Nailing the UX Interview

Talking about yourself is crucial to landing the job you want.

UX Design is at a critical point right now, in this post-pandemic summer of 2021. Due to culture and life changes that have resulted from millions of Americans staying home, even the most non-tech focused of companies is pivoting towards a greater use of software. Internal software serves employees, and external software that services business partnerships and consumers all need UX Design and UX Research guidance. It also means that when more jobs open, there is more room for career advancement. Whether you are advancing your career in UX or starting from paper diploma, here’s your guide to nailing the interview.

Apply for a role that fits YOU.

First make sure the job you are applying to is actually something you want to do and have the skills to do. Read the job description. Take notes on specific attributes of the job that interested you, and keep a record of all your applications along with relevant dates and contact information. This isn’t just to practice your Excel skills — if you do contract work, you will need to keep track of when you last applied to a certain role, or you may waste your time in applying again when you are ineligible. Then, when you get an email saying you’ve been selected for an interview, you already know how to prepare to talk about this role.

The Phone Screen is your First Impression.

Sure, its easy to think that the phone screen, usually from a recruiter, is just a silly step that rules out the crazy people. That’s not true — its actually a tool recruiters use to assess who you are as a candidate and IF you can be presented to the hiring manager. The recruiter is actually asking themselves, “Will this person make a good impression on my skills as a recruiter, or will it frustrate my client (the hiring manager)?”

In order to impress, be able to talk about the following:

• Who are you, as a designer? What excites you about your field? Why did you get into this crazy career path? What is your design philosophy? When you have a tough day, what keeps you motivated to do better? Being able to tell a story about yourself is a critical skill, because you will need to tell it every time you meet someone new in your field.
• Where are you at, in terms of your career — junior, mid-level, senior — and how many years of experience do you have solving UX problems?
• Sum up your resume in 5 sentences or less. Why did you choose those roles, and what did you get out of them?
• What do you want in your next role? You can answer in terms of salary, culture fit, industry, team structure, mentorship, or just that you need some new problems to solve. Be prepared with an example or a reason behind your choice.
• Details: Are you open to relocation? Do you want to work in-office or remote? What is your salary range? What benefits are you seeking?

Prepare for the interview at least one day in advance.

Have your notes from the application ready, including the job description, who you will be speaking to, and some general questions you have about the role or the company. Be ready with everything you talked about over the phone screen in addition to specific examples of when you have solved challenging problems. Depending on the role and who you are speaking to, you might end up talking more about design, product, engineering, business, or research, and that is your hint to take notes on what topics they focus on during the interview. If you expected to be asked about your skills in one area and weren’t, that is your opportunity to ask about the role and if those skills are important.

Some great follow-up questions for you to ask:

• How much of this role is interaction design, how much is ux design, and how much is ux research?
• How big is the product team? How many of those roles are UX-focused?
• What is your design philosophy and your approach to UX? Does the company share this philosophy?
• What is the biggest challenge facing your team right now?
• Is this a new role or is it filling a vacancy?
• What are your goals for this role in the next year?
• How would you describe the onboarding process for this role?

Some roles require two interviews, one for a portfolio review and another to meet the team. Some just require one interview. Some require three interviews! It just depends. If there is a portfolio interview, be prepared with the information from both the previous interview and the phone screen in addition to showcasing a design problem and your role in solving it.

No matter how many interviews there are, remember to follow-up each one of them with a short thank you email acknowledging their time with you. Otherwise, you won’t make it to the next round, no matter how good you were.

Portfolio Interview

This is often the hardest part of the interview process, at least for me. It has gotten easier since I first started out, but it is still just as nerve wracking as it ever was. The best way to tackle this portion is to lay out a design problem as a set of things you did in sequential order: you probably were given an assignment, then you pulled out specific tasks to either figure out the problem itself or worked with someone else who did this for you. Start there. Make sure to communicate the problem you were trying to solve in a way that makes sense to an outsider, and don’t include too many extra details if they don’t impact your solution. Then, tell the story as if you were telling a colleague. Make sure you include any internal struggles — tight deadlines, indecisive clients, working with engineers, selling your skills to stakeholders. Then, by the last slide, explain how you met all the project goals, and mention any steps you would have taken if you’d been able to keep going on the project. If your story doesn’t have a beginning, a middle and and end, your story sucks and your interviewer isn’t going to be able to remember it.

Lastly, make sure you are ready to pass on your portfolio and resume to the hiring manager, along with any other materials you think would be relevant, in your follow-up thank you email.

For those of you looking right now, best of luck to you! And remember: Always be ready to tell a good story.