Meet Me In A Minute: Kate Verran, CX, UX & Service Design Specialist Talent Agent

What is your area of expertise and your role at Aquent?

I'm Aquent Sydney's Talent Specialist for CX, UX & Service Design – which is a rather long title, but it pretty much sums up what I do. My role is actually really unique for the recruitment industry.

I work with candidates who specialise in Human Centred Design (HCD) which is an area with alot of job titles: ux, cx, service design, experience design, product design, strategic design, business design, behavioural design. I also cover a bit of ui, visual design etc.

My role is focused on building a community of candidates with niche skills within the HCD space and ensuring these candidates have visibility of all job opportunities across our business…. Which of course also means that our clients then have access to all the best talent. 

A huge part of my role is about connecting with people, building a community, but also giving something back — for example, connecting people with other people, recommending events, sharing articles or market insight updates etc. And when I connect with our clients, it's more to help advise on current market insights and provide support/insights from a HCD candidate standpoint. Of course we hope that goodwill comes back our way, but it's not a given. I think it's a great example of how we do things differently here at Aquent, like our online learning platform Gymnasium… it's not just about transactional recruitment, we're always looking to add value and do more.

Why do you love what you do?

I've previously worked in 360 degree recruitment, but I absolutely LOVE being candidate focused these days. Helping people is one of my core values, so having a role that is built around this is wonderful. 

I also get to work closely with most of the people on both our Sydney & Melbourne teams, which is really lovely — they're honestly a great crew and I really enjoy that collaborative part of my role.  

What industry experience/expertise are you looking for in Talent?

• Overall the ability to solve complex problems is key (that could be for users, consumers, businesses, or it could be technology barriers).
• Working collaboratively is essential, these roles are all about cross functional teams coming together to create magic. So being an effective team player is a must.
• Being able to effectively communicate what you are doing and why is also really important — so liaising with stakeholders, leading your skill area on cross functional teams, advocating and being the voice for users/customers etc.  

What are your top 3 tips for UX, CX & Service Talent looking for new job opportunities? 

Oohhh I have way more than 3 tips! In fact, I've recently written a couple of blog posts full of tips for you to look at. 

• How to create a UX profile that will help you land your dream job
• Advice for planning your next career move in UX

1. Tell your career story effectively – on your resume, on LinkedIn, when speaking about your experience.
2. Give context to your role and your projects
3. Read my blog posts ;D 

How do people get in touch with you?

LinkedIn or email: [email protected]

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