Alix Young is a User Researcher and Sunny Chang is a UX/UI Designer, both on the Global DesignOps team at Sun Life. Everyone has a different story of landing their first job. Let’s hear from them about their stories of how they joined the organization.

Background

We started our UX journey by attending Humber College’s UX Design Graduate Certificate program as students in the same cohort. From the first day of the program, we worked together in teams on multiple projects as we appreciated each other’s passion for learning and collaboration. Along the way, we became friends with two other wonderful people in our cohort. We were able to together build our skills and navigate through this new field, which provided an invaluable support system.

While understanding the competitive market, we researched and attended many networking events together. Our professor introduced us to the BLEND conference. This was the initial touchpoint that started our journey with Sun Life.

Starting out: BLEND conference

The BLEND conference, a full-day design and business conference, was sponsored by Sun Life and hosted at the University of Waterloo. At the beginning of the conference, Sun Life had a big presentation on their design culture, leaving a lasting impression on their integrity, transparency, and design maturity. As we further attended the workshop, Design Beyond Borders: Building a Global Design System, which was hosted by the Canadian and Global DesignOps teams, we continued to see the unique culture that Sun Life has.

Our ambition to join the organization grew throughout the conference so we connected with several design and research leaders within Sun Life after the event. But our story would have only ended here if it weren’t for the leaders that continued to show care and engagement to us.

In full appreciation to them, our journey continued in separate ways.

Journey to Sun Life

Alix

Combining my Psychology degree with my UX Design certificate, I knew that I was interested in pursuing UX research. After a few months, and several thoughtful conversations with Sun Life members, I found myself scrolling through LinkedIn and spotting a co-op opportunity on the Sun Life Canada UX Research team. I was thrilled to see an opportunity from the organization that left such a great impression on me. I applied as soon as I could, and before I knew it, I was preparing myself for an interview, doing the interview, and accepting the job offer for an 8-month co-op.

As soon as I settled into my role, I knew I wanted to stay at this organization. My team was welcoming, knowledgeable, and always encouraging personal development. At the same time, I was also having many coffee chats each month to get to know more people in other teams and roles. My professor had recommended that I set up a chat with someone he knew from Sun Life, which led to another chat with the DesignOps Manager from the Global DesignOps team. I could tell that she was friendly and kind after just one chat with her. We eventually started setting up regular calls to talk more about UX research and our teams’ updates.

Near the end of my co-op, I needed to start searching for another role. I took the chance to reach out to the Global DesignOps team to see whether there was an opportunity to join the team. Fortunately, they were in the process of hiring a new researcher. Fast forward to a few months later, I am now happily settled into my new team, in my current role of supporting the team with Global UX research and research operations.

Sunny

Ever since I started my UX design career, I have always enjoyed designing based on user behaviour and needs. The thrill and challenges to discover opportunities to improve the users’ experience with a product drew me into the UX field. After the BLEND conference, I connected with Sun Life members and sensed their willingness to spend time with a junior like me. My passion to join the organization grew even more after each interaction. Seeing Alix’s experience further confirmed it.

But for me, it took multiple rejections and 1.5 years for it to happen after applying for many roles at Sun Life. The first opportunity was a new graduate role. I reached out directly to the manager after applying and showed my interest during the interview. However, this opportunity didn’t work out. The second opportunity arose when my mentor connected me to a hiring manager through the 2nd BLEND conference I attended. Although I was not the best fit for this role either, I kept my persistence.

It was not just sunshine and flowers at this point. I struggled sometimes worrying about my value alignment to Sun Life and not showing enough authenticity to my connections. But then, something happened. I connected with Alix’s team and talked about my experience with Sun Life and the Global team. Their workshop, Design Beyond Borders: Building a Global Design System, has taught me the concept of a centralized design system. I asked questions to learn and shared that, since then, I have put effort into implementing design systems during my freelance work. And never did I expect that after a few months, they wanted to take a chance on me. I was thrilled to join Sun Life and the team that I have dreamt of – especially since hearing it from Alix’s point of view.

Final thoughts

Through a series of networking and building long-term connections, we reached our goal of joining a team with a great work culture, talented and kind colleagues, and an environment where we could grow. If it were not for the people we met on this journey, we would not be in the place that we are in now. For that, we are thankful. We would like to give a shout out to our mentor, our professor, our managers, and of course, everyone else who we have connected with on this journey so far. We look forward to continuing our work on our current team, as well as building new connections and treasuring the ones we have.