Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody | UX, Product Design, UX Research

In this episode, Sarah chats with Ben Peck, Director of Product Design & Global Strategy at nCino and a longtime community builder in the UX and product world, to demystify how UX hiring really works, from the perspective of someone who’s hired again and again. Ben brings over 20 years of experience across agencies, tech, leadership, and community building. As the co-founder of Front Conferenc...

In this episode, Sarah chats with Kellyn, a market researcher who successfully pivoted into a Lead UX Researcher role at Weedmaps, with a 40% salary increase, after feeling stuck, overlooked, and unsure how to position herself for UX roles. Despite 13+ years of research experience (and a partner who is a career coach) Kellyn wasn’t getting traction when applying to UX research jobs. She knew she h...

In this expert interview, Sarah Doody is joined by Patrick Neeman, Director of UX & AI Experiences at Workday, to pull back the curtain on how UX hiring actually works today—and where candidates are getting tripped up. Patrick brings a rare perspective: he’s led UX teams, taught UX at General Assembly, worked inside applicant tracking systems, and now hires designers in an AI-driven product en...

In this episode, Sarah talks with Allie, a Senior UX Designer with over a decade of experience, about what it really looks like to lose your confidence mid-career, and how to rebuild it without rushing, panicking, or burning yourself out. After navigating years of instability, repeated layoffs around her, and slowly losing her sense of confidence at work, Allie joined Career Strategy Lab feeling d...

Still applying to dozens, or hundreds, of UX roles and not hearing back? It’s not the number of applications that gets you hired. It’s the strategy behind how you position yourself. In this rapid-fire episode, Sarah breaks down the five things she consistently sees among UX candidates who are getting hired right now. Whether you’ve applied to 50, 100, or 200+ jobs without results, these are the sh...

In this interview, Sarah sits down with Steven, a longtime UX leader who spent 17 years at the same digital agency before an unexpected layoff forced him to re-evaluate everything. With no portfolio, no updated resume, and low confidence, Steven joined Career Strategy Lab, and everything changed. Today, Steven is thriving as a fractional product design director, long-term contractor, and consultan...

In this special coach takeover episode Erin, one of the coaches inside Career Strategy Lab's UX job search accelerator, breaks down the three most important things UX and product professionals should focus on in Q4 to set themselves up to get hired in Q1 of 2026. Whether you're feeling stuck, doubting your materials, overwhelmed by your portfolio, or unsure what support you actually need, this epi...

Applied to 50+ UX or Product jobs & still no interviews or offers? Get UX job search help . Welcome to the Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody, a UX Designer & UX Researcher with 20 years of experience who founded the UX job search accelerator, Career Strategy Lab. She's been doing UX career coaching since 2017. Follow Sarah on: LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram Transitioning from academ...

Welcome to the final part of our three-episode series designed to help you diagnose what's not working in your UX job search, so you can finally fix it. In this episode, Sarah breaks down the third and final symptom of a stalled search: Stranger Syndrome. If you’ve ever felt like you’re being ghosted, not getting referrals, or struggling to build meaningful connections with hiring managers or coll...

In this episode, Sarah sits down with Phoenix, a Career Strategy Lab (CSL) member who shares what it's like to be in the middle of their UX job search transformation. Phoenix opens up about the identity crisis that came from trying to be what companies wanted and how shifting toward a product-thinking approach—treating their career like a system—led to clarity, confidence, and traction. This is a...

Think you’re great at what you do but still not landing interviews? You might be stuck in Invisible Genius Mode—and it’s costing you opportunities. In this episode, Sarah introduces the second major UX job search roadblock in her diagnostic series: Invisible Genius Mode. It’s the frustrating space where you know you're qualified—and so do your colleagues—but your resume, portfolio, and LinkedIn ar...

After a UX layoff left him uncertain about his next step, Jonathan, a UX leader with 20+ years of experience, turned to Career Strategy Lab to rebuild his confidence, reposition his experience, and take control of his job search. In this open house conversation, Jonathan shares what made the biggest difference: creating a tailored UX portfolio, clarifying his story, and rethinking how he showed up...

Are you a UX professional struggling to explain who you are or what you want next? You’re not alone. Here’s how to clear the fog and move forward with clarity. If you’ve been feeling stuck in your UX career, unsure of your strengths, hesitant to apply for jobs, or wondering if you still belong in the industry, then this episode is for you. Sarah introduces the concept of Career Identity Fog , a fe...

After being laid off and earning a Master’s degree in UX, Melp still wasn’t landing UX job interviews. What changed? She stopped applying to everything and started thinking strategically. In this Q&A from a Career Strategy Lab Open House, Sarah Doody talks with Melp, a UX researcher turned product manager, about the ups and downs of her UX job search journey. Despite years of experience, a Mas...

If you’re in a UX job search and wondering, “Is it just me, or is UX hiring slower than ever?” you’re not imagining it. In this episode, we chat with Heather Cassar, VP of People at Narmie (a fintech startup) who brings 15+ years of experience leading hiring, people strategy, and global team growth at companies like Cash App, Uber, Block, and more.  Heather brings first hand experience about...

You don't need the perfect UX portfolio and hundreds of job applications to land a senior UX role. In this episode, Sarah Doody talks with Laura, a former physician turned UX designer, about how she landed a Principal Product Design role, without even applying (and in only 47 days). After re-working her UX portfolio, resume, and LinkedIn, Laura shares how she accepted a contract job at Cisco as a...

If you've ever wondered why your UX or product design portfolio isn't getting attention, this episode is your answer. In this mini workshop, Sarah walks you through the most critical and overlooked fix you can make to your portfolio right now. It’s simple, strategic, and backed by nearly a decade of hiring results. Spoiler: This isn’t about adding more screens or showing more visuals. It’s about h...

Applied to 50+ UX or Product jobs & still no interviews or offers? Get UX job search help . Welcome to the Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody, a UX Designer & UX Researcher with 20 years of experience who founded the UX job search accelerator, Career Strategy Lab. She's been doing UX career coaching since 2017. Follow Sarah on: LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram After 18 months of job se...

Apple's iconic marketing helps it stand out because it emphasizes it's benefits, not just features. Instead of just listing every feature of it's products, Apple leans into the benefits. And this tactic, is also how you can stand out as a candidate in your job search. In this episode, we'll use resume examples to show how you can highlight your benefits, and not just your responsibilities and feat...

Applied to 50+ UX or Product jobs & still no interviews or offers? Get UX job search help . Welcome to the Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody, a UX Designer & UX Researcher with 20 years of experience who founded the UX job search accelerator, Career Strategy Lab. She's been doing UX career coaching since 2017. Follow Sarah on: LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram Wondering how to stand ou...

Still waiting for recruiters to notice you? One small change to your LinkedIn profile could change everything. In this episode, Sarah shares a real story from a workshop attendee who updated just one line of their LinkedIn profile and got five solid recruiter leads within 24 hours. You’ll learn what part of your profile to focus on (hint: it’s the headline), how to write it in a way that stands ou...

Applied to 50+ UX or Product jobs & still no interviews or offers? Get UX job search help . Welcome to the Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody, a UX Designer & UX Researcher with 20 years of experience who founded the UX job search accelerator, Career Strategy Lab. She's been doing UX career coaching since 2017. Follow Sarah on: LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram Laid off and wondering if...

Feeling overwhelmed by how much UX experience you have, or unsure how to translate it in today’s UX job market? This episode is for you. In this episode, Sarah talks with Chris Griffith, a UX professional with over 30 years of experience, about what it really takes to re-enter the job market after a long stretch at one company. Chris shares how he used Career Strategy Lab to reframe his story, cre...

Worried your career break in UX has made you unemployable? Let’s talk about what’s actually holding you back. In this episode, Sarah tackles a concern she hears constantly: “Did my career break ruin my chances of getting hired in UX?” Whether you took time off for caregiving, burnout, travel, or health, this episode will help you stop spiraling and start focusing on what really matters, your story...

Think your UX background is too different to get hired? That mindset might be the real problem. In this episode, Sarah discusses the concept of terminal uniqueness, the belief that your career path is so unusual or messy that none of the strategies that work for others could possibly work for you. Whether you’ve been freelancing, pivoting careers, or have decades of experience, this mindset could...