I want to share with you a story today.

It is my story.

(You can watch me share here in this 3-min video)

Back in 2012, I was a fresh grad.

Top of my class.

Won design awards.

Spent months fixing my portfolio.

Still… nothing.

No calls. No interviews.

Just “thanks, but we’ve moved forward.”

It got to a point where I started questioning myself.

Was I even good enough?

But I couldn’t quit.

Both my parents are wheelchair users.

They never had that choice.

So I kept pushing.

Then one day, a recruiter named Lisa messaged me on LinkedIn.

She had just started her agency and said,

“There’s this small networking event — a few hiring managers will be there. You should come.”

To be honest, I didn’t want to go.

I’m introverted.

Didn’t know what to say.

Didn’t feel ready.

But I went anyway.

Lisa introduced me to two hiring managers — Andrew and Nino.

We didn’t talk about UX.

We talked about travel, life, family.

A couple of weeks later, Lisa reached out back to me.

Shared that they were hiring.

And they remembered me.

So I got invited down for an interview.

And a couple more interviews with the team. 

Finally got my first dream job offer working with them.

That one night changed everything.

That’s when I realised:

People hire people — not portfolios.

Since then, every job I’ve landed came through people, not postings.

And that’s what I now help other designers do inside Career Creators.

If you’ve been feeling stuck,

I’m hosting a free masterclass this Thursday

to show you the exact system I used to land my $200K UX role —

and that my clients are using to do the same.

Pick a time that works:

🌏 APAC — https://community.careercreators.com/events/0F8310

🌎 US / Europe — https://community.careercreators.com/events/6FE399

See you there,

Joseph

P.S. Once you see how backdoor hiring really works,

you’ll never look at job boards the same way again.