Seeking feedback on my application - Product Designer

Stage 1
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Hey there, I’m excited to share my plans to apply for the Global Talent Visa under the ‘Exceptional Promise’ category. As I prepare my application, I would love to get your honest feedback.

I’m a Product designer with about 4 years of experience and have worked for one company remotely in the UK from Nigeria for 4 years.

I intend to get the 3 recommendation letters from:

  1. The CEO of the company I work with
  2. A former senior colleague who now works for a different company
  3. A former senior colleague who now runs his startup

Mandatory criteria

  1. “You led the growth of a product-led digital technology company, product or team inside a digital technology company, as evidenced by reference letter(s) from leading industry expert(s) describing your work, or as evidenced by news clippings, lines of code from public repos or similar evidence”

I spoke about leading this company’s design as the founding (and sole) designer for the first 3 years. I led the design of the product where up to (200) users were able to access up to GBP 2M in a credit facility at that time. I also led the branding of the product, and all investor decks that helped the company raise money multiple times.

  1. You have evidence of speaking at high-profile digital technology sector events, or specialist events for your particular field in the digital technology sector, as evidenced by reference letter(s) from leading industry expert(s) describing your work, or as evidenced by news clippings or similar evidence (including event size/attendance estimates where possible)"

I presented my speaking engagement at the Figma config watch party where I spoke on the topic “Data visualization”

    • You command a high salary or other remuneration for your services, as evidenced by commercial or employment contracts with salary information including any bonus and equity options and history of earnings.

This is a bit tricky for me, considering I live in Nigeria working for a UK company, so I don’t know for sure if a high salary is in comparison to the UK salaries or Nigerian. I will add this because I assume that it is in comparison with Nigerian salaries. If you have any helpful opinion please let me know

Optional Criteria

OC3: How do I demonstrate that I have made significant technical, commercial or entrepreneurial contributions to the field as a founder, senior executive, board member or employee of a product-led digital technology company**?**

  1. “Having led in the development of high-impact digital products or services”

I spoke on my role at my company and how my contributions count in the impact the product has made in the UK fintech industry. Also submitted Slack screenshots of the recognition I got for my work over the years, plus a reference letter from the tech lead.

  1. “Documentation on product designs or architecture diagrams clearly showing your contribution. Please ensure this evidence is no more than three A4 pages long and demonstrates your work, not that of the company or team of individuals”

I presented evidence of multiple Figma designs of many versions of our product, showing my contribution over the years.

OC2: How do I demonstrate that I have been recognised for my work outside of my immediate occupation that contributed to the advancement of the sector?

  1. “Evidence of contributions to an Open Source project”
    Attached evidence of my Figma kits on the Figma community with multiple downloads.

  2. “Evidence of mentorship”:
    Submitted evidence of being a Product Design mentor at TEFEM (an NGO geared towards introducing women to tech in 2022 and 2024).
    Submitted evidence of being a mentor at TekNexus Africa in 2024

  3. “Evidence of contributions outside outwork”:
    Evidence of a design community I started in 2022 and how it has grown over the years.

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@Francisca_Chiedu Apologies for the unsolicited tag but I would appreciate your review :pray:

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@alexnk Apologies for the unsolicited tag but I would appreciate your review :pray:

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@Nacsoft I’d really appreciate your feedback :pray:

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@pahuja Apologies for tagging unsolicited but I’ll appreciate your feedback :pray: :pray:

1 Like
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Hi @Remy_Dikeh happy to review!

LORs

  • what are the titles of 2 & 3? The recommenders should themselves qualify as experts in digital technology otherwise TN flags it.

MC

  1. Really like this one! Please ensure your significant contribution and quantified impact is evident.

  2. Watch party qualifies as leading tech event? Do you have number of attendees > 100, what was the kind of engagement, any testimonials, etc?

  3. Salary info would be okayish but you need 1-2 more solid evidence documents in MC

OC3.

  1. Please mention quantified impact metrics
  2. Works

OC2:
2. Was this a structured mentorship with a program structure and selection criteria? Do you have some mentee testimonials? Can you get a letter here?

  • your first mentorship at an NGO can also fit in MC if you can show growth impact.

Overall need a bit more to strengthen MC and OC3

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Thank you so much @pahuja

“what are the titles of 2 & 3? The recommenders should themselves qualify as experts in digital technology otherwise TN flags it” - One is a CEO of his startup and the other Senior Commercial Operations Manager at TrueLayer.

“Watch party qualifies as leading tech event? Do you have number of attendees > 100, what was the kind of engagement, any testimonials, etc?” - I don’t know for sure, which is why I asked. But thinking about it now it might not qualify as one.

“Was this a structured mentorship with a program structure and selection criteria? Do you have some mentee testimonials? Can you get a letter here?” - Yes, it is structured and was selected from many applicants. I also have a letter to that effect

I’ll take the feedback and work on improving my application :pray:

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Do the recommenders have strong expert digital tech profiles? Please double check esp on the 3rd one

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Your overall application looks good. Make sure that you check the boxes as seen in the guideline as to be qualified for Exceptional Promise.

MC: make sure that they know you detail or work for 12 months or more, and they are leaders in the digital tech companies.

Especially on OC3, I suggest to add quantifiable business impact numbers. You should focus on numbers or reports, rather than how much work you did.

I hope this helps @Remy_Dikeh

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Yes, they do. Thanks again!

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It definitely helps @alexnk
Thanks a lot!

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Must have missed this. If you have not submitted. I think you need to reduce self authorship and use more third party validation of your claims. If you show a salary in british pounds and work for a UK company, you will most likely be compared to the UK market.

For the mentorship, ensure you show it is structured with a selection criteria and show how these activities have advanced the sector.

1 Like
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Thanks a lot for your feedback!