Chipotle for lunch is a surefire win—but Chipotle for lunch while learning about trends in UX design and hiring is an awesome way to spend a lunch break! As recruiters and sales professionals here at WunderLand, we strive to connect with the talent we represent by increasing our knowledge and relationships in the user experience and creative communities.

We recently kicked off our 2014 Lunch & Learn series here at the office with a visit from Derrick Wilkinson, Senior User Experience Designer at United Airlines. We munched on chips and guac and listened as Derrick shared his learnings from a rich career in the UX profession from his work in treasury services and complex banking applications with JPMorgan Chase, to his more consumer-facing, ecommerce challenges with United Airlines.

We really want to understand what motivates the community that we work with—what makes some UX roles more enticing than others? Derrick provided not only his “in the trenches” UX knowledge but his years of experience as a hiring manager to shed light on what UX professionals in the field are searching for as they sift through the dozens of job offers that hit in-boxes every month.

How can clients be competitive and attract the best UX professionals in a very crowded marketplace? How can UX designers sift through the myriad of jobs that all start to sound alike on the job boards? You can evaluate positions and opportunities on items such as how is the UX practice modeled within the organization—what are the organization’s UX/UI processes, frameworks, and tools used in the process of defining site architecture—these are just a few items that help distinguish one opportunity from the next.

Our Lunch & Learn series continues through the months of May and June as we gain insights into online marketing from expert Josh Weinstein, CRM Manager at CME Group and product management with Mike Walkden, VP of Product Engineering at DigitalH2O, Inc. Stay tuned as we share our insights.

Are you interested in learning some more trends in our ever-changing industry? Check out WunderLand’s upcoming CIDD MeetUp. It’s a great venue to hob-knob with industry professionals who are truly on the cutting edge of blending technology with design. See you there!

Feel free to browse our current job opportunities and as always just reach out to us at any time.