The journey of landing my first design job
I’m Sylvie (Thanh) Vu and I’m currently the Design System Designer of Visma Aquila in Finland. I’m actually a career changer. I left my old career as an Executive Assistant to C-Levels to work in visual design. From a small, warm but hustle country, Vietnam, I admired the lifestyle of Nordic countries, so I came to Finland back in August 2022 as an international student to pursue further studies in technology. I found a trainee position after a year of studying, and started as a UX Design trainee before getting a permanent contract offer after 8 months.
Tips on finding an internship
As a student who came from a developing country, looking for a job in a highly developed country was not easy. I faced challenges like cultural differences, limited openness to internationals, and language barriers. I witnessed first hand how hard it can be to land a job in a foreign country compared to my home country. I know I’m not alone, so here are my tips:
- Apply in good time. Regardless of when in time you are looking for an internship, make sure to apply a few months in advance. For instance, I looked for summer internships during summer, but quickly learned that summer is the slowest recruitment period in many companies. I had no idea!
- Don’t lose faith! If the same thing happens to you, make good use of the time. I used the time to update and modify my CV and portfolio, which helped me prepare for when recruitment picked up again.
- Stay up to date on multiple job searching channels! I paid a little more attention to LinkedIn and Glassdoor, in addition to visiting the websites of some specific companies I was interested in.
I was looking for jobs from June to August without much luck, then finally in Autumn, Visma invited me for an interview, and boom… magic happened! The first company that I got interviewed for offered me a trainee position and has now become my workplace!
Highlights from this time
I wrote an article on Medium that went viral. I wrote it for myself when I felt sad about the difficulties of finding a job. Many people could relate, and it got a lot of views. However, it was not the views that made me happy, but the great connections I gained from it - everyone from managers of popular companies and senior designers, to other students in similar situations. I got so much great advice, encouragement and it really fueled my motivation!
The wrong timing was just right. The poor timing for sending out my CV helped me improve it, as it gave me time to seek advice from seniors who are now following me on my career journey. LinkedIn became a place for me to sometimes highlight my achievements to let them know that getting their support made a difference.
Tips on landing a permanent position
Continuous learning During my traineeship, I got feedback from my manager about my continuous learning attitude, and I think that was something that really helped me get the role I have today. Product Design Systems was completely new to me, but I managed to learn a lot and overcome many challenges thanks to my dedication and proactivity. I spent time learning on my own, but also worked to find opportunities to learn from my manager and my teammates, got a mentor and connected with the design community in Visma. It paid off!
Hard work When I started my traineeship, I went in with the mindset that it’s not just about what I can get from the company, but what I can contribute to them as well. As students, it’s easy to forget that we can offer new perspectives, fresh eyes and ideas, and that an internship can really become a learning experience for both sides. Like everyone working as a trainee, I was of course hoping the traineeship would result in a permanent position, but I tried to not have it be my only goal. My goals were more to learn and develop my skills in a way where I could bring real value to the company. That’s why I focused so much on personal development.
Networking I would not say that networking helped me get my current job, but it helped me improve my CV, my portfolio and my knowledge about the design industry, which in turn helped me land my first opportunities. Networking is well worth it.
Highlights from this time
Really designing for sustainability and accessibility. During the first few months in my new role, I have learnt about the importance of taking multiple use cases and accessibility into account when building a sustainable design system.
It’s much more than building nice components. It's about understanding user needs, practising active listening and empathy, and translating everything you learn into meaningful, usable components.
Dedication always pays off!
Every obstacle I have been through has brought me to where I am today, and I am so proud to be part of Visma. If I can give any advice, it is to remain patient and try to keep your motivation up during your search.
