Stand out from others in your job search by fixing your LinkedIn profile.
There are multiple ways to update your LinkedIn for UX Design:
But before we get started...
You need to be clear about what career you want.
For example, if you want to work for a big company, your LinkedIn profile would look a bit different than if you want to work at a startup.
Startups usually prefer generalists - people who know how to do multiple different things. A UX designer at a startup may have to do UX research, UX design, and UI design.
On the other hand, a UX designer at a bigger company may be a specialist and focus on only one aspect of design, like interaction design.
So before you start changing your LinkedIn profile, be clear on what kind of career you want so you can optimize for that.
You can check out this article from our friends at Art of Smart to learn more about whether UX Design is a field you'd like.
Ready?
Now, let’s get started!
Ever heard the phrase “dress for the job you want, not the job you have?”
A similar principle applies to your LinkedIn headline.
For example, if you’re a student, you shouldn’t just write “student” in your LinkedIn headline. Instead, use words from your target industry and include any organizations or clubs you’ve volunteered with. You could write you’re a “self-taught UX design student” and mention what opportunities you are seeking.
If you have more experience, try including the impact you’ve had. For example, you could mention you’ve impacted X number of people through X events, presentations, or speeches.
Don’t delete all your non-design experience from LinkedIn - reword them instead.
This ensures you won’t have to start from scratch. Reword your experience to show recruiters you’re already familiar with design concepts, and have design experience in previous jobs.
Not sure how to reword your experience? Here’s a step-by-step guide.
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You’ll need to understand UX design terms to use them to describe your work experience.
Get started by learning the basic terms and how to use them here.
By knowing how to use UX design vocabulary, you’ll show recruiters you’re already experienced in thinking like a UX designer - even if your job title doesn’t reflect that.
Now that you understand how to use UX design terms, start using them to describe your previous work experience.
If you’ve engaged with users or customers, you will have used UX design in your work.
If you’ve worked on building or promoting a product or service, you will have used UX design in your work.
Take a look at your existing experience, and brainstorm how they could be reworded to incorporate UX design vocabulary.
Not sure how?
Here are a few examples.
Example 1: changing careers from social media marketing to UX design
As a social media marketer, some of your tasks include engaging with your target audience on social media platforms, analyzing insight reports, and content creation. All of this can be reworded in UX design terms.
Easy swaps:
So rephrasing your experience could look something like this:
I engaged with target users on multiple social media platforms to identify their needs, using data-informed decisions to iterate on solutions.
If you want to get more detailed with it, you could mention user personas, A/B testing, market research, and more.
Example 2: changing careers from a secretary to UX design
As a secretary or administrative assistant, your user would be your boss. Some of your tasks include preparing reports with a clear table of contents and scheduling appointments.
Reword some of these tasks:
Now, your experience looks like this:
I used information architecture to present data in multiple reports, bringing value to users. I also communicated with multiple stakeholders to achieve our goals.
Now that you’ve reworded your work experience and updated your LinkedIn profile accordingly, it’s time to update the rest of your profile.
LinkedIn allows you to list your skills and have others endorse you.
The skills section is important because recruiters can search for profiles based on the skills and other keywords on your LinkedIn profile.
According to LinkedIn, profiles with 5 or more skills get messaged by recruiters 33 times more than others.
To decide which skills to add to your profile, look through a few job postings in your target industry and see what skills they list.
Usually, for UX designers, top soft skills include:
More technical skills include:
You can also include web development, coding, visual / UI / graphic design, leadership, and more, because it can show you’re a well-rounded person with many talents. However, these skills are not mandatory to include.
Remember to ask friends to endorse you for the skills you list on your profile - it can boost confidence in your abilities.
Another thing that shows off your experience to recruiters and hiring managers are certifications.
By including certifications on your profile, not only are you showing off what you’ve learned, but you’re also showing that you’re an independent learner.
As a bonus, most certifications require you to complete a few projects, which you can then make LinkedIn posts about to show off your experience.
If you’re not sure where to get started, we recommend checking out our UX Design program. You’ll end the program with a portfolio of work, and you get a 100% refund if you finish the program. It’s a low-barrier and affordable way to get experience and learn at the same time.
Now that your LinkedIn profile is updated, start engaging with other designers on it!
LinkedIn has groups for UX Designers where you can seek advice and network. You can also follow and connect with other UX designers to continue learning from them.
We help you learn and get experience so you can get hired.
To make learning more affordable, we offer a full refund for our programs once you complete them. You’ll also end the program with a portfolio of work that you can show off to recruiters.
