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I still care about content.

A few years back, a local reporter and columnist attended a content strategy conference at which I was a presenter. I had the impression he got sent there for his own professional development reasons. But he might have attended out of genuine curiosity, or for the purposes of the write-up he eventually published in a … continue

Do you need a portfolio to apply for UX content roles?

Transcript

Do I need a portfolio to apply for UX content roles?

Yes, but possibly also no.

I recommend to my coaching clients to create a portfolio if you can. And I think that most people can, because portfolios don’t have to be these super glossy case studies of high fidelity prototypes.

The portfolio is showing how you think and how you work. So if you have some stories about your work, and you can come up with visuals to accompany them screenshots, sure, but also diagrams, photos, you can put a little work story together, put a few work stories back to back, package them up in a presentation format — that’s also my recommendation. And now you have a portfolio.

So you could be applying to an enterprise content role where a portfolio is not required, you could be applying for a product marketing or marketing role, where your portfolio is not required. But if you have one that’s going to help set you above other candidates, it’s going to give you something to talk about with a hiring manager, especially if the organization is new to UX content. They might not even know what questions to ask, they might not know what the work could look like. So it’s an opportunity to lead.

So yeah, there’s plenty of jobs out there. If there’s a match where you don’t have a portfolio yet and they’re not asking for one? Great! Go ahead and apply. But I would encourage you to take the time to start building one regardless.

Where and How to Find UX Writing, Content Design, and Content Strategy Jobs

Your search for a UX content job may not resemble any of your prior job searches, especially if you are trying to transition from a professional background outside of product and UX. You’ll need to look and read more carefully, search more deeply and creatively, and, in some cases, work quite a bit harder than you might have to work for another kind of job.

Portfolio tip: Show your understanding with ‘work stories’

What are you actually trying to accomplish with your content design or UX writing portfolio? Here’s one answer: Show someone that you understand it. That’s the short version, anyway, from my response to a question about portfolios and case studies during the recent SVC-hosted panel on landing your first content design job. The gist of my sentiment is that, … continue

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