like the University of Washington HCI, University of Berkeley UXD, UMichigan HCI, or comparable programs, I understand. All of these programs are worth every penny as long as you apply yourself and graduate.

Bootcamps

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting bootcamp grads in NYC, Austin, Los Angeles at meetups, conferences, hackathons, and networking events. The majority who had gone in person are hard workers however, many of them were fighting an uphill battle.

College students in product design are working towards a degree, which in this time and day, still means something. It’s not much, but it, unfortunately, gives you a boost when you go through ATS(I hate ATS).

Bootcamp grads, on the other hand, are on a 6 months timetable, which means that you could just be on the wrong cycle for jobs. There has never been a recession that lasted under a year. Hence, the war of attrition goes to masters and undergrad students who can choose to hibernate in the cold hiring seasons to come.

So what is your only advantage as a bootcamp graduate? You have a claim to understanding UX fundamentals. While that may not sound like much, it's all you have. So what is the equalizer in opportunities between you and a college student? Work Experience.

As a bootcamp graduate, your most economical option is to either freelance or look for short-term contracts because your certificate says as much as a college degree. That message that we get as employers is…

You have nothing concrete to show

I harp on bootcamps because as a Lloyd Grief scholar in venture feasibility and product-market fit. I’ve studied pricing strategies for the past few years and this is what I’ve come to realize.

If you succeeded in getting a job before graduating from a bootcamp, you were already going to be successful doing a certification at a tenth of the price. If you are still keen on a program, find the one that can sell you the best because they all roughly teach you the same concepts(I hope). The real MVP is that part of the tuition money you put up for the certification goes towards people who will send your resume out on your behalf and help control the narrative that you push.

The major issue around bootcamps: How can you sell someone as unique when everyone's website looks the exact same.

Certifications

The certifications are great! I especially love the ones that are super cheap AS LONG AS you get work experience. I personally did the Google UX Certification and it was quite informative as a basic understanding of UX. I learned a great deal as a UX generalist from the course but there are specializations that come attached with certifications.

Before you make that career switch, do a certification to save the $6,000 USD on a bootcamp that you don’t even enjoy to prevent you from being burnt out on an $80,000 USD salary and no promotions increases because genuinely don't like UX Design anymore.

The State of Junior UX hiring: Walk a step in my shoes

Imagine you attend a UX Design conference and you had 3 minutes with 100 UX Designers. Would you tell people you do?

Now, think about your answer. Was it unique? Is it memorable? Would anyone want to follow up with me after those 3 minutes?

The average Junior UX designer role receives close to 600 applications.

600 candidates for a single Junior UX posting! Let’s say they want to dedicate 3 minutes for screening people. Well first, ATS would get rid of any applications without any portfolio or do not follow hiring guidelines(maybe we don’t sponsor H1B visas). Typically this weeds out 250 applications. Another 50 candidates have 0 portfolio links to their work so they get weeded down to 300 viable candidates.

Hiring Process: Imagine you are now me

Picture this: You work a 40-hour job as a UX Designer. You are told one day to interview 2 new hires. You still need to get your work done AND now hire someone who will fit the company culture. Since you don’t owe anyone time outside of work, you dedicate only the time your company offers you which is typically up to 2 hours but can also be a few minutes between meetings and projects.

You get 300 viable applications. Jeez, Louise! You don’t have that time. Let’s simplify this process. You’ll go through the first 50 applications and parse the ones you like.

You parse through the first 50 resumes and applications and throw 10 portfolios into the interview pile for your boss to review. My god, it is already lunchtime. You have a pitch to stakeholders right after lunch and typically spend the last 15 minutes of lunch practicing the keynote pitch. After your pitch, you have work to do.

Keep in mind, there are 250 unviewed applications at this point.

You are left with 10 tabs of industry-ready portfolios. In those 10 tabs, You’ll SKIM a case study per candidate to find anything that would disqualify them: Lack of attention to detail, bad insights, or lazy copy. Of the 10 tabs, you really appreciate the targeted messaging that relates to the company mission and vision of 5 candidates.

In the interview stages, you find 2 great candidates, then the 250 unread applications are discarded.

That’s the brutal truth. You could have been application #51 with the right material. Welcome to Jr. UX hiring where the runt of the litter dies.

Here’s the order I would consider for the first 50 applicants.

• Did you receive a referral(if we even referral)
• What is your relevant work experience?
• Did you receive any relevant education?
• Are there any names that I can recognize?
• Do you have a website that is easy to get to?

Does this process sound superficial to you? Congrats! You have mastered the art of identifying a problem!

The market for entering Junior UX professionals is competitive and bootcamps are losing their value exponentially. If you’ve read my progression into UX in my other articles, none of what I am saying now is new. I’ve met close to 3000 UX professionals at 67 conferences, panels, and meetups across 7 design-forward countries and the one thing I’ve come to realize is that many Junior UXers are fighting an uphill battle which is spending way too much time applying and not getting work experience.

So here’s the chicken and egg situation that I was in and one that you are probably mucking around in:

How do I get industry-ready if all the companies I apply to reject me?

The whole 3 case studies and apply to LinkedIn model is slowly dying. I still recommend you make a portfolio[no vercel, no adobe portfolio, no figma portfolio]but as a temporary fix to fill it with real work. If you read my article on doing freelance work, it still holds true to this day and will be even more lucrative to start now than when I did back in March 2022.

Current Job Market:

If you’ve been living under a rock these past few weeks, we’ve entered layoff season with a looming recession that's about to make this situation 10x worse.

Intel with a head count of 170,000 has declared a 10% layoff

DocuSign with a head count of 3,000 has declared a 9% layoff

Microsoft with a head count of 200,000 has declared a .5% layoff(so far)

Meta with a head count of 87,000 has declared a 15%-30% layoff

Let’s not talk about Twitter(RIP), Netflix(RIP)

Companies that have already laid off: Coinbase, Wayfair, Twilio, Google, Nvidia, Amazon have already started laying off earlier this year. My guess for the next 2 years is that 50% of UX jobs will disappear pending the actions of the Federal Reserve Board.

Layoff Count — USBL, Blind, LinkedIn, TechCrunch

Tl;Dr : A glut of talent(re-entrants) is now available

Welcome to the first carrot and the stick dilemma you will face. You aren’t necessarily competing with 10,000+ professionals. The first thing that my friends at Coinbase did when they were let go was to take a month-long vacation. Many of my other friends in product and UX went freelance.

What this means for you as a new entry

The air is thinner, but not impossible to breathe. We are slowly heading toward a recession and the job market is being sucked dry.

Signs of a recession

1. The rise in gas prices
2. Fed increasing rated more than .5% on 10-year bonds
3. SPY dipping below -25%(-57% was ’08)

Yes, there are companies that are still offering internships, externships, and apprenticeships but less than usual.

For the time being the large-cap UX departments are shedding their intern class to realistically match matriculation rates to Full-Time Employment Offers(FTE Offers). Smaller UX Internship classes are signs of a recession AND stiffer competition.

I asked in a blind study if other employers were pausing internships. Nearly 80% of 2023 graduates will be locked out of a Full-Time offer after their internship.

Hiring based on who you are

I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing candidates for my old positions, and the extreme displeasure of interviewing at companies with positions like UX/UI/Product Web Developer(No God, No! Please!) There’s a difference in energy when I’ve interviewed industry professionals with >1 year of experience and bootcamp grads all the same and here’s what’s noticeably different.

1. Rehearsed introduction about yourself(be concise and identify what makes you… well, uniquely you.

Tips to follow: Practice with anyone,

start with your background(ask your friends/family/co-workers) Hi, I’m [name], (I went to this school of xyz/I have a background in xyz). From my background I was able to do xyz metric/task/achievement. Here are my recent accomplishments and I want to join this next company because of xyz mutual benefit

2. Understanding how short 15 minutes actually is(10–12 minutes to present, 3–5 minutes for questions)

In those 10 minutes, you have to present your case study in a logical way that still hooks your interviewer in an interesting way.

Typically in a format here: we are looking for a Problem-Hypothesis-Test

Example: How would you fix healthcare way finding?

If I asked this question, I guarantee 9/10 of bootcamp grads would have started working on a solution. Start asking questions. Healthcare is a huge sector. Start by clarifying the scope.

Once you have the scope, ask about the timeline for delivery and then the budget if you are going product-side whereas UX Designers should be asking about the target metrics if applicable.

3. Have a portfolio, presentation deck(15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour), optimized resume.

This is where work experience sets the difference in my honest opinion. Presenting real work here is like watching a quarterback throw a pass in a game. Presenting a case study is watching a quarterback run a throwing drill.

The difference in presentation is the lack of obstacles that are commonly found in the product space. Maybe a list that you need is not allowed to be copied over. Another common problem is that your quantitative research disagrees with your qualitative research. Seeing a live example sets the difference in how a certain employee will work in the real world.

If you are still in college

Go to events and network within your college and surrounding areas. Pick the conferences that you want to go to carefully. It is in your best interest to go to hackathons and cities like San Francisco, Austin, Los Angeles, New York, and Boston. Why these cities? These are the 5 largest congregations of UX and Product teams. By attending conferences and events hosted by the companies you are interested in, you are making yourself a known entity for companies. This is when you can start to make cold references about who you met from the company previous to the interview or initial call.

If you are a post-grad, bootcamp grad

Go freelance if you are struggling to find full-time work. With the income that you generate from contracts, focus on events you want to go to. Not only are these conferences 100% tax deductible, but it also lowers the total tax you pay for the upcoming year. Expense literally everything because you will still pay close to 32% on whatever you make. Any chance you get ot go to an event that revolves around the industry you are interested in, you book a flight and room to stay in to meet those individuals.

If you are a certificate holder

Build a portfolio and leverage free resources like ADPList, Designed.org to craft your story in the meantime. Start practicing with friends on 15-minute pitches while doing freelance roles. Once you start getting contracts coming in on a frequent basis, start practicing with product designers and UX designers in your circle.

Added bonus

Hiring Rubric(Do not follow to a tee, you aren’t a robot, right?)

1. Can you communicate well? 15-minute conversations, 30-minute conversations + case study.
2. Did you take initiative in what you wanted to show me vs did I have to initiate everything? Either is fine but be relentless in your approach. Also, read the room.
3. Do you fit the culture? Some of the jobs I’ve worked have no oversight from management and they don’t tell you when to update them

If and only if these 3 things check out, I want to see how you built your case study. *If you show me real work examples, bonus points..

Case Study

Is it a generic case study and did your research align with the goal at hand to be generic? If the answer is true, focus on telling a compelling story and forget the numbers and research details.

Was it a compelling story to begin with? Focus on the metrics.

When you were presenting, were you relaxed for a time? If I could have any complaint during the hiring process was when candidates would present without practicing. Not to be confused with nervousness, there shouldn’t be a break in the overall storyline. If we went through my computer right now, you would see over 150-15 minute loom recordings of myself presenting. Add my phone and google chat logs and we would see 60–80 calls to industry professionals that sat through my presentation until I performed like clockwork.

Two takeaways: Practice Tonality and Storytelling. We all have our personalities and will present differently. The candidates who were able to tweak their energy to give a more grounded tonality during the metrics and upbeat energy when telling anecdotes did far better in the consideration process.

Remember to take a deep breath. Recessions are a part of the overall economy and 2023 does not look friendly toward those who spend too much time working on your portfolio and instead focus on finding work. Create a strategy and follow through with execution. Rinse and repeat until you are happy with the outcome.