Want to get hired in UX in Q1 2026? Start With These Q4 Career Essentials

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.

Hey, I’m Erin. I’m one of the coaches inside of Career Strategy Lab, and I am taking over Sarah’s podcast today to talk to you about three things you should be thinking about to get hired in Q1 of 2026 during Q4 of 2025.

So let’s dive in.

so internally on the team, we are always having this conversation of what can folks be doing right now [00:01:00] to get hired sooner, right?

as we’ve been having these discussions lately, there’s been three big themes, and today I wanna break those down for you so you can take that and apply it to your job search.

The first thing that you can do is do an assessment of feedback that you’ve been getting. We’ve been talking to a lot of folks who come to us and you know, they’re learning about career strategy lab and they’re saying, yeah, but my LinkedIn is good. My resume is like pretty good. I’ve gotten good feedback from it, and our question back is always great.

From who? Who is that feedback from? If you are getting feedback from your sister or a friend or a stranger on the internet, that can be helpful. But if and only if they’ve been hiring UX people,

from time to time, we open UX career audits where we actually take a look at your career materials before you’re even inside of Career Strategy Lab. And when we do that, we often have people in their notes who say like, I know my stuff is good. I’m just not [00:02:00] getting hired. I can’t get the interviews. And when we take a look at their LinkedIn, there’s immediately three things that stick out that we can help them fix.

Right. They don’t even, they can go watch a YouTube video of Sarah’s and then apply that. Um, but there’s things that they’re not doing yet, but for some reason they think their career materials are good, and so often there’s a blind spot there. And we totally get that. You are an expert in your subject matter, right?

Like you are an expert in UX and product and management in writing. That is your thing. Getting hired might not be, and that’s okay. That is where we come in, right? We have that duality between, yes, ux, Sarah has all of that knowledge from being in the industry for over 20 years, and the hiring part is what we can really help you look at for yourself as a candidate, as the product of you and helps move you forward.

So all of that said, just take an inventory of who are you asking for feedback for, who told you things were looking good, because those data points are valid in terms of their opinions, but in terms of [00:03:00] getting you where you want to go, it might not be the right feedback to be listening to.

The reason why this is so important is because it is not actually just about your career materials, it’s about your confidence level. And when you think your career materials are good and you’re not getting where you wanna go in the job search, then it’s easy to say, Ugh, it must be me. Right? There’s an internal mindset that happens, and yes, the job market is what it is.

But we are still seeing people get hired and in our opinion, like, why not you? Right? If other folks are getting hired, you can too. You just really have to be able to stand out and navigate this current climate.

So as you’re taking in that feedback, notice how is this affecting you mentally? Right. That’s why it’s important to assess who you’re listening to because this is about more than like giving a gold star and saying something looks good.

If this is then affecting your confidence, that then changes to your internal belief system. So while the job market is tough right now, if you also believe. That [00:04:00] your stuff is great and nothing is happening in this climate, and then over and over again, that’s the evidence that you’re getting that that’s hard, right?

That is hard to keep walking through this. It’s like walking through mud. However, if you realize that, oh, the feedback I’ve gotten about this being good is from people maybe not qualified to tell me, it’s good. Huh? So I’ve been doing this and I haven’t been getting the feedback right? I haven’t been moving forward in my interview process, but maybe.

That has to do with the actual materials and not about the market or me. So we wanna clear that up and we wanna figure out, are you getting good feedback? And if so, great, keep going. But if not, you might wanna look at that, right? And have someone who actually understands, hiring.

Take a look at your career materials and get their feedback.

When you’re stuck in a cycle of self-doubt and kind of spinning, it’s real data that can help you get out of it. So if you know, oh my gosh, wow, my about me actually is really weak, and oh my God, I [00:05:00] haven’t been telling this story effectively, and oh my gosh, my a TS wasn’t formatted correctly. Or, oh my gosh, my resume wasn’t formatted correctly for the a TS this entire time.

That sucks, right? Like it sucks to learn that and oh my gosh, what a better position to be in knowing the truth so that you can actually go fix the problems that are gonna move the needle. So assess who you’re getting feedback from so that you know your data is clean So that you can keep moving towards your goals without getting stuck in a mindset loop of, oh my gosh, this isn’t working for me. I’ve done everything. ’cause chances are you haven’t, and that’s okay, but we’re here to help and we wanna get you out of that so that you’re not stuck in the loop of thinking that, oh my God, none of this is working and I’ve done it all correctly.

You might not have done it correctly. So let’s figure that out so we can get you back on the right track.

All right. The second thing I wanna talk about today is about going back to the basics, especially when it comes to your portfolio. So Sarah recently was at the button conference and when she came [00:06:00] back, we’re talking amongst the team, right? We look at portfolios every single week and we give feedback. We have demo days where people in the career strategy program come and they present their portfolios so that we can give more feedback and give them a chance to talk it all out. And so portfolios are always top of mind, right? And there have been so many trends happening. Animation, I’m looking at you, I’ll get to you in a second. Um, but people are always thinking about what they can do differently if they need a website, which, if you listen to Sarah at all, you know, you don’t actually to get hired A PDF is great.

Put it in your Google Drive. That’s the link that you use. It’s all good. Anyway, as Sarah was at this conference, she came back and was telling us about the mini critiques that she was doing and the work that she was looking at, and it was messy. And I think people just don’t realize that Clear is always going to trump clever.

And going back to basics when it comes to your portfolio. That is the move. If you do not have hierarchy, if you [00:07:00] do not have bullet points that make sense? If you do not have powerful headlines, stop worrying about design or cute animations or the perfect graphics or anything else. Come back to the basics here, and keep in mind the UX of the hiring manager that is going to be going through your portfolio, you need to make this work for them, not for your ego.

When it comes to the animation piece, I’m just gonna touch on this ’cause it’s hot right now, but when it comes to the animation piece, unless you’re an animator. We don’t need to see it. Please stop wasting your time. There are more important things that you can do to get hired than spend time tweaking every single slide inside of your case studies, making them cool.

We don’t want cool, we want effective, and so if cool is part of your brand, fine. Let’s build that in. But ultimately we want you to get hired, not get an A for your art project. So keep it strategic. Go back to the basics when in doubt, and make sure that what you’re creating is going to give the person looking at it, the [00:08:00] experience that they need to say, oh, this person really stands out to me.

Like I, I, we need to talk to them. During a recent demo day, I had a thought as we were going through, we had one, presentation that really stood out. Like we always have great presentations, but there was one that really just hit for me, right? And as I was watching that presentation, what kept going through my mind was, oh, like, because of what this man just said,

I now know, I now trust that. So when you are reading through your case study, imagine what is the person listening or reading. Thinking, how are they filling in that sentence? I now know that this person knows how to manage the team. I now know that this person can have a conversation when they think that results are more important in one aspect than another.

I now know that this person is very well versed on a particular type of research, and now I trust them to come onto this project and run with it. That is what we’re going for. Your portfolio, your case [00:09:00] studies are not just about being great graphic projects that you’re handing into someone, right?

These are cases that you are putting forth so that the person reading them has a strong opinion of you and your work at the end, and you’re building trust with them. So back to basic sound design, and then make sure you are building trust in your storytelling.

All right. The third thing I wanna talk about here is getting the support that you need. And I wanna be clear that this is different for everyone. I am not suggesting that everyone gets a coach. I’m not suggesting that everyone joins Career Strategy Lab. We are not actually for everyone. We are for people who will benefit from being in a container like ours.

So if you need structure, if you want accountability, if you want feedback, great, but that’s actually not for everyone. Okay? For some folks, that means putting time on your calendar, blocking out two hours, going to a coffee shop and getting it done. And for those people, a YouTube video or a podcast episode might be enough to take the knowledge they already have, push them over the edge a tiny bit, [00:10:00] and then get that work done. And if that’s you, great. Absolutely do that.

Now for others, there’s an emotional aspect to doing this work that we don’t always realize. Sometimes we feel anxiety or we wanna push this stuff away and avoid it, And while I am not a therapist or a doctor or a lawyer or anything else, what I can say, having been on many a coaching call right inside of Career Strategy Lab, is that

so many people have experienced a toxic working environment. Whether that means like from the leadership, from other employees, sometimes it’s about feedback, either being very harsh and not constructive, or having none at all. Leaving the question of, is my work even good enough? Big and open. And when that happens, moving through this work of updating your career materials, going back to your resume, updating your LinkedIn, sometimes that is hard in a very human way.

There is grief within those situations. And when we go back to mine, our experiences, to find the golden nuggets of [00:11:00] story and the details of your work experience to share. Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes there’s stuff that we have to think about and kind of like move through to even be able to tell one of those stories.

And sometimes there’s very logistical questions about how do I tell this when this is the truth of what was happening, right?

If you had an experience like that, sometimes it helps just being in community knowing that this is sadly quite normal, other people’s are going through it. And you can get validation from hearing other people’s stories, and learning that, oh, this is not me, and there are better places to work out there and we would love to help you get hired there.

Um, sometimes community is enough. Sometimes it’s more like therapy. Like sometimes there is a healing component that needs to happen here too. Sometimes therapy or healing is the next best step with a professional.

And so if you’re noticing that like, oh my God, this is really hard. I am constantly stuck in my head spinning. Try community. And if that doesn’t work, or if you notice that like, wow, this is really deeply rooted and this is affecting me in other parts of my life, then there are free therapy resources.[00:12:00]

Like check it out, get the support that you need because this is real. And this can be really hard as you’re moving through it. So just wanna call that out so that you can discern what you actually need, not just what is the internet selling me in all of these places, you have to connect to yourself to see, do I need more support than just how to update my resume, right?

Because this is real, and this can be hard. I

now, if you are thinking about career strategy lab. And you wanna have a conversation about it. I highly recommend you do. There is no risk by talking to our team, and we are real humans that are friendly, kind, and honest. And I think that’s really important in a world where everyone’s trying to sell you something.

We are really here for our clients. If you. Are on the fence. If you want to have a conversation, we are happy to talk and we will let you know if we think we can help you. To be totally candid with you, we want our success rate to be high. So in the event that we’re talking to someone and it doesn’t seem like we’d be able to help, we will absolutely let you know.

For some [00:13:00] people, based on their learning styles and the level of accountability and support that they want, a one-on-one coach is a better scenario for them, and we absolutely let them know. We just emailed someone yesterday. To say, Hey, so great to talk with you based on your questions and the things that you’re pulling on, I actually think you need something different.

So we are never afraid to do that. And on the other side, if we do think we can help you, sometimes it’s hard to believe that you can be helped when you’ve been at this for a while. as you may or may not know, some people join us preemptively. They have a job, but they’re worried about layoffs or just the job market in general.

Other folks have been laid off for a long time or they have navigated a career break where they took some time off to be a parent or to deal with caring for a family member, or to travel the world,

and so whatever situation you are in, we are happy to get to know you and again, let you know if we think this could help. What hesitations we might have. We will tell you them out loud so that you can decide whether or not this will work for you. Because at the end of the day. Career Strategy Lab has a process and [00:14:00] a system that works if you work it.

And so as long as you are willing to show up and do the work to get feedback, to allow us to critique your work, to look at your resume and your portfolio and your LinkedIn, and to give you feedback that you will then action, Then worst case scenario is that you have updated career materials.

You know how to tell your story, and it’s just a matter of time before you find the perfect company for you and they find you and you have that conversation. But no matter what, you’re going to be better off.

And these skills that you learn inside of Career Strategy Lab, you’re going to take into your professional life and your personal life on your the professional side. You know, we talk about portfolios and presenting them and telling strong stories, right? But you’re gonna be giving presentations for the rest of your career, so you’re gonna have those skills to take with you forward.

The negotiation that we talk about when you do get a job, offer your interview skills, all of these are things that are going to pay off over time again and again and again for you. While it is about getting [00:15:00] hired and like that is at the forefront of what we’re trying to help you with, it’s also bigger than that.

And what happens, what I’ve seen many, many times. Being inside and working with hundreds of clients inside of Career Strategy Lab over the last few years, , is that there’s also a personal piece to this. I have watched confidence grow, right? I have seen people transform. There seems to be something that happens that when you are working on your career materials, you’re also working on yourself, and there’s something magical that happens when you’re able to articulate your value and have conversations about your work, your worth.

Yeah, not the actual worth. ’cause you’re limitless, right? Like your worth is unlimited as a human, but the way that you perceive your worth professionally and sometimes personally also changes. It goes up. And so if you were 10% more confident, right? How would that be different if you did this work and you knew what you were bringing to the table and you were able to communicate that, how would that change things?

It helps in the workspace for [00:16:00] sure. And. There are ripple effects that go over into your personal life. Right.

All right, so let’s recap quickly. First thing you’re gonna do to get hired in Q1 is just take a quick assessment honestly about what feedback you have been taking and assess whether or not you should be taking that feedback. Are you getting feedback from qualified people to share with you that your LinkedIn and your.

Resume and your case studies are in good shape, or do you need a second opinion? Do you need to actually take that to someone who is working or actively helping folks get hired? Part two, when it comes to really all of your career materials, but especially your portfolio, back to basics. We go make sure that your design basics are intact.

Do not get caught up. And distracted creating an art project of a case study. We want this to be strategic and effective, and the best way you can do that is by keeping things clear. [00:17:00] So back to basics. Don’t get distracted with making it an art project. And last but not least, get the support you need.

The job market is what it is and it is challenging. And it’s challenging not just to get the job, but to be a human moving through trying to get a job for a prolonged period of time. So just take inventory of yourself and what you actually need here. What would be helpful? Do you just need some time?

If so, put it on your calendar. Do you need deep support? Do you have work trauma that needs to be looked at and moved through? Perhaps look into therapy and if you think that you would benefit from being in a community of other professionals who are doing the work of learning how to articulate their story powerfully of updating their career materials, of engaging with their network to move themselves forward in their job search process.

Then consider a career strategy lab and reach out to the team. Have a conversation so that you can make the best decision for you going forward. If you do these steps, if [00:18:00] you make sure that you’re getting the right feedback and you’re focusing on the right things, if you work on your career materials and bring it back to basics, and if you figure out what kind of support you need,

you are going to be set up for success in Q1. People often ask us like, is anyone even getting hired in Q4? And every single year, we have people getting hired in December and January. So while yes, hiring might slow, it doesn’t stop, and you know who it doesn’t stop for the people who are out there, who are engaging in productive ways,

who have their career materials ready to go, ready to be shared. They have their stories ready to be articulated on their next phone call in meetings, they’re in process and engaged with this work. And so if that’s you, reach out, happy to chat more and if not, hope this was helpful. Take what you want, leave the rest, and we’ll see you next time.

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 [00:19:00] all of our episodes@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@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. 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 [00:20:00] 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.