From Academia to UX: How Ellen Got Hired As A Content Designer at TD Bank

Intro: [00:00:00] Hey, I’m Sarah Doody, a user researcher and product designer with 20 years of experience. In 2017, I noticed something a little ironic. UX and product people, despite being great at designing experiences for other people, often struggle to design their own careers. That’s why I created Career Strategy Lab and this podcast to help you navigate your UX job search, grow in your current role, and avoid skill and salary plateaus all in a chill and BS free way.

So whether you’re. Stuck in your job search or wondering what’s next in your UX career. You are in the right place.

Episode Intro: Hey, this is Erin. I am one of the coaches inside of Career Strategy Lab, and I wanna let you know that this episode you’re about to listen to, number one, is awesome. And number two is actually from our open house. So in this conversation, you should know that there were other people on this call and there was a live audience.

So if some of the editing seems a little bit weird or abrupt, that’s why it should still make sense [00:01:00] for you. There’s so many gems of wisdom to grab from this episode, so we hope you enjoy, and if you do like this format where you really can get to know someone and learn more about their career journey, please let us know.

You can send Sarah a LinkedIn message, or you can email hello@sarahdoody.com. We love the feedback and we wanna create more of what you enjoy and find helpful. All right, let’s get into the episode.

General Intro

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Sarah Doody: We are really excited for you to be with us today. I’m Sarah Doody, in case we haven’t met yet. I’ll share more about, uh, myself later. Essentially I’ve been working user experience for 22 years, and in 2017 I kind of, unexpectedly, uh, came into this world of UX career coaching, which some of you know me from.

And so today we’re really excited to do a q and a with, people who have gone through my UX career coaching and, and job search program. So really two purposes. Number one, so you can hear [00:02:00] from real people in terms of. What is working right now you know, in the past year or so, uh, regarding the job search, et cetera.

And also give you some practical tips for maybe your job search right now. And also help you better understand what I do inside my UX career coaching program in case you are thinking of joining it. So that’s our little. Outline for today, if you will.

Ellen Intro

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Sarah Doody: So, Alan, we would love to hear a little brief , intro of who you are, what you do in the world of UX and what you’re doing right now.

Ellen Lippert: currently I’m a senior content designer. I work within Ava, but I’m contractor for TD Bank and I’ve been there for two and a half years. It’ll be three years in February.

Prior to prior to CSL and prior to this position I have right now, I was actually a college professor for about 17 years. I was a full professor. I was chair of my department and kind of spontaneously decided I [00:03:00] didn’t wanna do that anymore. So that’s, at that point I found CSL and I was able to transition into the position I am now, which I really enjoy.

It’s, it’s a, it’s, my big fear was that it wouldn’t be creative, that I wouldn’t be able to use, you know, my brains and my creativity and I absolutely have been able to. So I really appreciate that.

Sarah Doody: Awesome. I know we have people here who are in the middle of, or thinking of switching careers, so your perspective is gonna be really awesome.

And you’ve been in the TD Bank role like. Ever since you

Ellen Lippert: I’ve been in the same place.

Sarah Doody: Yeah. Yep.

Ellen Lippert: Yep. Three years in February. So that was a job I was hired into. Amazing. And I’m still there. Yep, yep. Yeah.

Sarah Q1

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Sarah Doody: alright, so I am really curious to kind of kick off our conversation around you know, confidence comes up so much not just in our careers, but also our job search, whether it’s confidence in your portfolio, in your resume, and your ability to succeed in interviews and et cetera.

Ellen A1

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Sarah Doody: But [00:04:00] Alan, like, tell us a little bit more about. Where your confidence was at as a job seeker you know, before you joined Career Strategy Lab and however far you were able to get in your job search before Career Strategy Lab.

Ellen Lippert: so I was in academia. I don’t know if there’s any other academics on the line, but we’re sort of, you know, trained to think that we can’t do anything else. Even though clearly we can think and we can learn, you know, uh, I was still thinking there’s nothing else I can do. And I remember distinctly one day I was just Googling, what else can someone with a PhD do?

And I can’t believe I even had to ask that question, but I honestly didn’t even know what else I was qualified for if I wasn’t gonna be in the classroom. And so, UX writing popped up. Like sales writing popped up long form writing, you know, all kinds of writing stuff. And I, I did enjoy the writing part of it, and UX writing really drew me to it.

And so, uh, I decided to start like building something on WordPress. It was awful. I tried to submit [00:05:00] some you know, applications to various places thinking that, that my credentials were gonna be enough, right? And nobody, nobody cares about that. And so as I was continuing to sort of look around, I stumbled across CSL and I, you know, watched the videos and I looked into it and I tried to find out as much as I possibly could, and I decided to just sort of take the leap you know, sort of invest in myself for a change.

And one of the, probably the most important things I learned right away is that. I, I did have these skills, I did have valuable skills. I just didn’t really know how to talk about them. I didn’t know how to frame them in a way that was relevant. And so that was probably the most helpful thing for me with CSL.

You know, the templates were amazing. But learning how to think, what does somebody need me to do and how can I show them that I can do it That was probably the best thing for me, the most helpful thing for me. And once I figured that out, I was like, well, yeah, I can do anything.

Come on, bring it on. You know? So it was, it was great. It was really [00:06:00] great.

Sarah Doody: Well, that, that leads me to kind of a follow up question of like, do you remember what specifically it was that helped you unlock that, that idea of, wait a sec, I can do this. I do have these awesome skills that it sounds like you, you were not confident in those skills before.

Mm-hmm. Was there something specific.

Ellen Lippert: Yeah, it was, it was the template. It was, you know, the, the really long one where you’re supposed to answer all the questions as in depth as you possibly can. And then of course you’re gonna cut it down. But as I was, I was going through and I was, you know, you write your first surface level, here’s my skills, here’s my skills.

And then the more I thought about it, I was like, well, these are also skills and these are skills and these are skills. And I, it began to occur to me that the things I didn’t even realize were skills were skills, right? I just thought everybody can do this. Why do I even, why would I even write this down?

And so when I started to write it down and I started to see it on paper and I started to think about, you know, all the different ways that I could express those things that I thought everybody else [00:07:00] could do, I realized this actually sets me apart. This is great. And so, it was, it was definitely that template just sitting down and actually thinking about it.

’cause I never really had before, you know? So that was probably it.

Sarah Doody: Yeah, it’s part of that career roadmap step where you’re writing the mm-hmm. The Compass statement mm-hmm. As I think what you’re referring to. Yeah.

Ellen Lippert: Yes, that’s right. Yep. Yeah, absolutely.

Sarah Doody: for everyone, the, the compass statement is kind of like, an elevator pitch for you, but more in depth, and it really serves as a compass, which I, why I called it a compass to help you, such as Ellen said, like, identify and believe in the skills that you have, and also communicate that externally through your resume, your portfolio on your LinkedIn, et cetera.

So, yes. Mm-hmm. Compass statement, very powerful.

Ellen Lippert: It really is.

Sarah Doody: so we’ve heard a little bit about like where you were before you joined Career Strategy Lab and kind of [00:08:00] what the first little bit of time in career strategy Lab was like, and how it helped kind of set you on the right course to be able to go into the making of your resume portfolio, et cetera.

But I’m curious concerning. Any mindset shifts, and I use mindset a little bit usefully. It could be like myths you had about the job search or yourself, or the hiring process.

Ellen A2

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Sarah Doody: But Ellen, does , anything come to mind concerning mindset or myths, et cetera, that kind of unlocked for you as you were moving through Career strategy lab?

Ellen Lippert: uh, this one is sort of a more of a general life one, but it wasn’t something that I, I really fully embraced until I, you know, I, I look at going through CSL, like stepping out of this career that I had spent my whole life planning for and then stepping into something completely different. That was, that was a huge moment for me, right?

That, that marked a shift in my life. And so, when I, when I thought about it, what I, what I told myself early on, you know, when I, [00:09:00] when I kind of like took out a loan, you know, to pay for CSLI was like, this, this is an investment in myself, right? Mm-hmm. So, and it, it was something I knew I wanted to do, but also it was something I knew I could do.

And so I thought of it as like that three 11 song where, you know, you, you bet on yourself because you’re your own, you know, best bet. And as funny as that sounds, there’s so many levels to that that have resonated me with me. And so, as I went through CSL, it, I, I was, I wanted to believe that, right? I, I wanted to, and I was building up that confidence.

But until I actually succeeded, until I actually got to where I wanted to go, then everything was different. Now I carry that with me everywhere, right? So if I’m unsure of something, but I really wanna try it, I really wanna do it. I say, just do it. Bet on yourself and just do it. You know? So that was, that was really a big deal for me.

Sarah Doody: I love that perspective because I think it’s something that’s so easy for us to get caught up in, like the what if thing [00:10:00] if you will. Mm-hmm. Like

Ellen Lippert: what

Sarah Doody: if an insert negative thing? Mm-hmm. I have this post-it note I keep on my desk and it says, what if it actually does work out? Right?

Mm-hmm. And so I think I think that goes very nicely with what you, what you’ve said.

Ellen Lippert: I agree.

Sarah Q3

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Sarah Doody: okay, so I am curious to hear like if you could only pinpoint one thing about career strategy Lab that you haven’t spoken about already in terms of how it helped you navigate your job search, navigate consulting, or, you know, thinking about something you learned that you feel like is gonna be applicable even in your, you know, day-to-day job or frankly life for years to come, what comes to mind that, that you haven’t mentioned yet?

Ellen A3

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Ellen Lippert: this one’s kind of oddly specific, but tremendously helpful. And it, it kind of goes back to the elevator pitch that we were talking about previously. So when I first joined CSL, one of the things that we work on is building our own LinkedIn page, which [00:11:00] I didn’t have, I had no clue. I didn’t have an account, I didn’t know what to do at all.

And so I followed that very closely. And once I had that, I, I really started to network with people, reach out to people, whether it was for interviews or apply for positions or whatever the case may be, and when positions would come up. You know, so often people will post, I have a, I’m looking for content designer, I’m looking for this.

And you get a thousand people who reply and they say, I’m really interested. I’d like to hear more. And I remember that your module was, that’s not good enough, right? You, you have to sort of give them your elevator pitch. Tell them why you’re qualified so that they even bother wanting to respond to you.

Right. Because they’re not gonna reply to every single person. And so I would, I like made this little elevator pitch. I made this little reply that when I would reach out to recruiters or job posters or whatever, and it was, you know, this copy and paste, and then I would just fill in the skills that, that they had highlighted.

And here’s why I can do those skills. And I [00:12:00] had like an 80% return rate on that. People would get back to me, they would wanna reach out, they would like, talk to me by name. Send us your portfolio, let’s set up an interview. So it was, it was very impactful. And even now when I see people on LinkedIn saying, that sounds great, I’d love to hear more.

I’m like, no, no, no, no, no. That’s not what you wanna do. You know, so that, that’s probably something I’ll carry with me always.

Sarah Doody: Yeah. I, I, the quality of your outreach has a significant impact on mm-hmm. Whether or not people reply and. How much time they put into the re reply.

Ellen Lippert: Because they don’t have time. They don’t have time, they just don’t, you know, you have to set yourself apart.

Sarah Q4

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Sarah Doody: okay, final last question, but the answer can only be one sentence or even like five words. So a little challenge here, but what would be your best tip for someone if they’re deciding to go through career strategy lab or if they like joined [00:13:00] today?

So you can answer either question,

Ellen A4

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Sarah Doody: but Ellen, what, what comes to mind? What’s your tip? For if they join or if they’re deciding,

Ellen Lippert: I already said this, but it’s bet on yourself. Sums it up.

Sarah Doody: All right. I might need to write that on my growing collection of Post-it notes on my computer. Bet on yourself.

Conclusion

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Sarah Doody: Well, thank you for joining us. We really appreciate your time and your thoughtfulness and just your, your honesty here.

So thank you for coming and I hope that you feel more confident, more calm, more clarity about your situation or the job search

I know. We’re not gonna sugarcoat that it’s easy, but at the same time we do these to shed light on stories of people getting hired to hopefully turn down the volume of some of the doom and gloom you experience on LinkedIn and elsewhere. So thank you for coming, and [00:14:00] we’ll talk to you later. We’ll see you somewhere on the internet

all right. Bye.

Outro: Thanks so much for listening to the Career Strategy Podcast. Now make sure to follow so you don’t miss an episode, and you can check out all of our episodes at careerstrategylab.com/podcasts now to learn more about how to apply UX and product strategy to advancing your career. Whether that means leveling up in your current role, getting a new role, getting freelance work, or just being ready for the unexpected, then I invite you to watch my free UX job search workshop at careerstrategylab.com/hired.

And please feel free to send me a DM on LinkedIn. I would love to hear from you.

Post Roll: Hey there. Before I go, I wanna speak to you specifically if you’ve applied to 50, 100, 200 or more jobs and you haven’t secured an offer or interviews yet. First of all, I want you to know it’s not your fault. [00:15:00] It is challenging out there and learning how to navigate the job, search, interviews, negotiation, et cetera.

It is not something that we are taught. Your boss is too busy to help you. Your friends just give you vague advice. Your family doesn’t really know how hiring in UX works. This is why I created my career strategy lab, UX job search accelerator. If you are tired of your DIY approach. Not leading to the results you want, then I challenge you to consider.

Maybe it is time for a pivot, just like products pivot. Maybe your job search needs a pivot too. So head over to career strategy lab.com/apply to learn more or have a call with someone on my team or myself so we can answer all of your questions. Hope to talk to you soon.