Help with career?

January 13, 2011 8:46 AM

What other career fields can I explore?

I graduated with a masters in Human Factors in Information Design last year. The job market is slow and its pretty difficult to break into the field right now. I am currently interning, but long term employment looks bleak. I do need a full time job, and while i'm working on developing my current skillset, I'm thinking of other career fields.

My question: do you know of any other careers where I can apply the skills that i've developed?

I'm good at moderating usability tests, interviewing/interacting with clients, the whole human psychology/behavior behind design aspect. Evaluations/reviews. I'm also good at working in interdisciplinary teams. I'm improving at prototyping and sketching with the latest software.

I'm not really looking into moving to the back end and I would prefer not to have to go back to school.

posted by ecks to Work & Money (8 answers total)

Best answer: Have you considered relocating? The market for these skills looks pretty good in Seattle right now.
posted by proj at 8:54 AM on January 13, 2011

Hmm. I am enrolled in a Instructional Design Bachelor with a concentration of Human Factors and User Interface Design. I wonder if you could segue any of your skillsets in Instructional or Curriculum Design?

Have you looked into the User Interface Design avenue, or is your concentration more on a cognitive psych. emphasis, etc ?
posted by gregjunior at 8:58 AM on January 13, 2011

Yeah, where do you live? I see lots of job postings in Boston. I'm a Human Factors Engineer, so I keep an eye on things.

Have you checked out indeed.com?
posted by reddot at 9:17 AM on January 13, 2011

Game design
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:27 AM on January 13, 2011

Well, a lot of those skills have applications in the physical world. Take healthcare, for example. There aren't many fields where bad design leads to as much pain and suffering. Tiny things can have a huge impact, such as making hospital rooms all identical rather than using mirror images of rooms on opposite sides of a hall or idiot-proofing the systems used in ORs, pharmacies and on hospital floors. Most of the people working on poka-yokeing care delivery are doctors and industrial engineers, but in some ways you're better positioned to study this stuff.
posted by pjaust at 10:21 AM on January 13, 2011

Response by poster: thanks for the answers guys - reddot, i'm in boston too. The problem is that the bulk of the jobs are asking for way more experience that I can offer right now. Perhaps should clarify: right now i'm a user experience designer (ish), and i'd like to know what fields i could potentially flourish in. i.e. I know I probably can't jump into law or finance, but is there something close enough that I could transistion to?

thanks all for feedback.
posted by ecks at 11:29 AM on January 13, 2011

Best answer: There are loads of jobs for people like you in Boston, New York or San Francisco. You have to focus on how you can get a job with limited experience rather than throwing in the towel so quickly. I wouldn't give up so fast because you're already in a field that has good demand and you'd still be starting as a beginning and facing a difficult job search in something else. Why not make a portfolio showing your best work and send it off to a bunch of tech startups and web design agencies who are probably looking for people who can jump in and help? Redesign a site of a company you want to work for and send it to them. Bypass traditional job searching channels and do some networking, in person or online.
posted by lsemel at 9:12 PM on January 13, 2011

Are you a member of BostonCHI, UPA Boston, New England Human Factors, and the like? They often have good networking opportunities and jobs lists.
posted by reddot at 12:09 PM on January 17, 2011