What is Wrong with Hiring

How to Manage in the Messy UX Job Market with Jeremy Miller

In this special episode swap, Amy joins Jeremy Miller, host of Beyond UX Design, for an in-depth conversation about the state of the UX job market.
We touch on some familiar topics around the mass tech layoffs, but the primary focus of our discussion looks at how job seekers can manage their response to layoffs and navigate the job search during a chaotic time.
Plus a fun April Fool's Day Joke... 
Links
Check out Jeremy's Podcast, Beyond UX Design
Grab his book, Beyond UX Design: Master Your Craft Beyond Pixels and Prototypes, for 10% off
Watch the recording of our live Q&A on the state of the UX job market
Episode transcript
Support our work:
Please rate our show, spread the word, or hit us up with a lil contribution! This shit costs money after all.
Got a hiring topic request? Reach out to Amy on LinkedIn and we can cover it in a future episode.

You Asked, We Answered - Listener Grab Bag #3

Today we answer some great questions from our fabulous listeners! Hope it helps!
Is it worth applying to jobs on LinkedIn and Indeed?
We're supposed to network to find a job, but what do you do when no one you know has an open role? 
When hundreds or thousands of people apply to a job in just a few days, should you even bother?
Why does it seem like companies are hiring more UX contractors these days? What does it mean for the future of the field?
What are some UX research-adjacent careers that pay the same?
With more companies wanting hybrid designer-researchers, what does this mean for the evolution of our skill sets?
Why are companies passing up on qualified, extending the process in search for the “perfect candidate" (who may not actually exist)?
Why do I keep seeing the exact same jobs getting reposted every few months for nearly 2 years now?
This episode is sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design. Learn more about their Executive Program in Design Leadership here.
Episode transcript
Support our work by leaving a rating and review, or throw us a few bucks for coffee and beer!
Got a hiring topic request? Reach out to Amy on LinkedIn and we can cover it in a future episode.

Playing the Game: Mitigating Bias in Hiring with David Dylan Thomas

What can job seekers, hiring managers, and companies do to mitigate bias in hiring? In this conversation with writer, speaker, consultant, and all around awesome guy David Dylan Thomas, we discuss the individual and collective actions we can take to alleviate the burden on candidates who just want to get a damn job.
Buckle your seatbelts for an adventurous exploration of cognitive biases in hiring, how to address common concerns like resume gaps and layoffs, the ugly origins of employer-employee power dynamics and exploitation, risk taking and self-censorship, the dangers of AI (because of course), and the role of *gasp* tech worker unions in creating a more equitable hiring processes. 
Plus a sneak peek into Dave's zombie-social commentary film project, White Meat!
Episode transcript
Links
David Dylan Thomas
This episode is sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design. Learn more about their Executive Program in Design Leadership here.
Support our work by leaving a rating and review, or throw us a few bucks for coffee and beer!
Got a hiring topic request? Reach out to Amy on LinkedIn and we can cover it in a future episode.

Reading the Room with Joe Cardillo

Amy chats with coach, trainer, speaker, and founder of The Early Manager, Joe Cardillo (they/them), about how we can use research and emotional intelligence to "read the room" when interviewing—i.e., figuring out the context of the organization, team, and manager to ascertain fit and effectively position ourselves to land the role.
We cover:
Asking specific questions to get specific answers
 
Questions as a form of positioning
 
The importance of researching an organization's business model, funders, product roadmap, reporting structure, public earnings reports, and other items
 
Explicit and implicit values, and corporate performativity
 
Self censorship and and professional risk-taking
Episode transcript
Links
The Early Manager
Connect with Joe on LinkedIn and Mastodon
Albert's List Job Search Community
Black Remote She
Finding Your Ideal Tech Role, Elisa Valdez de Ramirez
Support our work by leaving a rating and review, or throwing us a few bucks!
Got a hiring topic request? Reach out to Amy on LinkedIn and we can cover it in a future episode.

What the heck is going on with the UX job market?

Feeling slightly depressed, Amy talks about the state of the UX and tech job market in the US, which is complete shit show right now. She tries her darnedest to make sense of what's going on and what we might expect in the near-term, based on existing data sources and job seeker sentiment.  
Original post
Episode transcript
Support our work:
Spread the word about our show, leave a rating and review, or hit us up with a lil donation!.
Got a hiring topic request? Reach out to Amy on LinkedIn and we can cover it in a future episode.

Professional Branding (Ew!)

Laura and Amy discuss the really unpleasant topic of "professional branding" (ew!), and try to make a bit more palatable and relevant.As awful as it sounds, putting a bit of effort into how you show up in the world and tell your story can be beneficial for a job search, career development, networking, and professional opportunities.And don't worry, it doesn't mean you need to become a Thoughtfluencer TM with a massive following!
Links
Episode transcript
[Panel Event Recording] Job Search Strategy, Taking Risks, & Telling Your Story, Research Ops Community
Personal Branding Ruins People's Lives
Dre Beltrami - No BS Branding (podcast)
Personal branding for people who hate personal branding
Why 'Build Your Personal Brand' Is The Worst Career Advice Ever  
Brand or be branded — Beautiful Trouble 
How to Design a Bio, Part 1 - nikki espartinez
How to Design a Bio, Part 2 - nikki espartinez
Building & growing a (digital) reputation - nikki espartinez
 
Got a hiring topic request? Reach out to Amy on LinkedIn and we can cover it in a future episode.
If you're so inclined, we'd love your help in spreading the word about our show with a rating and review on your favorite podcast app.
And if you're feeling extra generous, we would appreciate a financial contribution to support our work!

Assessing Design Maturity with Hang Xu

Amy chats with Hang Xu, a former UX designer and the founder of Collective Supply, an independent design talent firm, about assessing organizational design/UX maturity during job interviews, and whether or not it matters. 
We cover:
Hang's backstory, how he got into talent management, and his excellent satirical LinkedIn content
The state of design & tech hiring today
The philosophical, historical, cultural, and practical onion of design maturity and its impact on the satisfaction of UX pros
How to find a decent job and workplace wellbeing based on our personal definitions of design maturity, and our career and life priorities
Looking for mature teams in times of job scarcity—can we be selective?
Balancing the desire for impact and quality with the realities of organizational constraints and our individual capacity
And some existential questions like Does true design maturity even exist?, How much should we care?, and Can UX be just a job?
Links
Hang's Design Maturity Repo
Episode transcript
 
Got a hiring topic request? Reach out to Amy on LinkedIn and we can cover it in a future episode.
If you're so inclined, we'd love your help in spreading the word about our show with a rating and review on your favorite podcast app.
And if you're feeling extra generous, we would appreciate a financial contribution to support our work!

You Asked, We Answered - Listener Grab Bag #2

For this episode, we answer some listener-submitted questions, including
How do I answer those annoying questions like "tell me about a time when you had a difficult stakeholder" or "a challenge with a teammate", especially when I don't have a good example?
How do we deal with the farce of companies expecting everyone to have a cogently designed professional brand and career when sometimes we choose jobs based on things that have nothing to do with that concept in the slightest? 
In this tight UX job market, how do I convince myself to wait for an opportunity that I know is a true fit for me, rather than taking the first role I’m offered?
What are hiring processes actually optimized for? Do people really know what they're doing when assessing candidates? (short answer: a lot of the time, no). 
Do Amy & Laura actually drink while recording the show?
Episode transcript
 
Got a hiring topic request? Reach out to Amy on LinkedIn and we can cover it in a future episode.
If you're so inclined, we'd love your help in spreading the word about our show with a rating and review on your favorite podcast app.
And if you're feeling extra generous, we would appreciate a financial contribution to support our work!

Hiring Horror Stories Part 3 - Hiring Managers

We're wrapping up our Hiring Horror Stories series with more spine chilling anecdotes from hiring managers who, like their job seeker counterparts, must also regularly deal with unacceptable levels of hiring clusterfuckery. 
In Part 3, we share some terrible tales from our listeners featuring major organizational incompetence, pompous candidates, frustratingly fickle decision-makers, and more. We like to think that a couple of the stories have happy endings, so hopefully that alleviates some of the awfulness. 
Episode transcript
 
Got a hiring topic request? Reach out to Amy on LinkedIn and we can cover it in a future episode.
If you're so inclined, we'd love your help in spreading the word about our show with a rating and review on your favorite podcast app.
And if you're feeling extra generous, we would appreciate a financial contribution to support our work!
 

Hiring Horror Stories Part 2 - Candidates

Today for Part 2 of our Hiring Horror Stories series, we continue with more terrible tales from job candidates. 
 
Episode transcript
 
Got a hiring topic request? Reach out to Amy on LinkedIn and we can cover it in a future episode.
If you're so inclined, we'd love your help in spreading the word about our show with a rating and review on your favorite podcast app.
And if you're feeling extra generous, we would appreciate a financial contribution to support our work!