174: The Bar to Stand Out As A UX Candidate is Lower Than You Think

About this episode

In this episode, Sarah Doody discusses common mistakes UX candidates make in their job applications and how to effectively present their experience.

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…

People in this episode

Host: Sarah Doody

Topics covered

• UX job applications
• resume mistakes
• LinkedIn optimization
• candidate marketing
• hiring manager insights

Keywords

• UX jobs
• resumes
• portfolios
• LinkedIn profiles
• job applications
• candidate marketing

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Houston

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

• 178: Stop Mass Applying: How Carlos Got Hired in UX and Promoted to Senior Product Designer · June 8, 2026 · 26 min
• 177: Getting ghosted in your UX job search? You're not invisible — you're unpositioned · June 1, 2026 · 23 min
• 176: Stuck at the Final Round of UX Interviews? Andrew Re-Did His UX Portfolio and Got 3 Offers (Including Blue Origin) · May 25, 2026 · 59 min
• 175: How to Deal with NDAs When Creating Your UX Portfolio · May 18, 2026 · 14 min
• 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 · May 4, 2026 · 1h 2m
• 172: UX Hiring Insights: Alexander Zeh, Head of Product Design at ManyChat, on Building Diverse UX Teams, Scaling Design Teams, and What Makes a Portfolio Stand Out · April 27, 2026 · 55 min