Now this is a lesson that’s close to my own heart.

I can honestly say that the proudest moments

of my career have been mentoring junior designers. The feeling of nausea when seeing your
website finally go live, hearing someone give you a rave review or even the proud moment of
showing your friends and family your latest project, nothing comes close to the feeling of helping
someone else. This is the main reason why i’m putting this course together, to help you.

One of the catalysts for this course is over the past few years the industry has been through
such an explosive growth stage there is more and more competition right now for junior roles.
It’s harder than ever to get your career started. If you have come to this course because this is
you or you are thinking about starting a career in UX/UI then you have come to the right place.
What we are going to look at now is a few techniques to help you stand out from the crowd.

Attached to this lesson is a document I put together with the not so unique title of “How To Make
Your Portfolio Stand Out”. Make sure you download this, it’s straight to the point and gives you a
few tips to make sure you are maximising your potential and standing out to clients when job
hunting. I’ve been hiring designers for over a decade and seen lots of good and bad examples
of portfolios. Let’s get this straight, your portfolio is the most important asset as a designer you
possess so it needs to be right.

When researching for this course I found out some cool insights into the industry that after 10
years even I didn’t know. Simple things like the terminology you use is important, 63% of hiring
manager use the job title UX/UI Designer, that’s how the name of this course came about. I’m
pretty sure over the years I’ve heard at least 20 different job titles ranging from web designer,
UX developer, Information Architect and many more. Just to make it simple, if you're just
starting out stick to UX/UI unless you are a specialist in either one. I’ve even been a senior
digital application designer in my time so let’s just make things easy for everyone.

When starting out as a junior designer I was very keen on getting an internship. Luckily I
managed to get one designing magazines, well more like getting the coffee at British Vogue.
This kickstarted my career and led to other internships around that company and eventually a
job in Wired magazine. This really is a great way to stand out from the crowd, and no matter
what anyone says it’s always an advantage to be inside the company when applying for a job.

When it comes to your application and interview process, your portfolio will be the main talking
point. In this industry it’s more important than your CV and really conveys what type of designer
you are and even puts your personality across. Because UX/UI is quite an interactive discipline
it’s really important to show that you are a great team member and willing to go above and
beyond the call of duty. Design is a passion to so many and this is your chance to shine.

I always advise people who don’t have that much experience with large clients to let their
imaginations free with a concept project. If you spend the time to give yourself a task of re
imagining a large brand, tell a story and really showcase your skills then this more and makes
up for any lack of experience in house.
It’s important to remember that your portfolio isn’t just a dump of all your work. It’s a platform to
shine and tell stories of each project, explain your thought process and really bring the hiring
manager into your world for a few minutes. If you can achieve this then you will stand out. Not
all of your work needs to be in here, it should be tailored and time should be taken to treat it with
respect. Make sure that you have an online version as well as a PDF for offline viewing as many
managers still print out your portfolio.

The main thing that managers are looking for nowadays is that you have a great understanding
of UX tools. With so many on the market it’s not vital that you’re an expert in each one but you
should have a solid understanding of the main ones. Sketch seems to be the industry standard
at the moment so make sure you're up to speed in this. Don’t worry if you're not yet, if you check
out our premium course UX/UI Design Fundamentals we cover this in detail and you will be a
pro in no time. You can find this over at antony-conboy.teachable.com/courses.

When looking for jobs out there make sure that your linkedin profile is up to date. This is where
most of the industry hang out and there are lots of specialist recruiters out there looking for
UX/UI designers to place with their clients. When you start to grow into your career you will start
to receive job offers through linkedin so make sure if you haven't got a profile you sign up now,
it’s free and don’ forget to add me as a connection, just search for Antony Conboy and drop me
a message.

Make sure that you sign up for the main job boards, I always find that indeed.com has lots of
UX/UI opportunities and check out linkedin jobs as well. UXHop.com is a specialist UX/UI jobs
site that I also run so make sure you check it out and sign up for free, no pressure! Make sure
you add fellow ux designers on linkedin and drop them a line about internships. You can always
try your luck contacting the head of the design department or the founder of small agencies,
here you will probably do more than making tea anyway.

If you have any questions just drop me an email at antony@uxhop.com and i’ll try to help you
out. In the final video we are going to look at the next steps you should take on your UX/UI
journey. See you there.