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

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 how you tell the story of your work—and it all starts with how you use headlines.

Whether you’re mid-job search or quietly preparing for your next move, this portfolio tip will make your work easier to read, more memorable, and more effective for all 3 types of portfolio users: recruiters, hiring managers, and future colleagues.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

✔️ The 3 users of your portfolio—and what they actually need

✔️ Why most portfolios fail the “headline” test (and how to fix yours today)

✔️ How to use the inverted pyramid framework from journalism to structure your slides

✔️ Why a single, sentence-style headline can change how long someone spends with your work

✔️ The easiest way to assess and upgrade your portfolio in under 30 minutes

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction to Sarah Doty and Career Strategy Lab

00:43 Starting the UX Portfolio Mini Workshop

03:23 Understanding the Users of Your Portfolio

06:57 The Inverted Pyramid Framework

10:59 Practical Portfolio Tips and Examples

17:33 The Importance of Headlines in Your Portfolio

30:03 Q&A and Additional Advice

33:22 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

🎯 How I can help with your UX job search

📋 Get my UX case study template

👋 Follow me, on LinkedIn, Instagram, & YouTube

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 searching with no results, Mariah was out of steam and questioning everything—until she joined Career Strategy Lab.

In this Open House conversation, Sarah talks with Mariah, a UX researcher and experience strategist with a background in customer support and consulting. Mariah came to CSL after burning out from a year and a half of job searching while trying to relocate to Copenhagen. In this honest episode, she shares what finally helped her stop spinning, reconnect with herself, and gain the clarity, confidence, and support she’d been missing.

Whether you’re new to UX or deep in burnout, Mariah’s story will remind you that it’s not too late—and you don’t have to figure it out alone.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

✔️ What job searching for 18+ months taught Mariah about burnout and boundaries

✔️ Why trying to “game the system” kept her stuck and exhausted

✔️ How the Compass Sprint reconnected her to her voice, identity, and strengths

✔️ Why the mindset calls inside CSL helped her finally feel like herself again

✔️ How to balance personal and professional identity in your job search

✔️ Her advice for perfectionists and overthinkers: take action, even when it’s messy

Timestamps:

02:27 Mariah's Background and Career Journey

04:21 Joining Career Strategy Lab: Initial Experiences

08:09 Impact of Mindset Calls

11:50 Tangible Actions and Career Roadmap

18:43 Final Advice and Closing Remarks

21:22 Podcast Outro and Additional Resources

22:03 Special Message for Job Seekers

⭐ Support the show! Leave a rating on Spotify or a review on Apple Podcasts to help more UX professionals find this podcast.

🔔 Follow & Subscribe for weekly strategies and stories to help you grow in your UX career—without the burnout.

🎯 How I can help with your UX job search

📋 Get my UX case study template

👋 Follow me, on LinkedIn, Instagram, & YouTube

Listen before Sep 12 at 8pm PT ... in this live workshop, Sarah Doody shares the 5 UX steps you should also apply to your UX portfolio. This is based off what Sarah has been working for people who got hired, as recently as Sep 1. If you want to be ready for the September Surge, do not snooze on listening to this!

Time Sensitive: Enrollment is OPEN for my UX job search accelerator and will close on Fri, Sep 12 at 8pm PT.

You can learn more, watch success stories, or enroll here.

And you can watch to the recording of my UX portfolio workshop, until this Friday.

If you have questions about the UX job search accelerator program (aka Career Strategy Lab) you can book a 1:1 call here or use the chat widget on the websites linked above to send us a message.

🎬 Watch our free UX Job Search Workshop and learn how to stand out in 2025

👉 Join Career Strategy Lab, a UX job search accelerator for UX and Product people.

👋 Say hi and follow our host, Sarah Doody, on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

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 features. .

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

✔️ Why listing responsibilities makes your resume blend in (not stand out)

✔️ How to turn “feature” statements into compelling benefit-driven bullets

✔️ The marketing lesson Sarah borrowed from Steve Jobs

✔️ Real before-and-after examples from UX candidates

✔️ Why identifying and believing your own value is step #1

✔️ How to infuse your unique benefits across every career “touchpoint”

Timestamps:

00:40 The Importance of Focusing Beyond Responsibilities

02:35 Understanding the Product of You

04:32 Communicating Benefits Over Features

05:43 Real-World Examples of Benefit-Focused Statements

09:10 Becoming a Benefit-Focused Candidate

18:52 Recap and Final Thoughts

21:16 Conclusion and Additional Resources

22:04 Special Message for Job Seekers

🎯 How I can help with your UX job search

📋 Get my UX case study template

👋 Follow me, on LinkedIn, Instagram, & YouTube

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 out in UX without burning out? Former technical recruiter Ellie shares her story of switching into product design—and how Career Strategy Lab helped her get her confidence back.

In this episode, Sarah interviews Ellie, a former technical recruiter turned UX designer, who joined Career Strategy Lab while navigating new motherhood, burnout, and the unpredictable job market. Despite landing interviews, Ellie felt stuck—and knew she needed a structured, supportive way to rebuild confidence and stand out.

You’ll hear how she overcame perfectionism, reframed her job search, and built career habits that now extend beyond her portfolio and into her life.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

✔️ Why Ellie left tech recruiting to pursue UX—and doesn’t regret it

✔️ What made her say “yes” to CSL (and why she wishes she joined sooner)

✔️ How the Compass Statement gave her clarity and saved her time

✔️ The unexpected life shifts that came from doing the work with intention

✔️ Tips for breaking perfectionism and building habits that stick

✔️ What it’s like to join CSL while navigating new parenthood and burnout

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction to Career Strategy Lab

00:38 Episode Overview and Open House Context

02:23 Meet Ellie: From Technical Recruiter to Product Designer

05:19 Ellie's Career Journey and CSL Experience

09:16 The Impact of Career Strategy Lab

18:47 Advice and Final Thoughts

21:32 Conclusion and Next Steps

⭐ Support the show! Leave a rating on Spotify or a review on Apple Podcasts to help more UX professionals find this podcast.

🔔 Follow & Subscribe for weekly strategies and stories to help you grow in your UX career—without the burnout.

🎯 How I can help with your UX job search

📋 Get my UX case study template

👋 Follow me, on LinkedIn, Instagram, & YouTube

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 out, and why clarity and positioning matter more than lofty statements like “designing for impact.”

Plus, Sarah breaks down the three-part UX job search strategy you need to attract the right opportunities, without burning out, second-guessing, or rewriting your portfolio 100 times.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

✔️ The one LinkedIn section that has the biggest impact on recruiter outreach

✔️ Why most UX job seekers get their headlines totally wrong

✔️ How to apply product strategy thinking to your career

✔️ The 3 essential UX job search strategies: Design, Marketing, and Sales

✔️ What happens when you’re missing even one of those strategies

✔️ How to stand out in a sea of qualified candidates (without starting from scratch)

Additional Resources:

Episode 18: Avoid This Mistake When Writing Your LinkedIn Profile headline

UX Job Search Workshop

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction and Purpose

00:38 The Power of LinkedIn Optimization

01:27 Understanding the UX Hiring Process

02:45 Crafting a Standout LinkedIn Headline

05:33 Three Key Strategies for UX Job Search

07:27 Invitation to the Workshop

08:10 Final Thoughts and Encouragement

09:29 Conclusion and Additional Resources

10:09 Special Message for Struggling Job Seekers

🎯 How I can help with your UX job search

📋 Get my UX case study template

👋 Follow me, on LinkedIn, Instagram, & YouTube

Listen before Aug 22 at 8pm PT ... in this live workshop, Sarah Doody shares the 3 strategies every UX or Product person who gets hired leverages in their UX job search. This is based off what Sarah has been working for people who got hired, as recently as August 5. If you want to be ready for the September Surge, do not snooze on listening to this!

Time Sensitive: Enrollment is OPEN for my UX job search accelerator and will close on Fri, Aug 22 at 8pm PT.

You can learn more, watch success stories, or enroll here.

And you can watch to the recording of my UX job search workshop, until this Friday.

If you have questions about the UX job search accelerator program (aka Career Strategy Lab) you can book a 1:1 call here or use the chat widget on the websites linked above to send us a message.

🎬 Watch our free UX Job Search Workshop and learn how to stand out in 2025

👉 Join Career Strategy Lab, a UX job search accelerator for UX and Product people.

👋 Say hi and follow our host, Sarah Doody, on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

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 you’ve “missed your shot”? This story will change how you think about career momentum.

In this Open House conversation, Sarah sits down with Manny, a senior UX designer who transitioned into UX after a decade in graphic design and just landed a role at Fidelity. After getting laid off and spending weeks spinning his wheels, Manny joined Career Strategy Lab to bring clarity, structure, and confidence back to his job search.

In this honest and insightful conversation, Manny shares what helped him rebuild momentum, how the Compass Sprint shaped everything from his resume to interviews, and why he wishes he’d joined sooner.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

✔️ How Manny landed a UX role at Fidelity after being laid off

✔️ The single most valuable CSL exercise (that he didn’t expect)

✔️ Why clarity leads to faster progress across your materials

✔️ How the Compass Statement helped him shape his story and stand out

✔️ Why applying early in your job search saves you time, money, and confidence

✔️ How to make the most of CSL—whether you’re employed or not

Timestamps:

02:28 Meet Manny: A UX Designer's Journey

03:51 Navigating Job Search Challenges

06:16 The Impact of Career Strategy Lab

12:27 Advice for UX Job Seekers

14:54 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

15:07 Podcast Outro and Additional Resources

15:47 Special Message for Job Seekers

⭐ Support the show! Leave a rating on Spotify or a review on Apple Podcasts to help more UX professionals find this podcast.

🔔 Follow & Subscribe for weekly strategies and stories to help you grow in your UX career—without the burnout.

🎯 How I can help with your UX job search

📋 Get my UX case study template

👋 Follow me, on LinkedIn, Instagram, & YouTube

In this Q&A, you'll hear from a recently hired Principal Product Designer, a UX Strategist with 20 years of experience who's actively interviewing, and a UX Researcher & Designer who recently graduated with a masters in UX from the University of Michigan.

Time Sensitive → Enrollment is OPEN for my UX job search accelerator and will close on Fri, Aug 15 at 8pm PT.

Join by Friday and get 1 extra month for FREE & my new UX Freelancing course.

You can learn more, watch success stories, or enroll here.

And you can watch to the recording of my UX job search workshop, until this Friday.

If you have questions about the UX job search accelerator program (aka Career Strategy Lab) you can book a 1:1 call here or use the chat widget on the websites linked above to send us a message.

🎬 Watch our free UX Job Search Workshop and learn how to stand out in 2025

👉 Join Career Strategy Lab, a UX job search accelerator for UX and Product people.

👋 Say hi and follow our host, Sarah Doody, on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

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, create momentum, and build a complete suite of job search materials—from resume to portfolio—without burning out.

From tending his “career garden” to turning hikes into problem-solving sessions, Chris offers powerful reminders that progress isn’t about perfection—it’s about intention, space, and support.

✔️ How Chris navigated a layoff after 9 years at the same company

✔️ What helped him stay focused and finish his portfolio without burnout

✔️ Why the LinkedIn sprint was a game-changer for getting found

✔️ The mental shift that helped him stop over-explaining and start storytelling

✔️ How nature and structure kept his confidence high and mindset grounded

✔️ His top tip for anyone thinking about joining Career Strategy Lab

00:00 Introduction and Host Welcome

00:16 Meet Sarah Doty: Your Career Guide

00:54 Episode Overview and Open House Context

01:38 Chris's UX Journey: From CD-ROMs to Career Strategy Lab

04:05 Navigating Job Search Challenges

06:49 The Importance of Diligence and Balance

07:21 The Healing Power of Nature

08:39 Career Strategy Lab Sprints: A Deep Dive

11:54 Final Tips and Encouragement

13:03 Conclusion and Farewell

13:19 Podcast Outro and Additional Resources

13:59 Special Message for Job Seekers

🎯Want to learn more about the critiques, community, coaching calls, and everything inside Career Strategy Lab? Apply or learn more.

⭐ Support the show! Leave a rating on Spotify or a review on Apple Podcasts to help more UX professionals find this podcast.

🎯 How I can help with your UX job search

📋 Get my UX case study template

👋 Follow me, on LinkedIn, Instagram, & YouTube