#86: A very opinionated piece about job hunting (in the time of chaos)

"know thyself", first and foremost

Most recently, I was invited to participate on a video project for a design course taught by a good friend. It was closer to a diary study than anything else. The purpose was to give the students a glimpse of what it’s like to be a UX Designer in 2025. I had a ton of fun, haven’t done these kinds of things in a while.

This piece of writing is inspired by one of the questions that stood out for me: What advice would you give to new learners of those who are just beginning to get into the tech field? Specifically for this piece, I’ve turned my focus into job searching—why I think a lifelong investment in knowing yourself will pay off in your career.

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A little disclaimer: I’m writing this post from the perspective of some form of privilege. I’m employed, is in a generally good place at the moment, mentally and physically. I also don’t have the immediate problem of visa issues in the country I’m residing in. Take a lot of what I’ve written with a grain of salt, knowing all of this.

In today’s less-than-desirable market, landing a job you truly like can feel like an olympic feat. I am not even in the market, however, from my observation so far, things are looking bleak. I can understand the collective cynicism that’s been spreading like a plague all around. With the looming threat of AI, economic and political uncertainties, cultural changes—this can all be a bit much. There’s no sugarcoating any of it.

If I were to do this right now, my strategy would be to deploy my strengths to good use. I would approach this exactly as I would a design problem, with myself as the primary product. I would want to find my Product-Market Fit as a viable design candidate. I want to find it fast, and I want to know right away if there is none¹. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done on this end but I know deep in my gut that it is worth it—at least if I want to achieve my goal, or at the very least, don’t end up at a place far worst than where I’ve been. (Yes there are certain jobs or work environments that are worse than unemployment.)

Define what you don’t want

I always start with this because it really narrows down my choices. It makes it easier for me to maneuver and set the direction of where I’m going simply because I’ve already added in the “Hell No” places. This is important because it gives me the initial clarity I needed in order to make a good start. It is also a little low on the risk factor. In theory: If I am right, then great. I am spared from the misery of being in the wrong place. If I am wrong, then it’s still fine. I can put my focus on all the other places I didn’t miss.

The list items for this could be anywhere from actual company names to specific company values/reputation. It could also be work conditions and locations. If you want to get real fancy with it, you can even add a scale (eg ‘Tolerable enough’ - ‘Can make some trade offs’ - ‘Absolutely not negotiable’).

I don’t always know what I want; however, I know for sure those that I truly—absolutely, devastatingly—don’t want, and don’t need in my career. For this exercise to work, you have to be really honest with yourself.

Write down a list of what you do want

So, this could be any number of things. In the past, I’ve opted for ‘Companies’ as my primary data point. I was younger, and way more naive. Knowing what I know now though, I would instead use qualities or principles (of companies or work environments, or even of the people I desire to work with). Some examples² of this would be:

• “A place where my design work can scale”

• “opportunity to collaborate with emerging disciplines & fields (eg AI machine learning, robotics, self-driving vehicles)”

• “extremely competitive salary—work-life balance not a high priority”

• “high ownership, high autonomy IC role, could consider a stealth startup”

• “preference to working on internal tools at a SaaS company”

• “generalist-friendly, more of a hybrid of marketing and product design role”

Keep refining this. When it is mature enough, use it as a starting point or a reference doc, every time you talk to a recruiter or a potential hiring manager. If you feel confident on making this partially³ public, that’s also good. The purpose of this is to really understand these 3 main things:

1. [When partnered with your CV] Yourself as a professional - what can I offer to the world?

2. Your near-future ambitions - what do I want to achieve with those skills? best case scenario: where do I see myself in the next 6 months? what about in the next 5 years?

3. Your preferences, styles and work environments - who are the companies that can help me get there?

Design in technology is a gigantic field. If you don’t know who you are and what you stand for, it will be extremely easy to get thrown in on all the wrong places. (and there are a lot of wrong places!) You have more control over these things than what you think. It just won’t be possible to see those without some serious self-assessment.

Figure out your runway

Every startup lives and dies by their runway. It is essentially the money that funds a company’s operation (and then some). This is a good metaphor to use for job searches as well. Money is far from unlimited for most of us. This, to me, is such an under discussed topic especially among fellow designers. The more finite the resource is, the more careful one should be on how and where to allocate it. In the subject of job hunting, sometimes, this determines everything. Your personal runway is everything.

At the risk of oversimplifying this concept, here’s how I am breaking this down:

1. I analyze my present-day lifestyle, with the emphasis on cost. What is the minimal amount of money do I need to survive in month? I live in the US so healthcare is a big factor to this.

2. Multiply that with 6 — they say six months worth of savings is optimal. Some people can get away with way less but this really comes down to your personal circumstances and risk appetite. Only you can answer this, not some random financial guru on Instagram.

3. Assuming you are not here on a temporary visa, then you have, more or less, an idea of the time budget you have for this. You time budget is fully dependent on your runway. If you want more time to really study your options or perhaps cast your net wider, be a bit pickier with your choices, then you have to have the runway to support that.

There is no guarantee that having more time increases your chances of landing a better role. It just means you have more time. How and where you use it is a far better measurement for the outcomes you are trying to achieve. In the past, the scarcity of time, which of course, is in parallel to the scarcity of money, fueled my drive. I know better than to waste any of it.

Ending thoughts for now

When it comes to job hunting, know yourself well enough. It’s not always possible to be the smartest person in the room; it is much easier, much more realistic to be the most self-aware. This is a superior approach to career-building in the long run.

There’s something poetic about the fact that a lot what I’m still contemplating about with my career choices always goes back to this scene, with this line: "The more you know who you are and what you want the less you let things upset you."

In the workplace, and elsewhere, there are far too many things that will upset you. Choose who you give that privilege to, and choose them extremely wisely. Not everything, and everyone is worth even an inch of that time and energy, most especially not in the workplace.

Thank you for reading working title,

Nikki

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My previous writings on this subject:

• #62: Building & growing a (digital) reputation

• #63: Digital reputations, part 2: credibilities and how to establish them

• #30: How to Design a Bio, Part 1

• #26: What I've Learned From Job Hunting in the Covid-19 Era

• #27: Landing a Job (or career!) Doing What You Love— As An Immigrant:

1. In the worst case scenario: no such work for my current skillset, professional and academic pedigree exists

2. It’s worth noting that these examples don’t necessarily reflect my own personal list, just to be clear.

3. As a rule of thumb with public documents and other forms of writing, avoid revealing everything. It is hard to keep track of everything you’re putting out online. The safest way to ensure your privacy and lessen any sort of liability would be to curate your public work. This is also a good practice that applies to all forms of content/personal work that gets published online.