1. Avoid typos and mis-spellings: Typos and mis-spellings indicate sloppiness and a lack of attention to detail. This resumes might go straight to the garbage bin.

2. Don’t have a sloppy layout: Mis-alignments in paragraphs or sections are also sloppy and show a lack of attention to detail (big no-no, especially for UX jobs!). Straight to the bin!

3. Remove outdated information: Re-write older work experience and project descriptions to suit the terminology used today in the UX field. If you are a seasoned designer or professional with over 20 years of expertise, there is no need to include ALL your work experience. Highlight only the last 5-10 years of expertise.

4. Remove irrelevant information: Only include information about projects and work experience that is relevant to the UX job at hand that you are applying for. If it’s not relevant, then eliminate it or find ways to reframe it in terms of UX skills and methodologies.

5. Prioritize information for recruiters/hiring managers: Prioritize work experience and project examples that are especially relevant to the UX job you are applying for. For example, if you are applying for a UX role in healthcare, then prioritize and highlight healthcare projects within your UX resume.

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   Disney, Ford, Nike, Reddit, PNC, CVS, GE Aviation and more!

6. Prioritize work experience at top of page: Some folks make the mistake of prioritizing project work, education, or honors experience up top. Nope! Companies are most interested in seeing relevant real-world work experience. This can be challenging for new grads trying to land their first full-time role, so definitely book a call with us and we can help you!

7. Include these contact details at top of page: Include your name, email, phone number, LinkedIn profile link, and UX portfolio link (with password) at the top of the page. There is no need to include your address.

8. Include key skills and software: Include key skills you have such as wire-framing, prototyping, running user testing or user interviews. Include design and tech software you use as well such as Figma, Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office, Google Suite, Jira, Trello.

9. Include an education section at bottom: Only highlight your higher-ed degrees, such as your Bachelors or Masters degrees.

10. Highlight skills relevant to the job at bottom: De-prioritize the skills section to the bottom of the resume. It can be a catch-all for UX terms you want to include in your resume.

    Book a 1:1 60-minute UX resume re-write session!

    Ideate Labs is trusted by over 50,000 UX learners and has helped folks land interviews at

    Disney, Ford, Nike, Reddit, PNC, CVS, GE Aviation and more!

11. Include impactful KPIs (key performance indicators): Showcase your impact on the project or job at hand in terms of revenue, conversion rates, time saved, costs reduced, etc. Talk about the number of folks you interviewed, or the amount of time it took you to complete a design sprint or design process. Talk through how many people you collaborated with or managed/mentored while on the job.

12. Utilize UX terminology for that job: If you are trying to rebrand past jobs in UX terms, then use the UX terminology. For example, if you worked in customer service, then describe your calls as “customer interviews'“ or “user interviews”. If you worked as an admin, then describe how you optimize internal processes as “service design”.

13. Create multiple versions: If you are applying to multiple UX career paths, it’s good to create a version of your UX resume for each career path. For example, you can create a UX Researcher resume version, a UX Designer resume version, and a Product Manager resume version. Obviously, different key terms and skillsets would be highlighted in each UX resume version.

14. A/B test multiple versions: It’s good to create multiple UX resumes and then A/B test the success or failure of each one. Create a spreadsheet where you track what resume version helps you land a recruiter screener or hiring manager call. Discard UX resume versions that are not helping you land calls.

15. Don’t include graphics: Don’t include any logos, photos, or colors in your resume. These types of overly-designed elements make it harder for your UX resume to past through the ATS. Keep it simple. Black and white typography created in Word or Google Docs.

    Book a 1:1 60-minute UX resume re-write session!

    Ideate Labs is trusted by over 50,000 UX learners and has helped folks land interviews at

    Disney, Ford, Nike, Reddit, PNC, CVS, GE Aviation and more!

16. Create a short-form & long-form resume: It is always good to create a 1-pager short form version of your resume and a long-form version of your resume (2-3 pages). Long-form resumes are great for mid-senior level designers and researchers, UX managers, UX directors, and VPs. Short-form 1-pager UX resumes tend to be great for UX beginners or junior UX designers and researchers.

17. Your LinkedIn profile & UX resume should read the same: As you A/B test resumes, you should narrow it down to one UX career path that you are most suited for, and receiving the most interviews for. When this happens, make sure that your LinkedIn profile descriptions matches that winning UX resume.

18. Your UX portfolio & UX resume should read the same: Make sure that the projects and work experience you highlight in your UX resume and LinkedIn profile also show up on your UX portfolio.

19. Eliminate “Objective” and “Introduction” sections: No need for these. These are unnecessary in this day and age. Nobody wants to read it. Instead, show how you stand out from the crowd when writing the descriptions for your work experience and projects.

20. Ensure easy scan-ability: Each job description and project description should be easy to scan. Each section in your resume should be easy to scan.

    Book a 1:1 60-minute UX resume re-write session!

    Ideate Labs is trusted by over 50,000 UX learners and has helped folks land interviews at

    Disney, Ford, Nike, Reddit, PNC, CVS, GE Aviation and more!

21. Use sans-serif typefaces like Helvetica and Lato: Make it easy for recruiters to read and skim your resume. Sans-serif fonts ensure easier readability.

22. Don’t use too much color: Keep it simple! Don’t try to over-design the UX resume. Save your creativity for your UX portfolio instead.

23. Instead of paragraphs, try bullet points: Instead of lengthy paragraphs describing your work experience and projects, try 1-line or 2-line bullet points. The easier to scan and the shorter the bullet points, the better.

24. Use action-oriented language: Start each sentence with a an action verb like “Collaborated”, “Led”, “Prototyped”, “Analyzed”, etc.

25. Use simple language: Can your UX resume be easily understood by a fifth grader? Did you know that speech writers for U.S. presidents try to use language that fifth graders can understand? If fifth-grade language is good enough for our presidents, it should be good for your UX resume :) Don’t user overly complex or flowery language. Keep it simple, while including UX terminology in there.

    Book a 1:1 60-minute UX resume re-write session!

    Ideate Labs is trusted by over 50,000 UX learners and has helped folks land interviews at

    Disney, Ford, Nike, Reddit, PNC, CVS, GE Aviation and more!

26. Send a PDF version over: PDFs are easy to scan and read, and ensure that the layout you wanted is saved when the recruiter or hiring manager sees it.

27. Use a 1-column UX resume template to bypass ATS: Through our own A/B testing, we have found that 1-column resumes tend to be more easily scannable by the ATS and easier to parse.

28. An awards & recognition section is optional: You can add it if you really want to- but again, recruiters and hiring managers mostly care about relevant work experience.

29. Include UX resume keywords: Read the job description to UX jobs you are applying to and then utilize UX methodologies, UX skills, and qualifications highlighted in that description when writing your UX resume.

30. Show, don’t tell: Again, really describe the impact you had on a project or job, rather than telling people what you did on a day-to-day basis. Impact is much more interesting and helps you stand out from the crowd! Sometimes, you will need to meet with a mentor or coach to tease out your impact to a job or project. Book a 1:1 resume re-write session with us today.

What are some UX resume keywords I should include in my UX resume?

If you are going for UX Designer or Product Designer roles, then you definitely want to highlight you design systems and Figma knowledge and expertise. You can use keywords like: wireframes, high-fidelity, low-fidelity, Figma, UX workflows, user workflows, UX process map, UX journey map, user personas, design system, style guide, UI elements, prototype, animation.

If you are going for UX Research roles, then you want to highlight qualitative and quantitative UX research methodologies that you possess. You can use keywords like: user interviews, user testing, discovery interviews, observational studies, contextual inquiries, stakeholder interviews, stakeholder management, user types, user personas, journey maps, service design blueprint, process maps, wireframes.

What are some key UX resume tips to consider as I write my UX resume?

Check out our Anatomy of a UX resume video to hear about some tips when resume writing! We also have a free UX career course online with tips for the UX job search, including UX resume writing, writing UX portfolio case studies, acing UX interviews, and thinking about salary and negotiations as well.

How do I write a UX designer resume with no experience?

It is important to reframe your past projects or work experience into UX terms, even if you have no “formal” UX experience. For example, if you work in customer service, you can rebrand calls to “user interviews” or “customer interviews”. If you work in HR or admin roles, you can talk about optimizing internal processes for the company as “service design”. There are a variety of ways to tease out UX terminology from your past experiences- we can work with you 1:1 to help you do this!

What are some good UX designer resume examples?

Check out our Anatomy of a UX resume video to view the template that Samaya uses for her resumes. Her resume writing skills have helped her and Ideate Labs alumni get UX interviews at Fortune 500 companies like Disney, Reddit, Nike, Ford, PNC, Capital One, GE Aviation and so many more.

What is a good UX designer resume template or layout to use?

Check out our Anatomy of a UX resume video to view the template that Samaya uses for her resumes. Her resume writing skills have helped her and Ideate Labs alumni get UX interviews at Fortune 500 companies like Disney, Reddit, Nike, Ford, PNC, Capital One, GE Aviation and so many more. The ideal UX resume template should be a 1-column template created in Word or Google Docs. It can be exported as a PDF when imputed into an ATS system. The UX resume should not contain ANY graphics or images, but should be simply formatted and easy to read and scan. It is best to use sans-serif fonts when writing your UX resume.

How much should I design my UX resume?

The ideal UX resume template should be a 1-column template created in Word or Google Docs. It can be exported as a PDF when imputed into an ATS system. The UX resume should not contain ANY graphics or images, but should be simply formatted and easy to read and scan. It is best to use sans-serif fonts when writing your UX resume. Do NOT over design your UX resume by adding too much color, graphics, or images.

How do I get my UX resume to pass the ATS system?

When you apply to each UX job, read the job descriptions and make sure that the terminology and wording on your resume mimics the language in these job descriptions. This will help the ATS identify you a good candidate for the job.