I’ll admit it: looking for a job right now is challenging. I was nervous about putting myself out there again, given how competitive it is.

The design industry is facing tremendous disruption. I keep hearing about the shaky U.S. economy, widespread layoffs at top-performing companies, and fears that AI will replace creative jobs. On top of that, the unpredictable, TACO-flavored, political climate seems to disrupt every industry, adding even more uncertainty to the job market.

This past year brought a number of challenges at NASA JPL, and after much reflection, I made the difficult decision to move on. I asked myself many questions before ultimately deciding it was the right step.

According to Scott Galloway, there are important questions to ask yourself about the the organization you are in. I asked myself the following questions about NASA JPL:

• Is the organization doing well?
• Am I learning a lot at this company?
• Is there a good culture?
• Do they pay me fairly?
• Is there a path to career growth?
• Do I have senior level support?
• Has someone in the organization taken an irrational interest in my future and is coaching me?

Separate from the organization itself, I asked myself about the design industry:

• Do I like this field?
• Am I good at it?
• Do I make an impact?
• Do people see me as a leader?

And finally, I asked myself what I really wanted to be doing:

• What area of focus do I really enjoy working in?
• What do I want to be an expert in?

And with all of the questions answered, I began my job hunt.

In my many years, I have never experienced a job search such as this one. It was filled with many rejections, application silence, modified positions, job scope shifts, salary reductions… It was so weird!

The last 2 times I was on the market, I heard from 90% of the jobs I applied to. This time was different. I only got a 40% response rate!

The silence after submitting applications was too real. Recruiters ghosted me at several points in the process: after the initial email to me, by being a no-show to the scheduled interview, and even after I interviewed with the full panel. In fact, at one company, I went through the full round of interviews, and then nothing.

A designer from my interview panel messaged me on LinkedIn to connect and mentioned in their message that it didn’t work out. While I appreciated hearing the information from an employee, it would have been more helpful to receive it directly from the recruiter first.

After radio silence for almost 2 weeks, the recruiter finally reached out to inform me that the role had changed from Senior to Junior.

Surprisingly, some roles even came with salary cuts. At 2 of the companies, I found out midway through the interviews that the salary had been drastically reduced. Like, the salaries were so much lower to the point that it no longer matched the level of experience they were seeking.

Despite experiencing all of those things, I managed to find a role at a company I’m really excited about.

Stay tuned to hear more!