Transcripts
1. How to prepare for your UX job interview: Hello and welcome to how to
prepare it for UX interview. I'm Beth Johnson and I'm a
senior product designer, and I'm Jennifer all as senior experienced design with
focus on strategy. And together we are
paused the UX for those of you who have
completed our first course, how to land a job in UX. Welcome back. We're
excited to have you join us deeper
into the world of UX. For those of you joining
us for the first time. Welcome and thank you
for following along on our journey in our
previous course, how to land a job in UX, we covered everything
you need to know to prepare to get your
first UX interview. We recommend watching it again
if you're new to the field or need a refresher before starting our interview process. For those of you who have
already landed an interview, congrats, that's a
huge accomplishment. You put in a lot of
hard work to get here, pat yourself on the back, but don't throw in
the towel just yet. If you have not secured a
job interview, don't worry. Perseverance is everything. The more nodes you get, just lead to that
yes, that matters. You're here putting in the
hard work and that's a win. Now, it's time to prepare
for the series of interviews you may go through to get that coveted job offer. In this course, we
have an activity to help you create a
portfolio presentation. We will also prepare you
for each typical stage of the interview process
specific to UX designers. That could include
an app critique, whiteboard exercise, and
or a design challenge. We will talk about
what it takes to crush your interview and negotiate
your compensation. Good stuff. We hope that you walk away from this course with a
job offer in hand. Let's jump right
in the next video, we'll discuss how to craft a strong portfolio presentation.
2. SECTION 1 | The value of a portfolio presenation: If you have your first
interview scheduled, fantastic. Now that you have your
foot in the door, it's time to drive it home with a great portfolio
presentation that demonstrates
how your work is going to bring value
to the new team. A big part of the
interview process for a UX designer is
reviewing your portfolio. Y, just as you look for specific qualities and
a prospective employer, they look for specific
qualities and each candidate, they want to know
if you have what it takes to solve the problem. So the team has and
support the teams needs. They're also looking for specific personalities and
soft skills that complement the current team dynamic
interviewers that each company wants to know what problems you have
experienced solving, how successful your
solutions have been, how good you are at communicating
about your process and what value you have contributed through your role
on these projects. All of this will help them gain a clear picture
of who you are as a candidate and if you
would be a good addition to the team, above all else, your portfolio review
is an opportunity to sell yourself and demonstrate
your presentation skills, both of which come handy in your day-to-day job
as a UX designer, let's dive into how to set up your portfolio presentation
in portfolio reviews, most employers want to see more than what is available
on your portfolio site. The case studies
that you have in your portfolio site
should be more condensed compared
to what you want to use in your portfolio interview. You want to dive deeper into the details to round
out the story of each project and
answer questions about your technical skills, execution, ability
to collaborate, unique challenges and
how to overcome them, learnings and how you apply them in your design rationale. The best format to set up your presentation
is a slide deck. You can use tools
such as keynote, Google Slides, or PowerPoint. You want at least two in-depth case studies
to walk there. However, you should always have a third case study prepared
at the end of presentation. In case you find you
have more time to fill as much as possible, review the work that is relevant to the role you're applying for. Explain why you're showing
the selected case studies and your deck and how the work relates to the role
you're applying for. E.g. if you've applied for a role with a
financial institution, show work that demonstrates
your knowledge for specific things
related to the industry, such as identity verification, security, and authentication. If you don't have specific word that ties to that industry, talk about how the work that
you have done has helped you explore similar problems
and ways to solve them. If you need help
building case studies, you can watch the previous
course from palsy UX, where we break down
everything you need to know to build a good
case study presentation. Review the constraints that were uncovered during each
project to demonstrate that you can identify when a pivot
is needed and come up with new solutions that
work better for the problem when new
information has come to light. This shows you can work
through issues that arise in a flexible manner
and not break under pressure. Credit the other team members who were involved in the work. It shows your collaborative
and a strong team player, a soft skill that is highly
valued in the UX teams. Solving user and
business problems is rarely a one-person show. So be sure to talk
about how each row supported the final outcome you're presenting
in your case study. In your presentation deck. In addition to
your case studies, you want to discuss
your background and highlight your
interests in the role that you're applying for. And few some of your personality
into the presentation. They want to see if he
will complement the team. Well, also your
portfolio presentation should only take around 45 min. Typically the interview
will be allotted 60 min, but you want to save
15 min at the end to allow whoever is interviewing
you to ask questions. Try to keep this as
conversational as possible. Once your presentation
is complete, practice, practice, practice. Know your work like
the back of your hand. Practice presenting someone who doesn't know the
details of the work. That way they can ask questions and point out any confusion. So you can work out
the kinks before your interviews,
prepared beforehand. Questions that might
come up during the interview and
practice responding and might help to write down
possible questions and answers to ensure that you can thoroughly explain each one. If you would like
professional help with a portfolio review or just having someone to
practice activities with, such as whiteboarding,
app critiques, design challenges,
or anything else. We have a link in the
course description where you can put time with
Jennifer or myself, Beth, to get one-on-one help. The next video, we
will demonstrate how to create a good
portfolio presentation. So let's get started.
3. ACTIVITY | Creating your UX portfolio presentation: Before we jump into
the presentation, there are few things
that you need to gather to create
this presentation. A slide presentation
software such as PowerPoint, Keynote or Google Slides 1 to visually interesting fonts that pair well and are easy to read. Your background and bio content. Two to three of
your case studies. Make sure that those case
studies you pick showcase similar work or solve similar problems to the company
you're interviewing with. Additionally, you need
visual mock-ups to round out the extra details that are not in your
portfolio site. For this exercise,
we'll be using Keynote, but feel free to use whatever presentation tool works
most efficiently for you. Throughout your
presentation, pay close attention to the 12 basic principles
of good design. Contrast. Balance, emphasis,
proportion, hierarchy, repetition, rhythm, pattern,
whitespace. Movement. Variety. Unity. Utilizing the principles
of good design, shows your thoughtful designer and have attention to detail. Next, established a few
layouts that you will repeat for specific
types of content, e.g. perhaps all case study
opportunity intros have a same format or all transition slides have a specific design
element or color scheme. There are a few
main elements you want in your portfolio
presentation. A title slide, Agenda slide,
your background information. Case studies, interviewer,
open questions. A. Thank you. Slide.
Any backup case study. In terms of design and layout, you could use a
pre-designed template and customize it
to fit your brand. If you go this
route, you will need to update colors and fonts to fit your brand and then add any personalized custom content. This way, only minor layout
adjustments will be needed. If you want to use a
template to get started, here is a free keynote
template you can use. However, if you want
more control and personality infused
to your presentation, you should create an
entire deck from scratch. We recommend this approach as it showcases your abilities
as a designer. If you decide to
create your own, you should come up with
designs for some key layouts, such as two-thirds, left, two-thirds, right,
half and half. Full centered title,
full centered text. Full images with text
overlay, etcetera. Research designers from
fellow UX designers and use that as a
jumping off point. Now, let's get started in creating your portfolio
presentation.
4. SECTION 2 | What is an app critique : An app critique is an exercise
for you evaluate an app and identify various key aspects of the design and technology. The main objective
is to demonstrate your understanding
of the problems the app is solving for, who it is solving for, and how the app functions and a user-centered way and
what can be improved. The interviewer
wants to understand if you can identify
and articulate these points in a way that applies is strategic and
user-centered approach. During the exercise,
you will speak out loud and answer any prompts
and interviewer gives you. Let's jump in into
how the app works. They want to see how you
rationalize decisions, generate ideas,
and understand how deep your technological
comprehension goes. As an advocate for good UX, often they will tell
you to take a look at the ten most popular apps, such as Google Maps
or Apple Maps, Yelp, Uber, Lyft, amazon,
Spotify, and medium. You'll want to start
downloading them as many as possible to examine and have a good
understanding of each. Start practicing the framework
covered in the next video. This will help you tear down each app so you feel confident speaking out loud and examining
one of them in depth. Plan for about an hours worth of discussion with
your interviewer. In the next video,
we will jump into how to execute an app critique.
5. How to do an app critique: On the day of their critique, your interviewer were
either pick the app for you or give you a
list to choose from. When doing the critique, you should identify
and articulate the following business problems. The APSA solving for
key user segments, jobs to be done, or how the app meets user goals, UX and UI patterns, heuristic issues that
need to be addressed, and opportunities
for improvement. A helpful tip, be sure to understand current UI
and UX guidelines, such as Apple's human
interface guidelines, google material
design guidelines. Additionally, understand
recent app design trends and patterns to add
to the discussion. Rationalize the why behind everything that you're sharing. The interviewers will want to understand how you
make decisions. Write down some
of the frameworks and the questions
you want to touch on and make sure to have those on a note somewhere
that you can glance at. Keeps speaking aloud to explain your entire
thought process. To start your critique, tell the interviewer or the
approach that you're taking. And then begin to examine
key areas of the experience. And start by using the UX audit. First established the
user and the problem. What are the
company's goals that the app is trying to achieve? Identify the problem. What is the primary problem
that app is trying to solve? Identify the user, who is
the primary user of the app. Provide contexts
of when the user might use the app
along your journey. What are the moments
that matter? Next, do a UX audit and look
at the structure of the app. Is there consistency, export information
architecture, and navigation. Our users able to
cancel or undo actions. The purpose of the app clearly conveyed is the
navigation clear? Can task be quickly and
effortlessly completed? After looking at the structure, examined the interaction design. Is language clear and
easily understood? What affordances and
signifiers are used to set user expectations and guide
them to perform an action. Is new information or meaningful ads for
interpretation included? Look at animation and
gestures are the applied effectively to draw attention to a point of conversion or action? Are there interaction
problems that stand out? Next, look at the UI
and visual design. Is the UI aesthetically
appropriate? How successful is
the use of space? From a visual standpoint? What are your initial feelings
when opening the app? Does the use of colors support the functionality
of the app? How successful are the icons, illustrations, buttons,
fonts, and negative space? Are the UI patterns consistent
throughout the app? Finally, identify problems
you notice within the experience and
what you would do to solve the problems
you have identified. In the next video, we will explore ways to practice
your app critique.
6. How to practice an app critique: In AP critique can
feel like a big event, but as you practice it, it will become second nature. The more you practice, the more the skill will
become a strength. When you begin, it's
beneficial to speak aloud, to feel more comfortable,
ask friends, family, or a mentor
to practice with you. Have them play the role
of the interviewer. You can have them
select an app or choose yourself as you go
through the critique, share your screen so the person practicing with
you can follow along, prepare OSF questions
and interviewer may ask you and have them go through
as you walk through the app, this will give you a leg up and you'll be more
comfortable with navigating an application and articulating the experience. Today we're going to
walk through Airbnb. Beth, Can you walk me through the process
of booking a stay? Yeah. So as a user
of the Airbnb app, I'm going to look at
this main screen. Okay? And I see at the top there's this call-out about
20:22, summer. I see the bottom
navigation wishlist, trips inbox profile. The first option is Explorer. And I see where you're going, so I think I'm going
to click on that. Okay, When I see
where are you going, I can type in here. Let's say we're
going to Nashville. Nashville is great. So it
pops up automatically. Okay. Now I see find a place to stay, a month we stay
or an experience. So I want to book a stay. I don t think I'm going
to stay for a month, so I'm picking the first option. Okay. Now I'm seeing a calendar. Okay. I see calendar
or I'm flexible. I think I know my dates, so I'll probably pick them, but I also can see
plus or minus one day, two days, three
days, or seven days. So this is telling me that if I don't know my exact dates, I can open that
range a little bit. I can also skip, which is interesting,
so I can book a stay. If I don't know the dates, I just kinda wanna see
what's in Nashville. So maybe I'm going
to try that, okay. And just say it's
just gonna be me. So now I'm seeing options for adults, children, infants, pets. I can skip this too. I'm just going to
say it's just me. Alright. See what we come up with. So now I'm seeing Nashville
add date so I can pick, there's different filters here. I can pick the date, the price, the type of the amenities, and the cancellation policy. And I'm seeing a map
which is showing me the different prices of stays
available place on the map. Or there's this
action sheet that is able to expand and take
over the full screen, which is showing the
all available stays. And now they have a persistent
floating navigation that will allow me to go
back to the map view. So that's really helpful
if I want to pick between the two options, different types of users, 1% might want them out view
one might want this sheet. So that's good
because they're both readily available,
good assumptions. And so we're able to
see the search area. We can zoom in and out
and not adjust so you can change your radius. Okay? So I think this process is pretty intuitive from
user perspective. There's lots of things
helping guiding me and lots of options to further
refine the search, like the price range, the type that
updates and gives me the feedback that it has taken
that into consideration. Okay. So if I pick this place, e.g. I see it selected on the map. I see the details, the readings, and there is a
floating navigation to check availability since
I didn't pick the dates. So let's say I know I'm going to pick the
19th and 22 September. That's great. Oh, no. Oh, okay. Here's an issue. This looks like
this is available, but it might be
grayed out because it's not letting me
select all those dates. So this may be an, a user issue because I think from already
having used the app, I need to pick more days than it's allowing me or
fewer, but it's not. Now. It wasn't giving me
that feedback initially. So that could be an
improvement of the app. So it says check out only the date is
unavailable for check-in. So that prompt didn't come up when I was trying
to select the date. So that could be an
improvement right away. Get comfortable
doing the analysis, answering questions, and following a coherent flow
while speaking out loud. Your interview, we're focused on your skills versus
the app itself. You should be able
to answer questions clearly without much difficulty. If you have access to someone
within the UX industry, practice with them so
they can easily highlight areas that may need improvement
before the interview.
7. What UX interviewers are looking for in an app critique: During an app critique, interviewers want to see
how you rationalize ideas, your understanding
of technology, and your product thinking. They want to see that you apply a high level of discretion and care with each decision that you make when creating solutions. This provides a window
for them to appear in to see how you operate
as a UX advocate, for team and for product. If you want help practicing
your app critique, you can contact myself. But Origen, feel
free to book time with us through the link provided in the course
description below. Next up, we'll be discussing
whiteboarding exercises, what they are, how
to execute them, and how to practice.
8. SECTION 3 | What is UX whitebording: Whiteboarding exercises
are often used to gain a clear understanding of a designer's thinking process and approach to problem-solving. It is a practical way for you
to demonstrate your skills and give the interviewer a clear picture of how
you solve challenges. Being able to articulate
your process in this context gives a team an idea of what you
are like to work with. It highlights your
ability to utilize this practice as a means to
solve complex UX problems. This is a skills-based
interview. In this interview activity, you will walk through
the full process of designing a product or a
portion of an experience and a short timeframe
while showing your interviewers
what your product and design thinking processes. You'll be given a prompt for
a product issue to solve, such as improved Yelp or redesign a purchase
flow for Amazon, you'll be expected to
walk through the process and create a design
in about 60 min. Most of the time you will
be giving a prompt or problem by the interviewer on the day of your
whiteboarding interview. Your task is to understand
what you're building, discern what the problem
you're solving is. Come up with a
practical solution and talk about how you
would measure success. Success could be measured by
data or use your testing. What metrics would
you look for to prove your solution meets
business and user goals? And a pre remote environment,
more than likely, you would have been physically drawing and writing
on a whiteboard. This is where the
term comes from and are now remote world. You can plead this exercise
with tools such as Figma, Miro, mural, Google Draw,
and something comparable. In this next video, we'll discuss how to conduct a whiteboarding
exercise in Miro.
9. How to do a UX whiteboarding exercise: To start whiteboarding exercise, ask some fundamental questions to know what is expected of you. What are the requirements, what are you
expected to deliver? And at what fidelity? Fidelity means low level
of completion and detail. Do you need to present the
final solution once finished? Or will speaking aloud as
you're working be enough? Every interview and
every team is different. So you might be surprised with what the final result they
want you to deliver is. Make sure that you know
what they are expecting upfront while doing the
white boarding exercise, articulate the reasons why
you're making decisions. So your interviewer can
follow along as you go, verbalizing as much of your
thought process as possible. It may seem overkill, but this step is important. It can help to
remind yourself of the goal you're trying
to achieve as you work. Don't jump into the
solution right away. Start by asking questions and
walk through the process. Try to answer these
six questions, five W's and an H, one. Why am I building this too? Who am I building this for? Three, when and where
will it be used for? What am I building? And five, how can I
measure its success? If you find it helpful, write these questions down in
whichever tool you prefer. This will be a reference
to help you communicate your intent as you work through the white boarding exercise. Interviewers are
generally happy to answer as many questions
as I can for you. So don't be afraid to ask. If you feel unsure
about your choice, you can state your
assumptions and how you arrived at
each conclusion. This could be an area for future exploration
or usertesting. Tell your interviewers how you would test your assumptions. Explain which success metrics you would look for to see if your solution has adequately solved the business
and users problems. Make sure you're asking
questions upfront to get a good understanding for the
problems you're trying to solve before moving into
creating a solution. By having these
questions answered, you will have honed
in on solving the right problem
to design around. Otherwise, you could
have spent precious time pursuing a solution that
doesn't address a real issue. This skill will take you far in your career and leadership will admire your ability to
design for impact and value. Keep in mind you will not be solely judged on
the final result. How you arrived at the proposed solution
will hold equal weight. If not more, rationalizing
your decisions effectively will become
a common practice as a UX designer. In the next video, we'll discuss ways of practicing your white
boarding exercise.
10. How to practice whiteboarding: Since most interviewers are
now conducted virtually, you would likely be
using software such as Miro to conduct the
whiteboarding activity. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the tool before
the interview. You will likely have 45 min to complete the challenge with 15 min at the end to discuss final results and
ask your questions. Practice completing this
task within this time-frame. Working and presenting with a specific time-frame will also become common practice
as a UX designer. Try a challenge or
two on your own, and then enlist the help of
friends to help you practice. And they can pretend
to be the interviewer. Have them start by
giving you a prompt. They can answer questions as you go through the
whiteboarding activity. Have them time you and remind you when 15
min or remaining, and then be sure to wrap up. Practice speaking aloud as you work and make sure to write your questions down in your workspace so others
can reference them. Practice as many
times as you can until you feel comfortable
for your interview. Alright, so today we're
going to be doing a whiteboarding activity, okay? And the prompt that I
would like you to design is a tool for pet owners
to find dog boarding. Okay. Let's see. I will just note tool for pet owners to
find boarding. Yeah. Okay. We want to find boarding
for their dogs. Okay. So we are exploring a tool for pets defined boarding
further a dog. So I would want to understand why are we
solving this tool? Perhaps users are
going out of town. So let's talk about
reasons, right? So this could be your reason. So going out of town, perhaps they are
date night reasons. Perhaps there's just a
doctor's appointment. So I might understand, you know, there could be a
time implication. So going out of town
as longer bit of time, let me get a new sticky
note, different color. So reasons why there
could be time. It could be long amount
of time, long time. Let's just actually
organized a different way. So multiple dates. It could be by hours. It could be one day. So maybe there's a scale, perhaps this could be
different features. Let's see. So finding somebody so there
may need to be a match. Perhaps it's like we
understand who the user is and maybe we understand
who the person is. So maybe they want
to understand what the dog might be like. Yeah. So can they
accommodate a large dog? When you say match, are
you seeing a match between the owner and the person watching importing
the dog or between the dog and the what
kind of matches. So I think there could be both. So say an owner has no pets
and they have no yard. So they would probably
only be suitable to do a small dog. Perhaps they have a
small dog and already, and the dog doesn't
like bigger dog, so maybe it's a two-way street. So understanding where
the accommodations at the boarding place
and understanding the needs of the actual
border could be something. So let me take
another sticky note. This could be another kind of, perhaps it's a filter variant. So understanding
boarding capabilities plus boarding need could be
something we can consider. Also maybe there's an
understanding for location. Okay? So location, distance
from the border, from the board, any kind
of group these over here. Let's see. What else
could there be? Maybe there could just be some
general information as far as personalities, maybe
dog's personality. Okay. And it could be
owner personality. Perhaps. It's an older individual who just wants to snuggle
with little puppies and not really have
the capability or means to walk a dog. Okay. And he's just having at their
house, so host personality. And what type of a device or technology do you envision
this tool being hosted on? I could see being hosted on
either a web application. Perhaps it can be hosted on, Let's do web experience. So website, maybe mobile, mobile app. Let's see. What other questions can we
ask for this problem-solving? So we understand
who the users are, someone who is maybe
going to town, going on date night are
going Dr. appointment. We understand the
boarding capabilities. So let's actually kinda
expand on this a little bit. Space. Do they have a yard or not? Do the dogs like maybe there's also indications for pet needs. This might feel like
a lot to go through, but your mind to learn
crucial skills that UX designers need to
excel in order to grow. The next video, we'll discuss what
interviewers are looking for to ensure you're hitting a home run with this activity.
11. What UX interviewers are looking for in a whiteboarding exercise: Why boarding
exercise is not just about how interesting or
creative your ideas are. It's more so how you approach problem-solving while
working with others, the team wants to
see how you work, your strengths, and
possible limitations. These are the questions
that interviewers are likely evaluating you on. How do you solve problems? What is your process like? How well do you communicate? How do you collaborate
with others? Do you think critically
and ask probing questions? How do you work under pressure
and with tight deadlines? In the next video, we will discuss the
design challenge and how it differs
from whiteboarding. Follow us to learn more.
12. SECTION 4 | What to expect from a UX design challenge: As part of the
interview process, some companies ask applicants to do a take-home
design challenge instead of a white
boarding exercise is up to you if you
want to do this or not. But there are few
things to keep in mind before making a decision. If you don't do the challenge, you will be taking your
name out of the running for the role that
you've applied for. If you're interested
in going forward, you should ask if
there'll be compensation. Many design challenges
are often unpaid work, while some companies do
offer pay, many designers, including bath and myself, will tell you to never
do work for free. Advocating for our
talents and value is a collective practice
in the design community. Junior and entry-level
designers may feel that they must do
them to get the job. It's best to get
the full scope and understand what you're
getting into before greedy, decide if doing unpaid work from particular company
will benefit you. One benefit of the design
challenge is the opportunity to showcase the design as a case
study in your portfolio, design challenges vary widely
from company to company. The scope of the challenge
and the type of work will widely vary depending on the industry and the
needs of the team. Some take-home challenges are expected to be done
within one to 2 h, while some are allowed up to
two weeks for completion. The vast majority of
people actually spent a bit more time delivering work. That is to the quality that they would deliver
for paid work.
13. How to do a UX design challenge: For the purposes of this course, will run through what
your process for design challenge
could look like. An example design challenge prompt you could get
while interviewing for UX role could be redesigning the chat
experience for Meta. Now, here's an approach overview you can follow to get started. Plan, research, and ideate. One plan. Start by making a plan. How much time do you
have to deliver it, the final result, work
backwards from there. If you have one week, think about how
much time you can spend each day working on it. Let's say you have evenings and weekends free and you know, you can focus for
about 3 h each night. That gives you roughly 21 h
to deliver the final result. Number two, research. Now you can decide how
you will spend your time, spend the most time
upfront on research. So you're sure you know
the problem space. Well before trying to
come up with a solution, this will ensure your
rationale is well-informed. This also gives you a time
block to move forward with a direction and not
spin your wheels too much. The research phase
of the challenge, you can set it up like this. 3 h on product and
competitive research, 3 h and user and
Behavioral Research, and 1 h on synthesis. Be sure you're documenting
everything and reference it often for a gut check to ensure you're pursuing
the right solution. The process will aid
in your talking points for the final presentation
of the design challenge, think about what
questions you want to answer through your UX research. This will give you
a clear picture of the current experience. The ideal state should be. See what other
comparable experiences exist and seeing what people
are saying about them. You can look in places
such as App Store reviews. You can spend time doing user interviews to understand
users wants, needs, goals, motivations, pain points, frustrations, thoughts,
feelings, and actions. You can conduct an ethnographic study
and watch how people are using the existing tool
to uncover opportunity areas. Once you feel your
research is complete, you can move into
the ideation phase. Your time, I look
something like this. One-hour sketching. 2 h of wireframing and
2 h of visual design. Think about what features
are needed to help your users complete
their tasks and goals. How can you meet your users
needs through your designs? Use all of your
research to inform your decisions and it's okay to challenge
your assumptions. Throughout this process. The design thinking
process is continual and if it is common
practice for UX designers, next, you will want to
test what you've created to ensure you're solving the
right problem for users. Your time might look
something like this. 3 h for testing, one hours for revisions, usability issues which
were uncovered in testing. The next thing you want to do
is make your final polishes to your design based on
feedback and testing. Pulled together a
working prototype. You can use Figma
Sketch or Adobe XD. Your final step is to
document your process and findings in a slide deck which you can present
to your interviewers. Walk them through how you
arrived at your solution, at what key inputs helped
inform your design thinking. Your time might look
something like this. One, our final prototyping,
two-hour process deck. And two-hour to practice
presenting with friends, family members, or mentors. This high-level overview
should provide you with enough guidance to get started in completing your
design challenge. Okay, wow, we just
went through three different entering
a few scenarios that you may need
to prepare for. Ap critiques, whiteboarding,
and design challenges. We know it's a lot to take in. We've been there
and how to prepare ourselves for all
these interviews. When interviewing
throughout our career, spend as much time as
you need to master these skills are crucial to move to the final
stages of your interviews. And skills are utilized daily on the job
as a UX designer. Now that we've covered
the big activities, do you need it for practice
before meeting the team? Let's get into crushing
those interviews. In the next section,
we'll go over the typical interview process
and what you can expect.
14. SECTION 5 | Intro to getting your UX interviews underway: How you interview is equally as important as what
your work looks like. At this point, a recruiter
or company wants to know your personality so they can get a sense for what it'll be
like working with you. They want to be
assured that you can backup the work showcased in your portfolio and be a
valuable asset to the team. When prepping for
your interview, make sure you understand
each phase of the process and my pair for each activity
and interview thoroughly. Some interview processes
can be quite lengthy. So the sooner you can start
prepping, the better. We will break down everything you need to know
in this section. Up next, we will discuss the importance of knowing the company you're applying for.
15. Know the company you're applying for, in and out: When you have an
interview confirmed, do as much research as possible to make sure
you know the company, the team, the leadership, and the person interviewing
you as much as possible. This will not only make
you look prepared, but it will give you
a good understanding of the company you will
potentially be joining. When looking into the team
members on LinkedIn and other social media profiles,
explore the background. What is their
philosophy on design? What is their
educational background? What can you learn from them
and what can you teach them? Having these questions answered, we'll help you build
a connection more quickly and can humanize you. If you can create some interests beyond work that
generally gives them a good impression
and inside it to how your personality
might fit the team. Come with questions prepared. The company wants to know that you're genuinely
interested. Ask about the company culture, what challenges are facing, what their long-term goals are, and what a day in the
life may look like. An interview is not only a way for you to see if
your ideal for them, but the other way around too, their job needs to be a
good fit for you as well. Before closing out
the interview, we always like to ask if
their hesitations thus far. This allows you an opportunity
to backup any areas identified as weak
points on the spot. You should provide
them with more clarification to
ease their worries. This makes you a
strong candidate because it shows you
have self-awareness, are curious and could
take the back gracefully. Finally, don't forget to
ask about next steps. You might even be able to tell how the interview went
by how they respond. So stay alert. Most importantly, thank them for the time to speak with
you and get to know you.
16. The typical UX interview process: The UX interview process tends to be somewhat
lengthy and involved if your goal is to
get a full-time role in your role as a UX designer, you will be handling a lot of
large decisions over time. So finding the right candidate is important decision
for the team. Selecting the right candidate
for a team is important even when considering
freelance or contracting work. However, the interview
process may be more abbreviated than that of a
full-time salaried role. In these cases, your expertise may be needed for
a shorter time. Thus, it's not as big of a
commitment for the employer. A typical interview process
may unfold as follows. One, the first round will often be phone screening with
a recruiter or HR, which typically
lasts around 30 min. You will be asked about
your background experience. This is where you
get to know more about the rules or
roles available, the company, and what
the team's needs are. You will want to
summarize your experience and educational
background to allow the recruiter to see if you'd be worth passing on to
the hiring manager. Tried to share as
many details as possible that align with the job description during
the phone screening. Make sure you're being succinct. Feel free to practice your
talking points with someone beforehand to get feedback
about your delivery. Expected compensation
requirements may come up as well. But as the saying goes, whoever throws out
a number of first, generally loses its best to avoid stating a
number at this point. That way you have
leveraged down the road to negotiate for
total compensation, some of which may not be salary. Instead, ask about what
a typical salary ranges for the level that
you're applying for. This will give you
a chance to do some research and see if
the range is competitive. Remember to stay positive and
thank them for their time. The next interview is typically a phone interview with the
designers are hiring managers. It can sometimes
be a video call, so be paired for both. Quite often this will be a 30-minute chat with
the manager of the team. You'll be working under this, a chance for you to get
to know the team and for you to brag a bit about
your accomplishments. The next interview is
typically where you will share your portfolio
presentation you've created. This round can last from 1 h and up to six depending
on the company. Some companies want to do an on-site or a series
of panel interviews, which can take nearly
a full day due to COVID and remote work
becoming commonly accepted. The majority of these interviews
will be done virtually. Be prepared to turn
on your camera with a strong Wi-Fi connection. Most likely there'll be
various members of the team ranging from designers to
project managers and more. This is a great opportunity to learn about the team
you'll be working with. You will potentially do a
portfolio review in a series of one-on-one interviews
with members of the team and leadership. The final round is
often panel interviews. This is where you will meet one-on-one with a few
of the members of the team so they can ask more specific questions and
make sure you are a good fit. You will want to have questions
prepared to ask them to ensure the company and the
team is a good fit for you to. Culture fit is highly important. Hopefully, these
rounds of interviews ends with you
getting an offer if you decide the company team or good fit and you wish to accept. This is when you
can negotiate for your total compensation
including salary, PTO, stock, options and bonuses. Do your research and
know the range you want for total
compensation package. Think of total compensation
as salary plus benefits. As a general rule of thumb. Always negotiate. You never get we don't ask for. So give it a shot. Once you've done your
research and come back with a total
compensation range, makes sure to let
them know that you based your range on
current market trends. In the next video,
we'll go through the interview questions to
ask and to prepare for.
17. UX interview questions to ask and to prepare: When prepping for an interview, it can be tough to anticipate which questions
interviewers will ask you with so many
to choose from. How do you plan to
prepare for them all? Let's jump right in. Interviewers often utilize the star method
to ask questions, to understand how you handled behavioral situations
and previous roles. What exactly is the star method? It is an interview
method that gives you a straight forward
format to tell a story using situation, task, action, and result. Using this method gives your interviewer insight into how you may operate
within a new team. Star method questions
often start like, tell me about a time
when. What do you do? When? Have you ever give
me an example of describe a look for these
triggers and apply the star framework for questions that use
the star method, you should answer it using
the following framework. Situation, set the scene and give the necessary
detail of your example. Task. Describe what your responsibility
was in that situation. Action. Explain exactly what steps
you took to address it. We saw, share what outcomes
your actions achieved. If you remember the acronym, it'll help you break
down your answer and paint a picture for
your hiring manager. Here are some typical questions you may be asked
in an interview. Company-specific
can run as follows. Why are you interested
in this role? What products would you
like to work on and why? What do you know about
the product offerings? How does the work
you've done set you up for success
in this new role. Design background questions
could run as follows. What does design
thinking to you? What is your definition
of UX design? Where do you find
design inspiration? What does your design
process look like? What are your strengths
and weaknesses? What is your preferred
way of working? Tell us about your most
successful projects and what made it successful. Tell us about a UX project
that did not go as planned. How did you manage it? Where do you see
yourself in five years? What are some of the
biggest challenges you have faced as a UX designer? Here are some questions you
can ask your interviewer. Why do you like to work here? Can you describe a
typical workweek? What is the team structure? What does the company
culture look like? What are the benefits? What are some of the big picture challenges the
company is facing? What does success look
like for this role? What are the biggest goals this role is to
accomplish in 30, 60, or 90 days. How will this role
contribute to the team? What are the most
important skills for someone in this role? Answering these questions helps understand the
details of the role. You want to know if
it's a good culture fit and ensure the
company is going to support your long-term growth in your career as a UX designer. As always, don't
forget to practice. Find someone who can act as the interviewer
and ask questions. So you prepared to answer
them articulately. The last thing you want
is to be caught off guard and fumble
through your responses. You can never be too prepared. So practice as much as possible. You can even write
out questions and responses and record
yourself answering them. Then replay the video and note where you need
to make adjustments. If you'd like, help prepping for your upcoming interviews. You can book time with
Jennifer or Beth myself. Now that you have practiced on, are fully prepared for
upcoming interviews. And the next video, we'll discuss the
interview followup.
18. Interview dos dont's : Currently, most
interviews are being held on Zoom Teams or
Google Hangouts. Be sure to test your
connection to Wi-Fi and both your audio and video before your
scheduled start time. Prep your space with things to take notes
and make sure to have notes nearby of things you want to remember to cover
during your discussion. We understand that many of
us are working from home, but do look around to
ensure that your space is tidy and gives a positive
first impression. Be cautious of what you eat
and drink prior to interview. E.g. too much coffee
might make you jittery. Not eating food
can make you feel lightheaded because
everyone is different. We suggest doing
what's going to make you feel and perform your best. Also be sure to visit
the restroom beforehand. You don't get distracted or feel uncomfortable
during the call. To build a little confidence, try power poses, stretching, and shake off those jitters. When interviewing,
remember, you're human. Have a little fun
and stay relaxed. Let your personality shine. An interviewer as just
interested in who you are as they are in your
background and expertise. It's okay to talk about your
hobbies outside of work. When discussing your experience, try to bring in metrics that show how your work contributed
to the company's success. Explain how you
solve problems for each company and why your
solutions were successful. Even though you will not
be physically present, your tire is so reflection
of you as a professional. Be sure to look the part
of the job that you want. Come dressed to give the team the impression that you are polished and ready
to get to work. Here are some examples
of outputs you can wear. Next up, we will cover
what to do post interview, and we'll touch
on the follow-up. And finally, last apps.
19. Interview follow-up: You are almost there. This is the one and final step before getting that
coveted job offer. Make sure you think the
interviewer or interviewers for their time in a follow-up email about 24 h after interview. If you asked about
hesitations they may have about your candidacy
during the interview, hopefully you've had time to
think about the best way to diminish those hesitations
through examples of your work. Attach or explain examples of how you can bring
value to the team. Perhaps you didn't present specific work or highlight your problem-solving
the best way. You can address those
pain points and a follow-up e-mail
as they still may be in the
decision-making process. Be courteous and gracious. Think that for considering your candidacy and for taking the time to
get to know you, reiterate your interest and
send away fingers crossed, they reach back out to
you with that sweet, sweet offer letter. Okay. We're in the home stretch. Last, but certainly not least, we're going to wrap
up and talk about compensation and the
fine art of negotiating.
20. SECTION 6 | Art of negotiation: You got a job offer and you're close to getting
that UX design rule. Pause. Ux is giving you
a standing ovation. Weight. Don't just sign the first
offer that comes your way. Everything in life is negotiable, especially
your compensation. Politely thank
them for the offer and ask them time for review. Do not skip this step. Even if you love the offer
that they've given you, take time to see if you
can move the needle. This is an opportunity to
ensure you're getting what you need to keep you happy and
stay with the company. Do your homework. What are similar
job titles, ranks, and company sizes in
your area getting paid? Did they get stock options? How much does PTO to the
offer parental leave. What is the furrow one
k match percentage. Do you want to work in an office halftime,
or remote full-time? A few good sources for
salary information are leveled at FYI, payscale.com, salary.com built in Austin or other similar sites for
whichever city you live in, your offer should
be competitive all around for your
total compensation, not just for your salary. We want you to know that
this is a two-way street and should be win-win for
both you and the employer. Many large reputable companies
are fighting for talent. And in doing so, offering very compelling
compensation packages. Make sure that
your offer package aligns with what
others are receiving, as well as the lifestyle
you want to live.
21. SECTION 7 | UX interview recap: In this class, we prepared you to be successful
in interviews, explain app critiques,
whiteboarding challenges, design challenges, as well as
how to negotiate your pay. We hope you feel confident and ready to crush your interviews. Ultimately also
getting a job in UX, there's a lot to learn in order to get your
ideal job in UX, but the reward
makes it worth it, or at least we think so. We loved this field and all the wonderful
people who work in it. And now hopefully including you. We both found it extremely
rewarding that in the UX industry everyone
is empathetic and helpful, providing others with the
support that they need to grow. It's the collective
nature that makes a UX industry so special. We are happy to be
part of it and educate others on how to join
the community as well. Thank you for allowing
us to do what we love and continuing
to inspire others. Please keep us updated
on your success. We love to know that we have
helped our UX peers thrive. Thank you for watching
until next time from Beth and
Jennifer with Pasi UX