you are a recent graduate or a professional looking for work in behavioral design, right now is a tough time. With me being a (perpetual) student with the end of my degree looming, I know that job searching is a grind.

To help folks like you (and me!) find work, I’ve searched for jobs in behavioral design for the past few months. I’ve shared them with the readers of Habit Weekly, Samuel Salzer’s amazing newsletter on all things behavioral science and design. Serving over five thousand readers around the world, I left no stone unturned while searching for jobs on every continent, along each seniority level, and across all industries.

It wasn’t easy, but safe to say I learned a few things about maximizing your chances of finding a job by knowing where to look and what to apply for. Here are four things I learned while searching for behavioral design jobs in the middle of a pandemic.

1. You can’t rely on job titles to find roles in this field.

Very few job titles mention behavioral science or behavioral design directly. Most positions are general, to attract people from psychology, economics, computer science, engineering, and more. The interdisciplinary field makes finding a role difficult, but it’s amazing once you join such a vibrant and diverse team.

If we look a little deeper, it makes sense that terms like behavioral + (design / science / insights) are missing from most job titles. After all, behavioral approaches are tools to help companies make better decisions in their marketing, finance, strategy, and operations departments. We want to evolve behavioral design into a central role in companies’ work. If you see an investing or research role where behavioral design is embedded in your job description, that’s a reason to celebrate!

2. Check the responsibilities and requirements, not the degrees listed, to see if you’re qualified.

I’ve found behavioral design roles on six continents (sorry, Antarctica!) and most follow rule #1 above. Job seekers need a new approach than searching through job titles to find relevant positions. Don’t be discouraged by the job description or the listed degrees: search through the responsibilities for the tasks you will complete and explore the job requirements for skills you have. If these tasks and skills match your abilities, apply even if they ask for a business degree and you were a behavioral science major.

Consider this Senior UX role at Audible below. Neither the company nor the job instantly signals “behavioral design” to the average job seeker. But a closer look at the responsibilities uncovers the behavioral approach to this role. Points 2–7, 10, and 11 look custom-designed for a behavioral designer, and the rest are compatible! This job would score high on a “How Behavioral Is It?” quiz.

Let’s explore this Insights Manager role at Matchstick. The term “insights” in the job title could mean behavioral insights are involved, but it’s hard to know. What’s more, this is a small company that I never heard of. Unlike Audible, I don’t have a clear sense of what this company does. Fortunately the “requirements” section tells me this job is looking for someone with our skills. The first and last point are the most clear and unique elements, but some behavioral designers can have all of these qualities.

3. Like most fields, entry-level jobs ask for multiple years of experience

Over sixty percent of entry-level jobs ask for three or more years of work experience. This happens with behavioural design jobs, too. Even though years of experience has a tiny relationship with success on the job, it remains an easy way for hiring managers to separate interviewees from rejected applicants. This hurts younger people of all kinds, but new graduates suffer the most.

If you’re reading this early, try to supplement your academics with work experiences during the school year or internships in the summer. Even a work-study program with minimal hours per week can teach you a lot beyond the classroom! Check out these two examples of extreme years-of-experience requirements:

4. Many roles set a low bar for behavioral skills; they only ask for “passion” or “interest” in behavioral science

Despite the concrete skills needed to do high-quality behavioral science, too many jobs’ only behavioral-specific requirement is to have passion or interest in the field. Meanwhile, these jobs ask for other technical skills, like programming, and many years of work experience in their industry (see point #3). Asking for passion and interest in our field is better than nothing, but this lonely job requirement places behavioral design skills at the bottom of the importance hierarchy for that role. It’s also hard to measure: How would a hiring manager distinguish between two candidates who claim to be passionate about behavioral approaches?

We would never settle for an interest in building bridges or a passion for psychiatry. Here are some requirements from multiple jobs, asking for passion in the field instead of demonstrated skills and impact:

The Takeaway

Even though it’s hard to find behavioral design jobs now, our job board at Habit Weekly has no shortage of curated roles since March. To find the position that’s best for you, take these four steps:

1. Behavioral design jobs come in all packages: Look beyond the job title and dive into the responsibilities to find the right role for you.
2. Don’t let listed degrees get you down: If you describe the skills hiring managers want and the impact you’ve had on your application, you can go farther than someone with only the right major.
3. Share all your relevant work experience: Teaching classes, doing research, managing a lab, and freelancing are all work experiences. Describe how they relate to get past that catch-22 of job experience.
4. A little passion goes a long way: Give that tired, overworked resume reviewer something to remember you by. Explain your favorite behavioral design books. Outline an entrepreneurial project you started in your spare time. Show people that you go above and beyond in the name of behavioral design.

Still stuck after trying these tips? Want to share a job search success story? Reach me on LinkedIn or Twitter so we can share in the joy (or frustration) together.

Interested in behavioral design, but not yet ready to apply for jobs? Take a step back and explore the Behavioral Science Graduate Guide by Samuel Salzer, Merle van den Akker, and I. Then come back when you’re ready for some job search tips.

Natasha Ouslis is a behavioural scientist, speaker, and consultant. She founded her own company, NEOconsulting, to close the science-practice gap in the workplace. As a PhD Candidate at Western University in Canada, she studies how team dynamics like conflict and collaboration change how teams innovate. You can find her writing on LinkedIn, The Decision Lab, and in her monthly workplace behavioural design column on Habit Weekly.