I want to share with you a story today.
It is my story.
(You can watch me share here in this 3-min video)
Back in 2012, I was a fresh grad.
Top of my class.
Won design awards.
Spent months fixing my portfolio.
Still… nothing.
No calls. No interviews.
Just “thanks, but we’ve moved forward.”
It got to a point where I started questioning myself.
Was I even good enough?
But I couldn’t quit.
Both my parents are wheelchair users.
They never had that choice.
So I kept pushing.
Then one day, a recruiter named Lisa messaged me on LinkedIn.
She had just started her agency and said,
“There’s this small networking event — a few hiring managers will be there. You should come.”
To be honest, I didn’t want to go.
I’m introverted.
Didn’t know what to say.
Didn’t feel ready.
But I went anyway.
Lisa introduced me to two hiring managers — Andrew and Nino.
We didn’t talk about UX.
We talked about travel, life, family.
A couple of weeks later, Lisa reached out back to me.
Shared that they were hiring.
And they remembered me.
So I got invited down for an interview.
And a couple more interviews with the team.
Finally got my first dream job offer working with them.
That one night changed everything.
That’s when I realised:
People hire people — not portfolios.
Since then, every job I’ve landed came through people, not postings.
And that’s what I now help other designers do inside Career Creators.
If you’ve been feeling stuck,
I’m hosting a free masterclass this Thursday
to show you the exact system I used to land my $200K UX role —
and that my clients are using to do the same.
Pick a time that works:
🌏 APAC — https://community.careercreators.com/events/0F8310
🌎 US / Europe — https://community.careercreators.com/events/6FE399
See you there,
Joseph
P.S. Once you see how backdoor hiring really works,
you’ll never look at job boards the same way again.
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