I'm a recruiter, and I'm going to chime in about having a portfolio it's essential. Online portfolios are preferable; nobody wants huge PDFs, etc. clogging up their inboxes. You can password protect it if necessary.
Think about marketing yourself in a way that addresses the misconceptions potential employers are having about you - your resume might need some more work. For the right opportunities, a PhD will be a big plus, and an education in psych/HCI can be an even bigger plus. Think about how you're marketing yourself - you might not be emphasizing your "real world" experience enough and the success of the projects you've worked on. If you've gotten through two touch programs, you've obviously got problem solving, strategic, organizational and analytical skills that everyone wants to see. You've also had to do a lot of presenting and teaching, which are also valuable skills. For a design oriented job, employers prefer candidates with formal design training; with your background, human factors, content organization and architecture, usability, etc. might be areas to stress. If you need to build your portfolio, it might be a good idea to a volunteer project or two for a not-for-profit cause. HTH, Marilyn On Mon, Aug 4, 2008 at 3:36 PM, Bob Dickson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > Hi all, > > A couple of questions to put to the readers here. > > I have a degree in psych and a PhD in HCI both from good universities > and want to get a steady position in this field. I've done industrial > work (human factors multi-company collaboration into commercial > aircraft cockpit design - assessment and some design) and commercial > work (workflow apps both desktop & web-based, scientific desktop app, > oil exploration app - design, assessment, development) and educational > (commercial VLE - assessment). This last one was a 3 year project > though it also involved research into other professional learning > issues (CPD etc) which was a good learning experience. The scientific > app's project lasted for about 5 months, the aircraft for about 2-3 > and the rest were for a few weeks each. It's not a vast deal of work, > but it's varied and I think I have learned a lot more than if I just > did e-commerce webapps. Besides, I took this work because I really > enjoy working in this field and want to gain as much experience as > possible. > > But when ever I apply for a regular job, I am always told that I am > too academic and am turned down for interviews. IMHO, only my degree > and phd are academic (and then the phd was applied research). The rest > have all been for profit-making organisations except for a participant > in the aircraft project (a government organisation). > > What am I doing wrong? In IxD, is being seen as "too academic" a kiss > of death for an applicant? If so, the only experience I can get are > projects like these so what's the best way to break out and get > something substantial to prove that I can do this job well? I can't > afford to retrain and go back and take a masters. > > All the best, > > Bob Dickson > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
