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PODCAST

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

Sarah Doody from Career Strategy Lab

Welcome to the Career Strategy Podcast, with Sarah Doody, a UX Researcher & Product Designer with 22 years of experience who helps UX and Product people design their careers. You’ll learn how to advance your UX or Product career including how get hired in UX, stay hired, get promoted, and build a personal brand and visibility. You’ll also hear no BS tips to optimize your UX resume and portfolio, navigate your UX job search, and prepare for UX job interviews so you can stop being invisible and be

business careers

All Episodes

00:14:07

175: How to Deal with NDAs When Creating Your UX...

Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody | UX,... ·

2026/05/18

NDAs stop a lot of UX professionals from including their best work in their portfolio, but they might not be the obstacle you think they are.Sarah has spent nearly a decade coaching UX professionals, and one of the questions she gets most often is how to handle NDA-protected work in a portfolio. In this episode, she walks through what NDAs typically do and don't restrict, how to write about protected work without violating your agreement, and why UX recruiters and hiring managers aren't looking for

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00:17:33

174: The Bar to Stand Out As A UX Candidate is Lower...

Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody | UX,... ·

2026/05/11

Have you been applying to UX jobs you know you're qualified for and still not hearing back? Chances are, your experience isn't the problem, it's how you're presenting it.After nearly a decade of coaching UX and product professionals and reviewing thousands of resumes, portfolios, and LinkedIn profiles, Sarah has seen the same red flag mistakes show up again and again. The candidates making them are talented, experienced designers who simply were never taught how to market themselves.In this episode,

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01:02:28

173: UX Hiring Insights: Jeni Bible, UX Manager at...

Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody | UX,... ·

2026/05/04

Do you ever wonder what happens on the other side of a UX job application, like who's reading your portfolio, what makes them keep going, and what makes them close the tab? Sarah sits down with Jeni Bible, a UX Manager at Home Depot who has a uniquely full-circle perspective.Jeni went through Career Strategy Lab, landed her role at Home Depot just four months later, and is now the hiring manager evaluating candidates for that same type of position. Jeni brings 27 years in the design industry,

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00:54:45

172: UX Hiring Insights: Alexander Zeh, Head of...

Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody | UX,... ·

2026/04/27

What does it take to build a UX portfolio that makes a hiring manager stop scrolling? Alexander Zeh, Head of Product Design at ManyChat, is here to share how he approaches hiring and what many candidates get wrong.In this episode of the Career Strategy Podcast, Sarah Doody sits down with Alexander Zeh, a design leader with over 20 years of experience who has scaled UX teams from 5 to 43 people. Alexander is refreshingly direct about what he's looking for and what sends candidates straight to the

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00:10:33

171: The 6-Word Post-It Note To Speed Up & Fix Your...

Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody | UX,... ·

2026/04/20

Are you spending hours on your UX job search but not actually making progress? The problem usually isn't effort. It's focus. Most job seekers stay busy tweaking portfolios, scrolling job boards, and hanging out in Slack groups, but at the end of the day, they can't point to anything that moved them closer to getting hired.In this episode of the Career Strategy Podcast, Sarah Doody shares a simple Post-It note hack that transformed how she runs her business, and how you can use the same concept to

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00:28:00

170 - Finding Your UX Niche: Jonathan's Journey From...

Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody | UX,... ·

2026/04/13

After being laid off, Jonathan spent months applying to everything and getting almost nowhere. Even with 20 years of UX experience, 75% of his applications ended in silence or rejection. In this episode of Career Strategy Lab, Sarah Doody catches up with Jonathan now that he's landed an Executive Director of Web Experience role at the University of Houston Downtown He shares what changed in his job search when he stopped applying to everything and started being intentional about where, how, and to

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00:17:47

169 - 3 ways to stop wasting time in your UX job search

Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody | UX,... ·

2026/04/06

Every month your job search goes on is a month of lost salary. And the thing is, most UX and product people who are stuck aren't lazy. They're working hard, spending hours a week on their search. But they're also spending a lot of that time just waiting: waiting for a response after they apply, waiting after an interview, waiting for the right job to show up. In this episode, Sarah Doody breaks down 3 common ways you waste time in your UX job search and what to do instead so you can start getting

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00:58:14

168 - UX Hiring Insights: Steph McDonald UX Design...

Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody | UX,... ·

2026/03/30

What does it actually take to get hired in UX Design and stand out to UX recruiters? Steph McDonald, a UX Recruiter from HubSpot is here to share how she approaches UX hiring. With 300+ applications often coming in for a single UX design role, the competition is intense. And behind every application is a recruiter making real decisions about who moves forward and who doesn't.In this episode of the Career Strategy Podcast, Sarah Doody sits down with Steph McDonald, a lead UX design recruiter at

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00:20:46

167 - Stop Asking How: Speed Up Your UX Job Search...

Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody | UX,... ·

2026/03/23

If your first move when updating your resume, building your UX portfolio, or preparing for an interview is to Google "how do I…" — you're falling into a trap that's slowing down your entire UX job search. In this episode, Sarah Doody breaks down the "Who Not How" framework and explains why the question you should be asking isn't how — it's who. You'll learn why DIYing your job search with Google searches and Reddit threads is costing you time, money, and momentum, and how to start thinking like a

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01:05:41

166 - UX Hiring Insights Dan Maccarone on Thinking...

Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody | UX,... ·

2026/03/16

UX hiring insights from a UX veteran with 25+ years in UX and product. In this episode, Sarah Doody interviews Dan Maccarone, co-founder of Hard Candy Shell and Charming Robot, fractional Chief Product Officer, and a UX expert who's worked on products for Hulu, Rent the Runway, Foursquare, and the Wall Street Journal. In the episode Dan shares about what he actually looks for when hiring UX people (spoiler: it's not your Figma skills).Dan shares why he doesn't care about tools, why he conducts

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00:18:30

165 - 5 practical time-saving tips for your UX job...

Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody | UX,... ·

2026/03/09

Feel like your UX job search is full time job? Here are 5 things you can start using today to save time, reduce overthinking, and make real progress in your UX or Product job search. These are tips that Sarah sees working for people inside her UX career coaching program, Career Strategy Lab, and some she uses in her own work every day.Topics discussed in this episode of the Career Strategy Podcast:How to create a plug-and-play script document so you never start from scratch on emails againHow text

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00:23:29

164 - What is Career Maximalism and Why Caring Too...

Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody | UX,... ·

2026/03/02

Career maximalism is a mistake that many high achieving professionals make. When you care too much about your job, you can actually become worse at it. In this video, learn what Career Maximalism is, and why this behavior is everywhere, often rewarded, and quietly working against you.Career maximalism is when your job becomes a major source of your identity and your emotional state rises and falls based on how work is going. It often looks like being a great employee, but there's a tipping point

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00:15:45

163 - What is Career Minimalism and How It Can...

Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody | UX,... ·

2026/02/23

The idea of career minimalism sounds healthy. But this trending philosophy of your job being a tool, not your identity (especially popular with Gen Z) could be quietly weakening your career if you're not careful.In this episode, Sarah Doody breaks down what career minimalism actually is, why it's gained so much momentum (spoiler: burnout, broken loyalty, and unpredictable layoffs), and the hidden risk most career minimalists never talk about. The real danger isn't doing less at work — it's what

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00:25:02

162 - How Erica Got Hired as a UX Officer at WK...

Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody | UX,... ·

2026/02/16

Erica Jiminez went from facing a potential layoff at the CDC to landing her dream role as the first-ever User Experience Officer at WK Kellogg Foundation. In this episode, Sarah Doody chats with Erica about her experience in Sarah's UX job search coaching program, Career Strategy Lab.Erica shares how she got clear on what she wanted, made sense of a non-linear career path, and landed a mission-driven UX role.Erica talks about how the Career Roadmap and Compass Statement in Career Strategy Lab helped

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00:50:52

161 - UX Hiring Insights with Design Recruiter Jared...

Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody | UX,... ·

2026/02/09

In this episode, Sarah Doody talks with Jared Tredly, a design recruiter at Shopify, about what really happens behind the scenes when UX and Product Design candidates apply for roles. Jared shares an honest look at how generalist recruiters interpret design briefs, what they scan for in the first few seconds of reviewing a portfolio, and why so many designers accidentally bury the most important information. He also breaks down what senior-level designers must show, why overly long case studies

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00:27:45

160: Why This UX Designer Walked Away After 5...

Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody | UX,... ·

2026/02/02

In this episode, Sarah Doody chats with Faith, a Product Designer who successfully transitioned from a layoff to a Product Design role, all while navigating UX career uncertainty. Faith shares how she used Career Strategy Lab’s intentional UX job search framework to slow down, get clear on what she wanted, and create a UX portfolio and application strategy that aligned with her career goals.In this episode, Faith shares how Career Strategy Lab helped her prioritize the “why” behind her career

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00:26:57

159: 3 Skills UX Professionals Need Most in the Age...

Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody | UX,... ·

2026/01/25

In this episode, Sarah talks about how AI is reshaping the UX landscape and why three key skills are more important than ever for professionals looking to stand out in the evolving job market.Despite the rise of AI tools, it’s not about being replaced—it’s about evolving your mindset and skills to stay relevant. In this episode, Sarah explains why UX professionals need to stop thinking like "doers" and start thinking like "drivers." You’ll also hear why the critical skills of speed, quality

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00:26:00

158: From UX Internship to Amazon UX Designer: How...

Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody | UX,... ·

2026/01/19

In this episode, Sarah interviews Vasudha, a UX Designer at Amazon AWS Applied AI, to talk about what it really looks like to invest in your career early, and how the impact compounds for years.Vasudha joined Career Strategy Lab's UX job search accelerator in late 2023 while finishing her master’s degree, navigating the uncertainty of the job market as an international student, and waiting to see whether her AWS internship would convert to a full-time role. Today, she’s thriving at Amazon, and still

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00:55:29

157: UX Hiring Insights: Ben Peck on UX Generalists,...

Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody | UX,... ·

2026/01/12

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 Conference and former Executive Director of Product Hive, he’s reviewed hundreds of portfolios, partnered closely

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00:29:02

156: From Market Research to UX: How Kellyn Got Hired...

Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody | UX,... ·

2026/01/05

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 had the skills, but lacked the clarity, confidence, and story to prove it. Through Career Strategy Lab,

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