Summary
In this talk, I plan to share my experience over the last year (April 2023 - April 2024) trying to get hired in Design Operations after being laid off from a Design Operations Manager role at Meta. I will share my stories - both the good and the bad - and what I learned from those moments. I’ll then shift my focus from the candidate experience to how we as a community can improve the job search experience from the perspectives of hiring teams and recruiters. I have and will continue to source thoughts and feedback from professionals in these roles.
Key Insights
-
•
Layoffs in design ops and tech continue post-2023, with 30-40% of design teams facing cuts or freezes.
-
•
Job loss ranks as the seventh most stressful life event, taking on average two years to emotionally recover.
-
•
Applicants face intense competition from more experienced and tenured candidates, leading to many overqualified candidates for fewer roles.
-
•
Corey submitted over 700 applications and attended 153 interviews over one year, highlighting the grueling nature of current job hunting.
-
•
Building a routine and detailed tracking system for applications and interviews enhances productivity and clarity during job search.
-
•
Confidence and humility are crucial: seeking feedback even from those who outperformed you can dramatically improve outcomes.
-
•
Community support and self-care, including leaning on family and peer networks, are vital to endure the mental toll of unemployment.
-
•
Employers should improve candidate experience through clear role definitions, structured processes, honest communication, and respectful engagement.
-
•
Candidates value transparency about company challenges; honesty does not deter top talent but builds trust.
-
•
Even well-structured hiring processes can take months; staying communicative and supportive helps maintain candidate interest.
Notable Quotes
"Layoffs rank above divorce among the most stressful life experiences."
"I submitted 710 applications and only 7% led to interviews."
"Job hunting had to become a full-time job for me."
"Being humble and reaching out to the person who beat me out for a role changed everything."
"Don’t try to be what you think the company wants you to be; be your authentic self."
"You control your own narrative and you are the best storyteller of your own experience."
"Recruiters and hiring managers should not eat lunch or check Slack during candidate interviews."
"Candidates appreciate honesty about company challenges; it doesn’t scare away the right people."
"Ghosting candidates damages your company reputation; respect means responding even to rejections."
"Treat every interview like it’s a rare opportunity you can’t afford to botch."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Can you show me your process, not just your portfolio? That shows me your real design thinking."
Adam Cutler Karen Pascoe Ian Swinson Susan WorthmanDiscussion
June 8, 2016
"UX directors often feel like this poor person in the middle here getting pulled in all these directions."
Peter MerholzThe Trials and Tribulations of Directors of UX (Videoconference)
July 13, 2023
"In the automotive industry, most safety standards only became mandatory after governments intervened."
Lisa WelchmanCleaning Up Our Mess: Digital Governance for Designers
June 14, 2018
"The solutions are out there; we just need the will to implement them."
Vincent BrathwaiteOpener: Past, Present, and Future—Closing the Racial Divide in Design Teams
October 22, 2020
"It matters what you build, but it matters more if you learn."
Brenna FallonLearning Over Outcomes
October 24, 2019
"Factory owners manipulated people’s time so much that workers were afraid to carry a watch."
Tricia WangSpatial Collapse: Designing for Emergent Culture
January 8, 2024
"Clusters describing demographics and behaviors alone were not enough; we needed emotional personas to find value propositions."
Edgar Anzaldua MorenoUsing Research to Determine Unique Value Proposition
March 11, 2021
"The toy shouldn’t be the goal of play, but a tool or a process that unlocks the unlimited possibilities set forth before a child."
Designing Systems at Scale
November 7, 2018
"Most product teams work linearly, but systems thinking captures the real-world complexity of moving forward and sometimes stepping back."
Erin WeigelGet Your Whole Team Testing to Design for Impact
July 24, 2024
