2026 is here.New year.Same broken hiring game.If you’ve been applying for months, tweaking your portfolio, reaching late rounds, and still not getting offers, this is probably familiar.You’re not failing because you’re bad at UX.You’re failing becaus...

2025 didn’t look the way I thought it would.At the start of the year, I was still employed.Still unsure how serious I was about career coaching.Still playing between worlds.January and February were quiet on the outside.But I worked with new clients....

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.Not as a hot take.More like a memo I’d share with friends who’ve been in the industry long enough to know when something feels off.If you’re a senior designer or design manager job searching right now, the f...

Last call before we move.If your job search stalled this year,don’t roll the dice again in January.That’s what Shaun was trying to avoid.When he reached out, he wasn’t unemployed. On paper, things were fine.But he was burned out, stuck in a role he’d...

Most people leave this too late.They wait until things feel urgent.Then they update résumés.Apply harder.Hope something clicks.But effort isn’t usually the problem.Signal is.I saw this clearly with Lance.He was laid off unexpectedly and wasn’t gettin...

There’s a window right now that most people miss.Most designers wait until January to get serious.That’s when calendars fill up, pipelines get noisy, and everyone starts pushing at once.This quieter stretch — before the rush — works differently.I saw...

Most job searches start with applications.That’s usually where things go sideways.The approach I use — and work through with experienced designers — starts somewhere else: clarity. Not effort. Not volume.At a high level, the work follows a simple seq...

A common assumption in this market is that getting hired comes down to having a stronger portfolio.I don’t think that’s wrong.I just don’t think it’s sufficient.Hiring managers rarely make decisions by scoring artifacts. They decide based on certaint...

A short story you may recognize.Jeff was laid off in October.He had solid experience, but a few short stints that made his story feel harder to explain.By his own account, he was second-guessing how he came across and what hiring managers were actual...

If you’re an experienced UX or product designer, this might feel familiar.You apply.You get interviews.Sometimes you even make it to the final round.And then it stops.No offer.Little feedback.Just enough silence to make you wonder what you’re missing...