Should I take the job of UX Research Recruiting Coordinator?

Careers & Mentoring
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#1

Hey everyone!

I was reached out to on LinkedIn by a recruiting company called ACS Group, and they are offering me a permanent position as a Senior Process Associate / UX Research Recruiting Coordinator at Infosys BPM in Austin.

I just graduated from General Assembly’s UXDI course, and I am looking for a UX Research or UX Design job. However, in this position, I wouldn’t be doing any research or design. I would instead be:

  • Sourcing, screening and recruiting research participants for UX studies
  • Partnering and collaborating with UX researchers to identify key participant requirements
  • Curating participants to ensure a high quality sample pool for the researchers
  • Managing calendars, timelines, scheduling details, and logistics for multiple UX studies
  • Tracking and analyzing participant activity and documenting it in a database
  • Networking with potential participants to generate new leads

(That all came from the job description.)

The reason I’m considering the offer is because I have no real world professional experience behind me (other than the typical retail / cashier jobs you do in college). I therefore have little to show other companies, and I need a foot in the door. Also, it would be nice to make some money.

The thing that concerns me is the fact that by doing this job, I still wouldn’t have any real world UX research or design work to put in my portfolio. All I have are my projects and one client job I did at General Assembly. I hope that this could be a foot in the door to getting real experience, but that would only be if it was likely that I could be promoted to a UX Research role. As of right now, I feel like it’s a gamble.

Should I take the job? Should I state in my first interview that I’m only interested if it leads to a UX Researcher role? Or is this a diversion that wouldn’t help me get a foot in the professional UX field?

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#3

I’d be working for Infosys, and they are an outsourcing company. They said one of their major clients is Google, and that I’d be working on Google’s Austin campus.

I agree, asking for a promotion right away is a no-go.
What if I were to ask,

“Do ux research recruitment coordinators ever transition into full ux researchers? What can you tell me about the relationship between my role and the ux research team? I’d love to be able to put the work that I’ve done at places such as Google down in my portfolio.”

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#4

I just spoke with the hiring manager. It was a bit discouraging.

The researchers are not within Infosys. They are with Google. I contact the researchers, see what they need, then get the participants. I don’t really work alongside the researchers at all, I’m pretty much the errand boy. This is not a stepping stone situation. There is not a way for me to move into a research role, since there are none at the place I will be working at.

What do you think? Dead end or does it have any merit for going forward into a UX research or design role?

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#6

I see what you are saying. My concern is that what you are saying relies on a bunch of “if’s”.

  • If I’m able to build the necessary rapport.
  • If I’m able to let the client know that I’m looking for a full-time UX Researcher role without breaking the rules (the hiring manager was extremely strict on the importance of PERFECT communication and no deviation.)

If those “if’s” don’t turn out, I could have been using those 6 months to look for other jobs, beef up my portfolio with side projects, find an internship, etc.

My GA Outcomes coach said that it’s probably not the best move. But I also see your point, jdebari. It’s a really hard call to make, and one I’ll have to really do some soul searching about.

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#7

I agree with Julia here. So much of finding your dream job is about relationships. If you don’t currently have another offer on the table then I’d probably pursue this one to at least build some peripheral experience and build your network.

You can do that out of hours. None of that is a full time job.

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#8

Go make some new friends! I agree with Hawk and Julia - this could be an interesting role for you and add value to your overall career in the long term. And don’t underestimate the value of gaining experience in those areas! I did work like that when I was a recent graduate and it taught me a lot that I still use today. It’s one thing to do the doing but it’s another thing entirely to manage it. It is all about the relationships and this is a chance for you to build up some useful experience!

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#9

agree with everyone else. Some experience is better than no experience. Do the job, whilst looking for your next step. Have you had much interest from other recruiters? If not, then more reason to take the role. If you have however attracted quite a bit of interest from recruiters, then that’s a different issue!

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#10

Hi Geoff,

This will always be the case. Depending on what other opportunities are coming down the pipe, this could be a great one. Early in your career its best to try stuff, see what fits and get rid of what doesn’t. Like the others, I wouldn’t suggest writing off a networking opportunity at Google of all places. Hawk is right that you can beef up your portfolio and search for jobs outside of work hours and make some money while networking at the worlds most valuable brand in the meantime. Who knows, google might offer professional development on campus as well. Plus, I disagree that this is not real world experience. You are participating in the UX research process and adding value to the end result! Congrats on getting the ball rolling!

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#11

Alright, it’s unanimous that I should take this job. I don’t have any other offers on the table.

I also have only started applying two weeks ago (and have not been networking all that much), and I only have two case studies in my portfolio, and I know I could make them better (more concise) and also add one more (an e-commerce project concerning a re-working of Dell’s website) but perhaps that’s another matter.

I can’t argue against the collective wisdom that all of you have graciously bestowed upon me.

My next question is: It seems to be a glorified call center job. If you were in my place, how would you go about networking and forming connections in a way that wouldn’t get you in trouble? Hawk, you mentioned that it could take place out of hours. What would that look like… how would you (and this question is open to everyone) go about doing that?

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#12

If u haven’t attracted much interest from other recruiters, then IMO it’s a no brainer to take the job. But at the end of the day we are just random people from the internet in completely different situations to u. Its up to you to choose your path.

The way i see it, you won’t be at the job forever, even if you’re there for just a few months, u will have something interesting to talk about, on top of your GA stuff, when you land an interview for an actual ux role. This will set u apart from other grads who don’t have any experience. So don’t be too quick to discount this experience.

WRT networking, get involved with absolutely everything, volunteer for everything, go to drinks with the team, go for lunches, go to work socials. When people like you, they will look out for you. And u never know, if a vacancy pops up, you will be front of mind. Make the most of he experience and good luck!

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#13

To be honest, I’m more swaying towards recommending you to not take it. You would really be an errand boy. Suppose I’d work with you, and after 6 months you’d tell me that you would want to move into a UX Research job, you wouldn’t have any competitive advantage compared to, let’s say, an accountant. Recruiting participants barely gives you any relevant experience that could help you move into a UX Research job. The only advantage that you’d have, and it’s up to you how valuable you consider this, is that you have the connections with Google’s researchers (but to which extent?). It says ‘partnering and collaborating with UX researchers’, but usually they’ll just tell you what you need, and maybe even by proxy.

I might sound really negative about this, which is in stark contrast with the other responses here. I think there are more efficient ways to build a network than to source participants. Go to meetups for example, search for network events, talk to recruiters in your region,…

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#14

This can still be done while working.

Networking within an organization with demonstrated hard work is more effective than showing up to networking events armed with only a resume among dozens of other recent grads. It is also way less uncomfortable lol. Plus you could build relationships within Infosys as a successful employee and with the recruitment agency that found you. I am not saying that its a must accept situation but I want to emphasize some of the benefits that should be measured against what ever your other opportunities are.

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#15

Hmmmm… I wouldn’t look at it like that. I’ve worked in a call centre and all I did was get yelled at, read scripts off a screen (because that was the job) and listen to my supervisor complain about how I’d been offline for a whole 47 seconds doing write up from my last call. This sounds different.

I don’t understand how you can get in trouble for meeting someone you haven’t met before or for just talking to someone. I guess it depends on what you think networking is. I would take a fairly simplistic approach and just meet people, get to know them and let them get to know you in the course of doing your job. Try to see them more as people you know and people you interact with as part of your work. Sit with other people while you eat lunch etc. Just build relationships and try not to view them as transactional if that makes sense. I have a huge network but it was built by accident. I just met and interacted with people I thought were interesting and every so often an opportunity to help each other out comes up.

Weekends, evenings, public holidays etc. Yeah, it’s not great but how badly do you want this? And in what time frame? For the first few years of my career, I worked 6-7 days a week. 5 days a week at my job and then weekends and evenings on my blog, my UX Agony Aunt column and other random projects. You fit it in where you can and if/when life happens and/or you can’t keep up that’s OK too. You just have to relax your time frames or get creative but don’t be too hard on yourself :slight_smile:

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#16

I think it’s great to offer opinions on both sides.

I don’t agree in this particular case, but it’s valuable nevertheless. Thanks for having the courage to swim against the current. :wink:

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#17

Obviously :sweat_smile:

Hard work is good, but if you’re moving in the wrong direction it doesn’t matter how hard you work. Since he has just started searching for a job, he doesn’t have to take the first gig that crosses his path, especially if that gig gives you little or no relevant experience in UX. Better opportunities might cross his path.

Never had any issues doing that :rofl:

@geoffparker1988 I hope this thread helps you put all the pro’s and cons in perspective. In the end, you’re in the best position to assess how this job fits in your career path :slight_smile:

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#19

What did you decide in the end @geoffparker1988? I’m curious!

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#20

I would go for it as it would show that you have people skills and so many people lack people skills.

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#21

Hi,

Did you take the job? How was the experience?

I am also applying as a “UX Research Participant Coordinator“ in the same company based here in the Philippines. :philippines:

#22

I wonder if he took the job !!! I actually took this job and have been there for a year. I don’t have a UX background, but account management mostly and I’m taking classes for UX on the side. I do have good relationships with people in the company and at Google although it has not landed me a job there or elsewhere, it still could. You are separate from the bigger process if UX but you also do have some access to keen insight on business standards, tools, user testing, participant recruitment and sourcing, and some research methods. I’ve seen a lot of people with ux certificates work here a short time, and then move on to something bigger.

I think we might be hiring again FYI.

If anyone is still on this thread, what’s the best thing you did to get your foot in the door ?

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#24

Did you pursue it? How was it? I am currently being offered a similar role, same company.