Week 2 and 3 AC - It's not You, it's Me.

Hello again folks!

If you read Week 1 AC post (quick reminder AC means "after course" and not after Christ), you know I spent the last two weeks polishing my website and sending applications to companies looking for UX Designers.

My portfolio is short. I am going to complete my second work example this week to show the steps involved in my portfolio website redesign: www.simonw3.com. Meanwhile feel free to visit I have added some video work I did in the past, some cool stuff there :)
This was a great chance to refresh my front-end skills. I built the website from scratch using HTML, CSS, jQuery, Bootstrap.

So what about the job search ?
Well, I sent 5 applications these couple of weeks.
I find it hard to encounter offers for "junior ux designers" and not all of them are interesting.
I know this is going to be hard and it is easy to get demotivated but I want to share something with you guys that makes me laugh a bit.
The most common answer I got from these 5 applications, exactly 3 times was: "it is not your ability, it is our requirements".
I appreciate the fact that the hiring manager took the time to answer and that his message, although refusing my application, still tried to motivate me to keep looking and don't give up!

But... am I the only one thinking that this is very similar to a relationship breakup: "it's not you it's me?" Food for thoughts :)

At the moment, i'm building a profile in a website for freelancers called People Per Hour.
My CareerFoundry mentor told me this could be a good way to gain more experience as this website works like a market and allows you to bid for jobs.
I am going to give it a go and see if I can get a few more projects in my portfolio. Maybe with more work examples on it I will be able to land an interview soon!

At the same time, Careerfoundry's Career Achievement team is giving me a hand with valuable feedback on my résumé, networking plan and up-skill plan.

Every two weeks I can get in touch with them to ask for advice and show them what I have been doing to try and land a job.

And that's it for now folks! I'm going to keep hustling and look for that dream job.
See you next week!
Cheers!