Making Connections in a Brand New Field

Originally posted on Medium.

They say that "who you know" is what actually gets you jobs, but what if you're trying to break into an entirely new industry? Here are my personal experiences in building a network "from scratch."

This is part 2 of a 4-part series on job hunting based on my experience. Though I share my experiences about getting a job in UX, I hope that most of the takeaways can be applied to almost anything. This article is for entry-level folks or folks who are breaking into a new career. See the links at the very end to access the other parts of this series.

Most of my interviews came from connections or skilled recruiters that I was introduced to through connections. My job offers were a result of connections. I don’t think I got a single call from any application I blindly submitted to job postings. And why would they pick me? I had no mention of a UX role in my resume. So yes, connections are important especially as an entry-level candidate. But how do you actually meet and foster these relationships?

2nd Wave Outreach

In our last post, we talked about the 1st wave of outreach which involves talking to people you’ve already had at least some prior contact with. The 2nd wave should extend beyond the people you already know. During the development and building of my MVP Portfolio, I started to reach out to people that others had already recommended to me and even made some cold approaches.

Where did I find people to cold email? LinkedIn makes this SUPER easy but I actually found Twitter to be incredibly helpful too! Twitter may not be the platform for EVERY field but I found a healthy, active UX community on there. It’s also a great way keep in casual touch with contacts that you meet at networking events, etc.. Whenever I saw a video or article I enjoyed, I would reach out to them on Twitter and thank them directly. If you want them to follow you so you can have more in-depth convos, I found this very simple tweet helpful:

“@____ Hey! I had a question for you about UX, can you follow so I can DM you?”

or

“@____ Hey! @___ and I had coffee today and she said I just HAD to meet you! Follow so I can DM?”

I also reached out directly to people who had interesting career histories on LinkedIn and great portfolios. You won’t always get an answer though I have noticed one thing that helps. Reach out once you have at least ONE portfolio item or SOME sort of work to show. It is so easy to get lost in the sea of people wishing to be X but people are willing to help when you have some initial work to show AND you have specific questions based on research.

Some examples of emails I’ve sent out during this time:

[Name removed],

Late last year, I was inspired by your keynote on “Designing Your UX Career” and even tweeted about it as I worked on some portfolio pieces [link].

I eventually turned those sketches in a little “redesign project:” https://bit.ly/1UfBU0J  I’m working on my portfolio now and wondered if I could get your feedback on a UX case study I just finished: [link]. No worries if you can’t, as I know you are busy, but I’d LOVE your input as your keynote has been a big factor in my career strategy. To give you some context, I have 5 years of exp as a freelance web designer and have been a software consultant for the past 2 years. I am looking to break into UX in either Design or Research.

Let me know if you would be open to providing feedback and I’ll send over my portfolio. If you are open to it, a phone or Skype call would work too! But again, no worries if you can’t. I wanted to let you know that your video motivated me.

Thanks so much! Hope you are having a great week.

Havana

A warmer email:

[Name removed],

It was SUCH a pleasure meeting you! Atlanta is such a small world, I am still amused by the fact we both know [mutual contact]. He mentioned that you’d be an awesome and insightful person to connect with and learn from! I graduated back in 2011 so I am still developing my career, though I successfully ran my own graphic design business for 5+ years while in school full time. I’m always eager to learn about other people’s professional journey, especially women.

If you are open to it, I’d love to drive down to PCM and get coffee with you sometime! I know you are busy, so absolutely no hard feelings if you can’t. Nonetheless, thanks and have a wonderful weekend!

Havana

Your phone or in-person conversations should now tackle deeper, more detailed subjects. You can ask about their specific experiences getting into the field but by now, you should not have to ask basic questions like “How does one get a job in X field?” Take the advice you gathered from your first wave outreach and build upon that. Example questions:

• I’ve heard that the best way to break into this field is to look for positions at really large companies. Is that true? What are your thoughts on that?
• Here’s a draft of my resume. What are your thoughts? What should I exclude/include?
• If you were in my shoes with [constraint A] and [constraint B], what would you devote your free time to?
• When you were hiring people for your UX team at [Company], how did you determine who you’d hire?
• What do you wish you knew when you started in this line of work?
• Do you think it’s worth my time to [tool]? If not, what should I learn instead?
• What’s the best way to handle the hands-on prototyping section of an interview?

You can also give them into a peek at the work you’ve done on your MVP Portfolio so far and ask:

• Is it clear what my skills are? Alternatively, ask: what would be three skills you’d gather from this portfolio/case study?
• What’s confusing about the case study/portfolio?
• How can I improve this?

Constantly share your gameplan and get input. It is so easy to get caught in the weeds and lose sight of the trees, continually adding more to your to-do list. There were so many times where I was told that I was doing too much and to forget X or Y and just focus on making Z shine. For example, someone told me “If you don’t want to do development, why are you making these coding or HTML/CSS classes such a priority?”

“Well I want to be as skilled as possible to make myself marketable!”

“You are already SO good at visual design. Instead of spreading yourself thin, I’d further develop your design skills so you can be GREAT at visual design.”

I promptly crossed HTML/CSS from my “top priority” list. It felt good. And now I had more focus.

Another new addition to our 2nd wave outreach plan: ask specifically for introductions. When you strike up a good rapport with someone, ask, “So is there anyone in the field you really think I should be talking to or getting advice from?” It’s not always obvious how one can help you, so it helps to be direct and specific.

But again: always give a graceful way to bow out! You never want to make things awkward later on and you don’t want to force people to do anything they don’t feel comfortable doing.

And finally: ask how you can help them. You are currently taking, taking, taking and to become a valuable contact, you should always open your door to help too. They might not need help with anything now, but always keep that door open in the future.

At this point, you should also start making regular appearances at meetups and events. It’s okay not to be super interactive at first. You can still be a knowledge sponge. The goal at this stage is just to meet people and build face recognition. Just say hi to people and just establish some sort of initial contact. Be as consistent with your attendance as you possibly can and you will start building a few relationships. Get involved. Help with set up and clean up. Meet the organizers. Share articles, threads, tools, and tips. Here’s where that extensive research from earlier will help! If someone relevant pops up in convo, you can easily follow up with a link to that article, podcast, video clip, etc. Someone mentioned at a meetup that she started in architecture and now is seeking a career change in UX so I linked her to this Vox video on deaf-friendly buildings since it was a fascinating overlap between those two fields.

Connect with anyone and everyone. Don’t be a jerk. Be helpful and supportive and open to collaboration! I personally didn’t get a chance to collaborate as much as I would have liked as I had other projects going on but here is an example of how two job seekers could help each other. If you are in business development looking for work and you meet a developer looking for work, you two could collaborate on the same case study/portfolio piece. They could build a product and you can write up a business plan for it. Hell, maybe even see if you can find partnerships or get a company to use it!

Lastly, this may not be for everyone but presenting at meetups is the ultimate cheat code when it comes to job hunting. You force all attention on yourself, you get to show off your work and talk about it, and you also demonstrate your ability to explain your process. That last part will come in handy for interviews later. This is actually how I caught one recruiter’s attention who eventually helped me land my gig!

Finishing the MVP Portfolio + 3rd Wave Outreach

Once you finish up your MVP Portfolio, including getting feedback and making necessary revisions, pat yourself on the back! You should also have a resume that has gone through feedback and revision.

Now that you have something concrete to show off, this is an excellent excuse to touch base with all the people you’ve already connected with in your 1st and 2nd waves of outreach. People love seeing their advice in action. No one wants to give advice only for that person to disappear. I’ve also been on both sides of the fence on this now and I absolutely adore updates from students who show me what they’re working on or how they’ve progressed in their goals. Anytime you reach an exciting milestone in your job search, don’t be shy about touching base with people.

Here’s an example:

[Name removed],

Hope your week has gone well and that things are working out with the new dog! I just wanted to follow up and give you an update on my UX endeavors. It’s been an amazingly productive month so far!

You helped me narrow down my to-do list and so I decided to use these past two months to build my portfolio and continue doing my informational interviews. Your advice has proven to be super fruitful.

My portfolio is now done and I’ve been expanding my contacts, who have continually introduced to me other UXers in town. I also presented my Tap App prototype at the Ladies That UX Show and Tell. The audience loved it: two recruiters, a creative director, and a design lead all came up to me to get my information afterwards! I’m really excited about the progress so far. You can see my portfolio here [link] and a video of my presentation here [link].

Would love your input! Anyways, just thought I’d reach out and update you. Off the top of your head, do you know anyone that I should connect with right now? No worries if no one pops up, just thought I’d ask.

Have a great week!

Havana

In this 3rd wave of outreach, you should from now on be specific and direct about wanting opportunities. You should mention: “If you know of any UX Designer or UX Research opportunities, let me know! You can pass my info and portfolio to anyone you think would be a good contact..” You can also ask “Are there any recruiters you’d recommend that I connect with?”

Some people will have critique on your portfolio or case study and that’s okay. Welcome the critique. This is great practice in detaching your personal feelings from critique as well. Make revisions if you have time, but remember this isn’t a “perfect portfolio.” It should be good enough to show off. Not perfect, not half-assed, but good enough.

Portfolio-building does not end here but you can start easing up on this and start ramping up the networking efforts. In the end, my portfolio accumulated 5–6 pieces in total. But 3 is where I started sending it out as a showcase of my skill/work.

So that’s the prepwork to get started. In the next part, we will talk about maintaining and building relationships as well as prepping for interviews and staying sane in the face of rejection and stagnation.

Part 1: Research and Prep for a Career Change

Part 3: Interview Prep

Part 4: Staying Sane During a Job Hunt