{"id":7693,"date":"2022-12-14T11:03:03","date_gmt":"2022-12-14T11:03:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uxdesigninstitute.com\/blog\/?p=7693"},"modified":"2024-01-16T12:12:36","modified_gmt":"2024-01-16T12:12:36","slug":"problem-with-ux-job-guarantees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uxdesigninstitute.com\/blog\/problem-with-ux-job-guarantees\/","title":{"rendered":"The problem with UX job guarantees (and why we don\u2019t offer them)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many online UX academies\u2014especially boot camp-style courses\u2014offer job placement guarantees after the completion of coursework.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their promise is simple: if you don\u2019t find a job in the field of UX within six months, they\u2019ll refund your course fees.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When you\u2019re transitioning into a new career, the guarantee of a job is incredibly enticing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But if this sounds too good to be true, it\u2019s because it is. Universities don\u2019t offer job guarantees, so how could online boot camps?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this article, we\u2019ll explain:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"#why-ux-job-guarantees-are-insincere\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why UX job guarantees are insincere<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"#how-their-terms-and-conditions-are-near-impossible-to-satisfy\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How their terms and conditions are near-impossible to satisfy<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"#why-they-benefit-course-providers\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why they benefit course providers, not students<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"#how-to-land-a-ux-job-without-a-guarantee\">How to land a UX job without a guarantee<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Then, we\u2019ll explain how 79% of our students at the UX Design Institute go on to get jobs in UX\u2014without a job guarantee.<\/span><\/p>\n<section id=\"promotion\" class=\"promotion-content-raw inlinepromo inlinepromo_professional-diploma-in-ux-designp-1 my-4\" style=\"\">\n\t<div class=\"w-container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"row align-items-center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col-md-12 promotion-info\">\n                <a class=\"link-content\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uxdesigninstitute.com\/courses\/ux-design?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=blog_panel_pdux&utm_campaign=blog_promo\" style=\"\">\n                    <p>[GET CERTIFIED IN UX]<\/p>\n                    <span>Take our Professional Diploma in UX Design course<\/span>\n                <\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n<h2 id=\"why-ux-job-guarantees-are-insincere\"><strong>Why UX job guarantees are dishonest<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here\u2019s why you shouldn\u2019t put too much stock in UX job guarantees.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>1. They prey on two big vulnerabilities.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Job guarantees take advantage of the two biggest vulnerabilities a career switcher has:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the fear of not landing that first role; and<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the fear of wasting money.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re hesitant to invest in a course because it may not lead to a job, the easiest way to convince you to sign up is to provide you with a financial safety net.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But these job guarantees are not safety nets\u2014they\u2019re lures. They\u2019re advertised front and center on the home page of many course providers\u2019 websites as a marketing tactic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their goal is to take your attention away from the factors that will land you your dream job\u2014such as the quality of the education and legitimacy of the qualifications\u2014and instead place your attention on the potential risks of losing time and money.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 id=\"how-their-terms-and-conditions-are-near-impossible-to-satisfy\"><strong>2. Their terms and conditions are challenging to satisfy.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The biggest red flag with UX job guarantees is the complexity of the fine print.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The terms and conditions are designed to make it as difficult as possible to reclaim your course fees in the event of not getting a job.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We strongly encourage you to check them out for yourself, but we dug through the terms and conditions of the four most popular UX boot camp providers to save you some time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here\u2019s a review of the most challenging terms to satisfy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Living in a pre-approved city: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of the four providers, two require you to live in a major US city\u2014even if you\u2019re applying for remote roles. The third provider has an additional list of 15 eligible cities outside the US. The most generous location terms allow you to reside in any city with a population above 200,000 in the United States, Canada, EU, UK, Australia, or New Zealand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One goes as far as to specify a maximum commuting time of one hour during rush-hour traffic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Not relocating during your job search: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another common catch is that you\u2019re not allowed to move cities during the job search period, as it may impact the momentum of your search.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Applying for an impossible amount of roles: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Course providers require you to apply to between four and ten roles per week. In most cases, applying to remote roles does not count toward these totals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One provider even requires that at least three applications per week come from personal connections.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>High networking demands: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Course providers require you to make five to seven new career connections per week and two informational interviews per month.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Limited role choice: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For all providers, you must accept the first job offer you get or lose the job guarantee. This can include part-time or temporary roles. For example:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIf you receive an offer of any type, paid or unpaid, you must let us know by completing the \u201cI\u2019m Hired\u201d form which you will find on your student dashboard. Any paid design role with &gt;20 hours\/week for 4 or more weeks of work will count as a qualifying offer, rendering the reimbursement null and void. Failure to report a qualifying offer is a breach of the Career Services Code of Conduct.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>Previous education or experience: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One provider requires you to have a Bachelor\u2019s degree or previous working experience in the UX field:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cYou must have at least 1 year of documented professional experience in one of the following related fields, OR hold a bachelor&#8217;s degree in one of the following related fields: user research, human\/computer interaction, producing\/managing visual content, or UI design.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>Strict communication requirements: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All four providers have strict requirements on how quickly you must communicate with your career advisor\u2014giving you between 24 to 72 hours to reply to all communication. All course providers also require regular check-ins with career specialists to track your progress.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Miss an email or a meeting, and you can lose your guarantee.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Reporting on all of the above:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> You\u2019re also forced to track all of the above activity on a weekly basis and report it to your career advisor.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even if you should satisfy all of the above, there are clauses that allow the course provider to push back the guarantee deadline by up to 12 months if there are any local or global trends that increase unemployment rates\u2014such as wars, pandemics, natural disasters, or economic crises.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The big takeaway: These clauses are designed to protect the course provider, not the student.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<section id=\"promotion\" class=\"promotion-content-raw inlinepromo inlinepromo_professional-certificate-in-ui-designp-1 my-4\" style=\"\">\n\t<div class=\"w-container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"row align-items-center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col-md-12 promotion-info\">\n                <a class=\"link-content\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uxdesigninstitute.com\/courses\/ui-design?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=blog_panel_text&utm_campaign=blog_promo\" style=\"\">\n                    <p>[GET CERTIFIED IN UI DESIGN]<\/p>\n                    <span>Take our Professional Certificate in UI Design course<\/span>\n                <\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n<h3 id=\"why-they-benefit-course-providers\"><strong>3. They distort the relationship between the career team and the student.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The side effect of the complex terms and conditions is that they muddy the relationship between the course provider and the student.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most of the burden of the guarantee is placed on the student. They\u2019re the ones who have to complete all the applications and make personal connections.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Career advisors are incentivized to protect the interests of the course provider. As long as they present you with offers\u2014even if they\u2019re not suitable for you\u2014they\u2019re doing their jobs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rather than focusing on helping the student land their dream job, even the most well-intentioned career advisors have to spend their time monitoring whether or not the student has complied with the terms and conditions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The relationship becomes more like administrative policing rather than career support.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"how-to-land-a-ux-job-without-a-guarantee\"><strong>How do we land you a job without a guarantee?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the UX Design Institute, we don\u2019t offer job guarantees. They just don\u2019t match our values.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Instead, we focus on providing high-quality education and career support. We want our students to have the skills, confidence, mindset, and language to become successful UX designers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Because we focus on supporting our students instead of holding them to terms and conditions, 79% of students who complete their coursework and create portfolios at the UX Design Institute go on to get jobs in the field of UX.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here are some practical things we do to land you your first role without a taxing guarantee.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>1. We provide recognized qualifications<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unlike many other course providers, our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uxdesigninstitute.com\/courses\/ux-design\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">UX design<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uxdesigninstitute.com\/courses\/ui-design\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">UI design<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> courses are university credit-rated (by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gcu.ac.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Glasgow Caledonian University<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This globally recognized standard carries more weight and trust than a typical online certificate of completion. This makes them more credible in the eyes of recruiters and employers, who are especially skilled at spotting low-quality certifications.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Plus, should you ever want to complete a relevant university degree, the credits can be applied toward your diploma.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>2. We teach the most in-demand skills<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many online courses are created by academics or former industry professionals who left the industry to sell courses. Because the UX industry changes so quickly, these courses quickly become outdated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To ensure you\u2019re learning the most in-demand skills in the UX industry, our courses are steered by an <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uxdesigninstitute.com\/about-us\/advisory-council\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Industry Advisory Council<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The council is made up of UX professionals at major technology companies like Hubspot, LinkedIn, and Intercom, startups and agencies that use UX in their design process, and UX recruitment agencies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By consulting directly with UX professionals and the people who employ them, we stay on top of industry trends and best practices, making you more employable.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>3. We help you build a portfolio<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As part of your coursework, you will build a portfolio of work that proves you have the skill set to work at a professional level. You\u2019ll get to work on a real project where you get to practice all the main UX techniques, culminating with a capstone project.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Then, we\u2019ll help you package that work into a portfolio that shows off not just a nice-looking prototype, but also all the research, sketching, and design work that went into the project.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>4. Our careers team\u2019s only job is to support you<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When it comes to landing your first job in UX, the coursework is often the easy part. The real challenge is in applying and interviewing for jobs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Getting a job comes down to great support.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While other course providers are incentivized to hold you to job guarantees, our careers team is always there to support you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our career support services team\u2014made up of former UX recruiters\u2014helps you get ready for the job market by helping you:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">prepare your portfolio<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">put your CV\/resume together<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">prepare for interviews<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And rather than throwing any job at you or catching you on terms and conditions, our team gets to know you as a person so they can help you craft your story and find a job that\u2019s a great fit for you.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>5. We offer a supportive community<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We also provide our students with a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uxdesigninstitute.com\/student-stories\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">thriving community<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> where they can continue to develop their knowledge and understanding of UX after their coursework.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our huge Slack community of UX Design Institute graduates offers a supportive, lively environment where you can learn from other high-caliber peers who are in the same boat as you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We also host a regular webinar series\u2014UX Insiders\u2014where you can hear from UX professionals who have already made the transition into the industry.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We\u2019ve heard UX professionals from Google, Meta, Miro, Headspace, Duolingo, and more share how they got their first jobs in UX, what a typical day in the life of a UX designer looks like, and what they look for in entry-level candidates when they\u2019re hiring.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>6. We connect you with employers<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Because of the large demand for UX, lots of companies contact us looking for skilled graduates.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uxdesigninstitute.com\/for-companies\/hire-our-alumni\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hire our Alumni<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> network creates a bridge between these companies and our alumni. By opting into this free service, your CV and portfolio will be made available to all the companies in our worldwide network.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"land-a-dream-job\"><strong>Land a dream job, not just any job<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After that, the job search is over to you. But with the support from our careers team, you will be in the best possible position to land your dream job\u2014not just any job. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you\u2019re transitioning into a new career, the guarantee of a job is incredibly enticing. But if this sounds too good to be true, it\u2019s because it is. Universities don\u2019t offer job guarantees, so how could online boot camps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":7711,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[265,267],"tags":[283,337,338],"class_list":["post-7693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career","category-ux-career-advice","tag-advice-for-career-switchers","tag-job-guarantees","tag-ux-career"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uxdesigninstitute.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uxdesigninstitute.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uxdesigninstitute.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uxdesigninstitute.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uxdesigninstitute.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7693"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.uxdesigninstitute.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9714,"href":"https:\/\/www.uxdesigninstitute.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7693\/revisions\/9714"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uxdesigninstitute.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uxdesigninstitute.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uxdesigninstitute.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uxdesigninstitute.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}