138: From Recruiter to Product Designer: How Ellie's taking control of her career

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Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody | UX, Product Design, UX Research

Sarah Doody from Career Strategy Lab

155 episodes

19 hours ago

Welcome to the Career Strategy Podcast, with Sarah Doody, a UX Researcher & Product Designer with 20 years of experience who is helping UX and Product people design their careers. You’ll learn how to advance your UX or Product career including how get hired in UX, stay hired, get promoted, and build a personal brand and visibility. You’ll also hear no BS tips to optimize your UX resume and portfolio, navigate your UX job search, and prepare for UX job interviews so you can stop being invisible and be seen as an in-demand UX professional. Get ready to UX your career, ironic, right?!

All content for Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody | UX, Product Design, UX Research is the property of Sarah Doody from Career Strategy Lab and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

138: From Recruiter to Product Designer: How Ellie's taking control of her career

Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody | UX, Product Design, UX Research

23 minutes 23 seconds

2 months ago

138: From Recruiter to Product Designer: How Ellie's taking control of her career

Applied to 50+ UX or Product jobs & still no interviews or offers? Get UX job search help.

Welcome to the Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody, a UX Designer & UX Researcher with 20 years of experience who founded the UX job search accelerator, Career Strategy Lab. She's been doing UX career coaching since 2017.

Follow Sarah on: LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram

Wondering how to stand out in UX without burning out? Former technical recruiter Ellie shares her story of switching into product design—and how Career Strategy Lab helped her get her confidence back.

In this episode, Sarah interviews Ellie, a former technical recruiter turned UX designer, who joined Career Strategy Lab while navigating new motherhood, burnout, and the unpredictable job market. Despite landing interviews, Ellie felt stuck—and knew she needed a structured, supportive way to rebuild confidence and stand out.

You’ll hear how she overcame perfectionism, reframed her job search, and built career habits that now extend beyond her portfolio and into her life.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

✔️ Why Ellie left tech recruiting to pursue UX—and doesn’t regret it

✔️ What made her say “yes” to CSL (and why she wishes she joined sooner)

✔️ How the Compass Statement gave her clarity and saved her time

✔️ The unexpected life shifts that came from doing the work with intention

✔️ Tips for breaking perfectionism and building habits that stick

✔️ What it’s like to join CSL while navigating new parenthood and burnout

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction to Career Strategy Lab

00:38 Episode Overview and Open House Context

02:23 Meet Ellie: From Technical Recruiter to Product Designer

05:19 Ellie's Career Journey and CSL Experience

09:16 The Impact of Career Strategy Lab

18:47 Advice and Final Thoughts

21:32 Conclusion and Next Steps

⭐ Support the show! Leave a rating on Spotify or a review on Apple Podcasts to help more UX professionals find this podcast.

🔔 Follow & Subscribe for weekly strategies and stories to help you grow in your UX career—without the burnout.

🎬 Watch our free UX Job Search Workshop and learn how to stand out in 2025

👉 Join Career Strategy Lab, a UX job search accelerator for UX and Product people.

👋 Say hi and follow our host, Sarah Doody, on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.