On being unique
Published: Monday, September 7th
What’s cool about being unique is that we all are. I’ve often found that people don’t always know how to communicate about what it is that makes them unique, especially in some of the most critical times, like in a job interview. If you haven’t spent some deep focused time trying to think through what qualities make you unique and what stories you could share to communicate that message, then I’d recommend you try it out.
Ironically, getting to know yourself takes times. It requires you to be alone and with your own thoughts. As someone who loves being around other people, I know this practice can be sort of scary at times. But what’s beautiful is that more time you spend with yourself, the more you, you become. Your uniqueness in every aspect of life shines through.
Luckily, I learned a valuable lesson on uniqueness while studying design in university. I was in a class called Transition into Professional Practice where we worked on designing our personal brand, creating our portfolio, amongst many other professional related topics. One week my instructor brought in an external speaker, a professional Copywriter, to talk to us about standing out. And without a doubt, this guy knew how to make an impression.
The moment he walked into the classroom he made his presence know. He was loud, in your face, and provocative.
So check this out — that same day, our class had just turned in our cover letters to be reviewed by our teacher for grading. Our guest speaker, got ahold of these cover letters, looked through them briefly, and then proceeded to throw them up into the air and onto the ground. I’m not kidding.
Immediately he told us, they all look the same. They were boring, they were conventional, and especially in a stack of hundreds, that they would not be memorable.
This really stuck with me. He had made an impression on me that would shape how I think about communicating my story from that moment on. Now when I'm searching for a new job or aiming to work with a new client, I start by looking inward. Who am I at this point in my life and how can I best represent that with every touchpoint I can design into the experience of working with me.
As an example, I used the below resume to apply for jobs back in 2017 which ultimately landed me my Product Design role at Zendesk.
And this was just one touch point in the journey of interviewing with Alexa. I loved using emojis to be expressive so they showed up here on my resume. I brought them back and integrated them into my onsite portfolio presentation as well. I chose my top 4 favorite emojis and told a unique story about myself that matched the characteristics of each given emoji. That’s how I started off the presentation. This way of organizing my thoughts, made me unique.
So, I encourage you to spend some time this month thinking through what makes you unique. And be on the lookout for the video I will upload on September 25th if you’re curious to hear more about why I think the words different and unique should not be used interchangeable.
Be well this month!
xo, Alexa