The UX Teacher Prep Podcast

Ep 5. The Art of Networking When Changing Careers

• Zee Arnold • Season 1 • Episode 5

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In today's episode, I reveal the hidden power of networking for educators aiming to pivot their careers into the exciting realm of user experience and product design. Through the UX Teacher Prep Podcast, you'll uncover the truth behind a robust professional network—not just as a collection of contacts, but as a pivotal force for career advancement. You'll learn that a resume might land on a desk, but it's your relationships that open doors, ensuring you're seen, heard, and remembered in spaces you've yet to explore.

In this episode, I share personal anecdotes from my own transition out of the classroom and into the tech sphere, offering practical strategies to forge meaningful industry connections. This isn't about social media numbers; it's about creating ongoing partnerships that support growth long after you've secured your dream role. So tune in, get inspired, and let's start building a network that not only enhances your net worth but secures your place in the future of tech.

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Zee:

Hello teacher friends, coach Z, here and today we're going to talk about networking. I know that this is a scary topic for some educators because you really don't have to network with anyone outside of your teaching space on a regular basis, especially if you're not a lead teacher in some kind of leadership development program or a teacher who goes on conferences and such. But I want to talk to you today about how important it is for you to network in order for you to land your new role outside the classroom, and I'm also going to provide some examples so you can get started on this right away. So if you're ready to get connected, stay tuned.

Narrator:

Welcome to the UX Teacher Prep Podcast, the ultimate destination for educators who aspire to break into the field of user experience and product design. Your host, Zee Arnold, a 15-year teacher turned UX Researcher, is here to guide, coach and mentor you through every twist and turn as you make your career transition into tech. If you're ready for a more satisfying career and lifestyle and you want the balance to unleash your creativity, this podcast is for you. Now for the show.

Zee:

Just to let you know, I do have a workshop coming up on YouTube in the coming weeks to get deeper into this topic of networking, LinkedIn and optimizing your LinkedIn page, which is really an important part of this whole process. So stay tuned for that and make sure you sign up for my email list on my website, uxteacherprep. com, so that you get information when it is coming out, and also make sure you follow my YouTube channel, UX Teacher Prep, so you don't miss when I go live. So today's topic came to mind when I was meeting with one of my coaching clients the other day and they were talking about their resume. I'm not going to name the person because I like to keep my clients' information anonymous. So I was updating their resume and we were talking through all their accomplishments, and one of the pain points that my client was having was that they were submitting their resume to so many companies. Mind you, their resume looked pretty good, but they weren't even getting any callbacks for interviews, and so I asked them how does your network look? Have you been networking with anyone in companies you're interested in or the roles you want? And the answer was no. So that was a red flag for me because I know that networking is super important, and a lot of people say it's all about who you know.

Zee:

Oftentimes, when I meet with clients, I uncover that networking is a missing piece of the puzzle for them. Your network is super important because you need your resume to be seen and your voice to be heard and your name to be called in rooms that you're not in, and the best way to make that happen is to network, network, network. Today, I'm going to talk about three ways you can create a network that will help you land your next role outside the classroom and, like I always say, it's about strategy. So when I say networking, I don't mean going on social media and getting as many random followers as you can. The purpose of networking is to build a relationship with people that you can continue to learn from and grow with, even after you land your role outside the classroom. If you take nothing else away from today's episode, what I want you to walk away with is this Networking gets your foot in the door, and that's the most important part of the process. Of course, you have to update and polish your resume and nail your interview, which are two upcoming episodes I have for you but if you're not networking, there's a chance you won't even get to the point where you can sit with the hiring manager and speak to the fantastic things you wrote about in your resume and why you're the best person for the job.

Zee:

I do believe that there's some truth in that saying your network is your net worth. I think about some of the best writers out there and how some pieces of their work didn't even get recognized or published until they passed away and people began to find and read their work. For example, emily Dickinson she struggled to get her work published and it wasn't until after she passed away that her sister discovered some of her poetry and that was almost 1800 pieces of work and that's when it was published. Nothing worked, but no one knew about it. It's the same for you.

Zee:

Even if you create your transition resume and you've optimized your LinkedIn page, if you're not networking with anyone, how are people supposed to know who you are? You have to sell yourself and your expertise. Imagine you're a hiring manager and you have a pile of 100 resumes and you've never seen or heard of any of these people except for one. Nine times out of 10, you're going to look at the one resume first, the person that you actually have heard about or has been recommended to you by someone else. And, yes, humans still look at resumes. It's not all about the application tracking system, ats, where your resume is being electronically handled with no human eye or human hands, and I'll share with you that.

Zee:

The way I got my foot in the door as a transitioning teacher to even talk to a hiring manager at my company was through networking. I was in the right place at the right time and I was able to get a referral for the position. So, because of networking, my resume made it in front of the right person and that was my foot in the door to show off my expertise. More on that in a bit. So the first networking strategy I want to share with you is connecting on LinkedIn. If you haven't heard, linkedin is the place to be for professionals who are looking for new careers. So once you make your profile, the first thing you should do is follow the business pages of the companies you're interested in working at, engage on some of their posts as they come up. If you see something that you feel you can add value to or insight, to comment on it. If you see something you like, like it or even repost it on your page. Then look for people to connect with.

Zee:

The goal here is to connect with people who have common professional interests as you. For example, you're both transitioning teachers, looking into UX careers, or you both share an interest in a specific ed tech company. Use the search feature to find people who are currently in the roles that you want and at the companies you want to work at. You can reach out to them for informational interviews, also called coffee chats. This is a great way to learn from experts in the field, but I'll caution you to make sure you have specific questions you want to ask them, and these should be questions that you've already researched and can't find answers to online through a simple search. Everyone's busy and if you reach out to someone with 30 questions and want to pick their brain for free, that's going to be a hard sell. Time is money, so try to have two to three specific questions you'd like to ask them and when you reach out, let them know what you want to learn from them. Don't ask anything that you can research on Google.

Zee:

When I first got on LinkedIn, I got the premium version. They had a free trial so I could have credits to inbox a certain amount of people each month. Then, later on, I actually ended up buying the premium version for $40 a month $39.99, so I'd be able to continue networking that way. But if you don't have the money, you can certainly continue to comment on posts, like and share posts and, of course, contribute with your own content and insightful ideas. The goal is to get yourself known. For example, if you learn something new about UX and you see a connection to teaching, you can write a post about that and add some relevant hashtags to get more eyes on it, and you can also follow experts that you want to learn from and join their mailing list to even get more information to help increase your knowledge on the topic.

Zee:

Now, if you noticed, none of the advice I presented about LinkedIn involved bashing your principal, bashing the education system or ranting about all the things you don't like about teaching or your current experience. There's a time and place for everything and LinkedIn is a professional platform. It's not the place for you to go and bad talk your current employer. We know that people leave professions because of bad energy, bad bosses, trauma and negative things, and, on the flip side, sometimes it's not negative. It's about outgrowing a company and wanting new experiences, or wanting more pay or to make a greater impact. What you don't want to do is go on LinkedIn and talk about all the negative things that are happening at your job or all the negative feelings you're getting during the interview process and I'm saying this because I've seen it so many times on LinkedIn, especially from transitioning teachers. There are best practices for everything you do For LinkedIn. It's called LinkedIn Etiquette. Look at it from an employer's perspective.

Zee:

This type of behavior is extremely unprofessional and a hiring manager seeing that is going to think well, things don't work out for them at my company. They'll probably go on LinkedIn and do the exact same thing and bash our company. So why would I hire them? You have to think strategically and you have to think like a hiring manager throughout this process. So if you feel like you need to go on a rant, go home and call your bestie and do that with your bestie on the phone or pillow, talk with your spouse. Those are the spaces available for you to rant, but when it comes to professional spaces like LinkedIn, that is not the place. All right, I hope you're taking notes.

Zee:

The second strategy is joining online groups or communities and attending meetups. I said earlier that I was in the right place at the right time to get my current role and I'll tell you a little bit more about that now. So I joined a Slack community that aligned with the career goal that I had. So Slack is like a messaging app for professionals and a lot of companies, especially remote ones, in tech use it as a way for colleagues to communicate. The community is called the UX of EdTech and it has a lot of teachers who are interested in UX and product careers and former teachers who transition to UX. Really great community with a lot of support, a lot of resources and people just live in their everyday having conversations about UX and about teachers and transitioning.

Zee:

I saw a posting come up for UX designer role and I jumped on it. I inboxed the employee who posted the position with a friendly note saying I saw the post and I asked if I could use his name on my application. I sent him a private inbox message. Make a note of that. He said yes and honestly, I'm sure he did a bit of research on me to see how I interacted in the community and make sure he was okay with me using him as a reference, and I had been doing my part by posting in the community and engaging with others in a professional manner. I don't think he would have said yes if I wasn't doing that.

Zee:

So, besides Slack communities, you can also join meetup groups. I use this app called Meetup and I've found it useful to get connected with local UX researchers and also to attend virtual UX events and other tech events. There are Facebook groups for transitioning teachers and for tech industries, mighty network groups, clubhouse groups, and the list goes on. There's so many ways to get connected and within these communities you can learn about upcoming conferences and workshops where you can network with others in your future role. And it's great because the host will usually invite you to drop your LinkedIn profile link in the chat to easily connect with other people, and sometimes they even collect more information from guests and compile it into a spreadsheet and send it out to all the attendees so they can continue to nurture those relationships even after the workshop.

Zee:

And the last strategy I want to share with you is one you maybe haven't considered.

Zee:

It's talking to family and friends in other careers to learn what their role is like.

Zee:

Tell them that you might be looking into other roles you can even say part-time roles if you're not ready to reveal that you're leaving the classroom or you're leaving teaching, and tell them that you'd love to hear about what they do, you'd be surprised how many people you have in your circle already who have awesome careers that you might be interested in pursuing.

Zee:

You can even ask them to let you know about upcoming positions or postings, and that's your foot in the door right there. So look at your circle and see who you have around you, and talk to family members, talk to friends, talk to your spouse's friends or your significant other's friends, and try to see if you can connect with people who are in companies that you may be interested in or roles that you may be interested in. So that's it for today's episode, and I really look forward to continuing this conversation with you on my YouTube live when we'll talk more about networking and LinkedIn. If you have any questions about what I discussed in today's episode, feel free to DM me on Instagram I respond to every message I receive or if you want to learn more about how UX Teacher Prep can help you with your transition, visit uxtteacherprepcom. Thanks so much for listening and we'll talk next week.

Narrator:

Hey, thanks so much for tuning in. If you like this podcast, hit, follow and scroll down to leave a five star rating. Then share it with a friend. If you're looking for resources to help you on your tech transition journey, head over to uxteacherprepcom. Follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram @uxteacherprep for daily tips and motivation. Have a topic you'd like to hear addressed on the show? Send us a DM on Instagram. If you're listening on YouTube, like, subscribe and share. Until next time, be well.