Hyeunju “Emma” Park

저의 목표는 코스 마치자 마자 취업을 하는 것 이었어요.
하지만 영어가 네이티브가 아닌 외국인으로서 비자 서포트를 받을 수 있는 취업을 하기에는 엄청나게 뛰어나지 않은 이상 힘들다는 것도 알고 있었어요.
이 현실을 이겨내기 위해서, 코스동안에 틈틈히 포트폴리오, 이력서 등을 준비해뒀어요. 특히 링크드인 프로파일을 항상 최신내용으로 업데이트 해뒀어요. 그러면 언제든 기회가 오면 지원할 수 있도록요. 학교 내에 있는 취업센터에서 도움도 많이 받았어요. 아마 이런 노력으로 인해서 일까요, 싱가포르에 있는 이커머스 회사에서 지원 제안을 받아서 잡 오퍼를 받게 되었어요.
제 생각에 제가 잡 오퍼를 받을 수 있었던 이유는, 첫째, 실무 경험, 둘째, 포트폴리오, 셋째, 디자인 테스트 결과 였던 것 같아요.
첫번째와 두번째의 이유는, 제 프로젝트중 이커머스에 관련된 프로젝트가 있었고, 테스트 내용에는 코스에서 배웠던 전문성과 지식을 최대한 보여주려 했어요.
지금도 싱가포르 회사에서 1년 넘게 일 하고 있습니다.

Hi, my name is Emma from Korea. I have graduated from Loughborough University in 2019 and studied User Experience Design in Master.

Before studying a Master at the university, I had 2 years of practical experience in UX design at a Global IT company. As I did not have any academic background in UX, I decided to pursue a MA degree to enrich my professional career. During my time in Loughborough University, I was able to make a lot of good friends and upgrade my skill sets. It was a year course, but the curriculum was so efficiently structured so that I was able to achieve not only theoretical knowledge but also practical experience working with real companies.

My goal was getting a job just after my course finished. However, as a foreigner, non-native English speaker, I knew that it was going to be difficult to get a decent job supporting a work visa unless you are outstanding than others. To tackle this reality, I always worked on updating my portfolio during the course and kept preparing my resume and CV so that I could apply for a job whenever the chance came. Also, I kept my LinkedIn up to date as well. (I also looked for help at the university job centre)
Maybe because of my effort, I received a recruiting message via LinkedIn from an Ecommerce company in Singapore. And I was able to get a job offer in the end.

I think the reason I got a job offer from them was: (1) my practical experience before the course (2) portfolio, and (3) Design test result. For points 2 and 3, I had a project in my portfolio related to Ecommerce and I applied what I learnt from the courses to show my professionalism and knowledge I have.

I have been currently working as a senior UX designer at the same company, Shopee, in Singapore.