UX job cover letters when switching careers?

Careers & Mentoring
#1

Hey gang, first post here, love the site.

I’ve recently completed a bootcamp from Career Foundry and am now starting to reach out to employers. Reading threads here or biographies from many employed designers, many switched from graphic design backgrounds. I instead have almost 20 years experience in a creative but less portfolio-friendly industry, event production.

Any tips on finding the balance between typically short cover letters and writing a full page biography? I like to think that my story gives me a unique perspective on user-centric design and research, but how much sharing is too much in a written introduction?

thx

#2

Hey Randy,
Welcome!

It totally does. I think it’s important to get this across.

I have two thoughts here. Firstly, we always think that it’s more important to write biographies than it is. Employers don’t particularly care because the biographies are not objective. They want to see your work and then they’ll make a decision about strengths / personality / culture fit from interviews and references.

As an employer I always give extra weight to a cover letter which very specifically speaks to my project. What is it that you love about the organisation that you are applying to? What can you do that will help move the project forward? What is it about what they are doing that you are passionate about?