If you don't have any design background from your past jobs or education, it can be easy to feel intimidated about venturing towards the design career path. Guess what? Your experience can bring a diverse set of skills and a unique way of thinking that companies are looking for!
It's important to remember that those skills you have acquired from your experience can very well be transferred to your next design gig. Think of your past roles and brainstorm how those skills could be used in a design position.
Here are some ways that my non-design background has prepared me for the design industry.
Job 1: Strategic Account Manager
Active Listening: It's nearly impossible to effectively communicate or solve a client's issue without active listening. Fully concentrating on what my accounts were saying allowed me to understand their situation and solve their problem. Paying attention to their body language and attitude when we were discussing certain topics helped me gain further insight into how they felt about the situation at hand, which gave me even more clues on how I could solve their issue. You could compare this to conducting usability tests or other usability studies, and how your skillset in active listening could benefit the research team.
Management: Being an Account Manager was more than just managing accounts. I had to manage my time, the account's budget, multiple projects at once, as well as risk. You don't have to be a manager to have these skills. Are you organized? Do you have experience with logistics or recruitment? Management skills are diverse and can be easily transferred to your design role.
Collaboration: As an Account Manager for a specialty coffee and tea department, I was working with the sales team, the warehouse staff, customer service, our finance department, and outside vendors. The collaboration I experienced was endless. As a designer, you will be working with other departments, so show how you have effectively collaborated with other teams or companies and how you positively affected that teamwork.
Job 2: Sales Representative
Persuasiveness/Negotiating: It's a stereotype that saleswomen and salesmen are smooth talkers. That they know how to persuade people to buy something they might not have wanted to before. However, this is a skill that isn't easily learned by everyone, so if you have developed this kind of communication expertise, talk about it! As a designer, there will be plenty of instances where you have to sell yourself as a designer or your design ideas to clients, team members, and other stakeholders.
Public Speaking: In every step of the design process, you will have to present your ideas, research, and designs to a variety of people. The same goes for sales. I had to present to business owners/decision-makers how our services could solve their business' issues, and once that was done, I had to present to their employees how our solutions could benefit them personally. Show off your public speaking and presentation expertise; it's an important skill to have in general!
Empathy: In sales, first impressions are everything. You have to be able to relate to people on a more personal level, and through this, I gained some insights into the importance of empathy. As a designer, empathy is crucial. On your resume or during your interview, share a situation where you had to put yourself in the shoes of someone else, and how that positively impacted the situation.
Job 3: Front Desk Associate
Communication: Being the first face the customers saw when they walked into the door, I learned how to small talk and build relationships with regulars and new customers alike. As a designer, you will have to know how to communicate your design ideas to stakeholders and be able to communicate effectively to other members of the creative team (developers, UI designers, etc.). Show off your communication skills in your resume!
Conflict Resolution: If you have ever worked in customer service, you have probably experienced resolving a conflict with a customer or even a fellow employee. Conflict is inevitable when designing with a team. It's even an advantage when it comes to the design process! Show off how you've had to mitigate a situation and resolved an issue. Explaining how your solution helped the customer (end-user) or your co-worker (other design team members) can help you stand out to employers!
Customer-Focused-Mindset: As a designer, your focus has to be on the end-user. What's so different about your work in customer service? Customer service employees learn the importance of putting the customer first in almost all situations. Relate that to how you have a human-centered mindset that focuses on the end-users' needs and goals.
Honestly, I could go on and on with this list, but this feels like a good start. Look at your background and start listing out transferrable skills you've acquired that could shape you as a designer and show your next employer how you'll benefit their team.
Send me a message if you'd like further guidance on using your non-design background to help you land your next design gig!
- Kaity
