Get UX Recruiters' Attention: LinkedIn Strategies for Fortune 500 Roles at Reddit, HP, Nike + more.

Optimize your Linkedin profile and networking strategies for the greatest success.

There’s no big secret that the UX job search is not always about how qualified you are for the role. It’s about becoming really focused in the job search and strategically applying to UX roles where you are most likely to be hired based on your strengths and existing skill sets.

Another strategy is networking and sliding into LinkedIn DMs, but done in a way that doesn’t come across as overly desperate. The UX job market is always changing and evolving, and we as UX job seekers need to keep up with the newest trends in the UX job industry to put our best foot forward.

It can feel especially challenging to approach the UX job search today, especially when layoffs, reorgs, job hopping, quiet quitting and gig work seem to have become the norm in the tech world. So how can we implement a LinkedIn job search strategy that ensures our success?

There are a few mistakes every UX career changer makes at some point in the UX job search. This includes:

• A lack of focus and scope in the UX job search: It’s normal to feel anxiety around the UX job search, leading to those last-min UX job applications at midnight, where you apply to anything and everything you see on jobs boards, submitting the same resume and application over and over and over again. It’s very common to apply with a lack of focus, submitting a UX designer & researcher generalist resume to a variety of specialized UX roles across UX research, product design, AI design, UX design, or interaction design. It’s also very common to apply to UX roles across a variety of industries (i.e., healthcare, fintech, e-commerce, education) while not showing a specialization in your UX portfolio around any one industry. These approaches will NOT get you the best results! UX recruiters will simply skip past these types of applications!

• A lack of focus and scope indicated on your LinkedIn profile, resume, and portfolio: Since a lot of UX career changers are applying to UX jobs with a UX generalist resume, their LinkedIn profile and portfolios are simply not optimized for a specific UX career path or specific industries. In fact, a lot of times, ONE UX career changer applicant can look like THREE different applicants, depending on whether you are looking at their resume, portfolio, or LinkedIn profile. This clearly shows a lack of scope or focus in the UX job search. UX recruiters will skip past these types of applicants!

So, how do you get recruiters’ attention on LinkedIn, especially for UX roles at Fortune 500 companies?

• Know your worth and focus on 1 UX career path and 1-2 industries: The biggest secret to becoming successful in the UX job search is learning how to say NO to certain opportunities. Remember that YOU bring value to the table and that you can say NO to certain opportunities, if they do not align with your interests, passions, work culture, or values. Start to become more selective! What UX jobs are you just blindly applying to with little or no interest? What UX jobs are you more excited to apply to? What SPECIFIC UX career path are you most excited about AND aligns with your existing skill sets and strengths? Does your UX resume, LinkedIn, and portfolio align with this ONE career path? In what 1-2 industries would you like to develop UX expertise? Is it healthcare, e-commerce, education, fintech, AI, social media, entertainment B2B SAAS, or something else? Are there enough UX jobs in that industry currently? Start to tailor your UX portfolio towards those 1-2 industries of your choosing.

• Align your UX resume, LinkedIn profile and UX portfolio towards 1 UX career path and 1-2 industries. Again this means becoming a ruthless editor of your own work! Ruthlessly cut any or all work experience that is irrelevant to that 1 UX career path you have chosen when editing your UX resume. Ruthlessly cut any and all portfolio work that is irrelevant to the 1-2 industries that you have chosen. And ruthlessly cut anything and everything in your LinkedIn profile that does not align with your optimized UX resume and UX portfolio. We can be those ruthless editors for you, through our 1:1 done-for-you UX resume writing and UX case study writing sessions.

• If you already have 2-5 years of work experience under your belt from a previous career, consider rebranding your past work into mid-senior level UX roles by leveraging transferable skill sets and strengths. It can be helpful to enroll in our Fall 2025 7-Month UX Design MBA to learn mid-senior level skill sets in UX research, UX design, AI product design, product and project management, and business strategy. Our spring 2025 cohort is currently in session, learning and thriving! While our past Fall 2024 cohort members are starting to land UX interviews at Fortune 500s like HP for senior level positions!

If you can’t commit to our services just yet, then consider subscribing to our Substack ($6.67/month) to gain access to our LinkedIn job search strategies and 6-page UX job search checklist!

The VIP subscriber version of this email contains:

• Our 6-page UX job search checklist to align your UX resume, LinkedIn profile, and UX portfolio.

  • UX resume checklist to ensure you are highlighting transferable skills and impact metrics, as well as learning how to estimate and extrapolate impact metrics if you don’t have ready access to them.

  • Portfolio checklist to ensure that it is aligned with your UX resume and LinkedIn profile, highlighting expertise in 1-2 industries of your choice.

  • Job search checklist to track your job applications, UX resumes used, and networking to ensure you are following up on applications in a timely manner and thoughtfully A/B testing resumes throughout the job search process.

  • Interview checklist to determine where in the job search process you are stuck and how to work through new storytelling skills and frameworks.

• Our 5-page LinkedIn UX job search strategies checklist which includes:

  • LinkedIn profile optimization checklist to ensure you show up in search results when recruiters are looking for candidates, so that THEY can slide into YOUR DMs. These templates have helped folks land interviews at CVS, GE Aerospace, BNY Mellon, Truist, PNC bank and more.

  • LinkedIn DM templates to recruiters, hiring managers, and team members at Fortune 500 companies you are targeting.These templates have helped folks land interviews at Disney, Nike, Reddit, HP, Google and more.

As always rooting for your success!

P.S. Don’t forget to check out updates to our entry-level UX jobs board and sign up for our Remote Women in UX Design conference coming up in May!