Hacking through your UX Design Interview

Etoniru Chibueze (Elroy)
UX Designer @ comercetools
Hacking through
your UX Design
Interview

Who I am
UX Designer based in Berlin.
slido.com | Code - #1414572

Who I am not
A recruiter
Talent Acquisition

Different stages of a UX Designer interview
1st Stage - Recruiter call
2nd Stage - Chat with Hiring manager or Designer
(Designers
3rd Stag
Portfolio Presentation/Revie
Case Study Tas
White board Intervie
4th - Presentation/Solution review cal
5th - Culture fit Interview or Panel behavioural
questions (Design Lead or PM or Founder
Final Offer

Hacking through your UX Designer interview
What to expect
Practical tips for each of this stages.
We will be going through the different stages of the UX Design
interview.
*Have a portfolio with at least 2 case studies before applying for jobs.

I did a little over 400 applications
before I got my job. So I, put
together, everything I learnt to
share with everyone that needs it.
A lot of hiring happens in January.
There’s no better time than now to
share tips to help you get your dream
job.
Why this?

Why now?

Step 1: Recruiter call
The purpose of this call is to have an
introduction - meet you for the first time.
Some companies also use it to test your
communications skills - speaking, listening.
Find out if they are internal or external
recruiters.
They are mostly non technical and want to hear you
mention key words from the job description.

Common format of this call
They tell you a little bit about themselves.
Introduce yourself.
A bit more about the role.
Do you have any questions for us?

How to introduce yourself
(lift directly from the job description)
(lift directly from the job description)
1. Your background
My name is _______ I’m a UX Designer based in _______
2. Current experience
I currently work as _____ at _____ with experience in ________ , _______ and ________
3. Your past experience relating to the role
In my past experiences, I worked in _____ at companies like _____ these experiences helped develop my skills in ________
, _______ and ________
4. What you want to achieve in your next role
In my next role, I am looking for _______
5. Mention your hobbies

Questions
for the
Recruiter
NO ONE READS THIS
Is this a new role?
Or am I coming to
replace someone
leaving?
What is the budget
or range of pay for
this role?
How is the current
design team
structured?
What is your
favourite thing about
working here?
** Doesn’t make sense for an
external recruiter.
* I ask this at every stage

Step 2: Chat with hiring
manager or designer
The purpose of this call is to have a better feel
of your technical experience.
Here, you can ask a lot more questions to learn
more about the company.
Expect a more technical conversation:
Possible review of your portfolio
Specific questions in your case studies. E.g
how you did your research, how you came up
with solutions.etc
Questions about your design process.

Good Questions for Step 2
What do you expect
from new designers
who are joining the
team?
What is the biggest
challenge facing the
company/department
today?
What are the current
strengths/weaknesses
of your design team?
How do you measure
performance?
Monthly? 2x a year?
Quarterly? Annually?
How is the current
design team
structured?
What is your
favourite thing about
working here?

Step 3
At this stage you must have impressed
the team and you will be given a task
to prepare for. Could be either of
the following:
Portfolio Presentation/Revie
Case Study Tas
White board Interview

Step 3a - Portfolio presentation/review
This is a session where you present your portfolio project to a panel of
interviewers, and you are asked questions on it.
Usually 1 or 2 projects.
Create separate slide decks presenting your projects/case studies
DO NOT USE YOUR PORTFOLIO WEBSITE FOR THIS!!

Why do you
need a separate
slide deck?
To maximise your chances of impressing the
interviewer.
You want to control the pacing and feed your
audience information that paints a story of your
project.

You will likely require less text and want to focus
more on providing context to visuals.
Selectively displaying nuggets of information at
a time, you can effectively control the narrative
and optimise the pacing for maximum impact.

Femke has really good templates:
How do you create a portfolio presentation
slide deck?
Presenting portfolio projects in a design interview
The design portfolio that got me hired at Wealthsimple

Step 3b - Case Study
Task
For this challenge, you are given a problem/brief
to tackle. You will get a few days to 1 week to
work on this. Then, a return to present your
solutions.
Ideally, the brief is always a feature on the
product of the company, or something related to
the kind of work you will do with them.
It’s a big red-flag if you’re asked to do a full
case study for their entire product.

READ THE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS
EXPECTED OF YOU!!!
Tips for working on a case study task
Be very expressive in outlining your solution.

Follow a design process.
Never rush to final designs, unless it was part of the instruction.

Step 3c - White board Interview
In this stage, you are given a prompt and
expected to work through how you will (think
through or) approach the problem in real time.
An interviewer or hiring manager would be present
on the call.
Tests to see how you collaborate with others
Tests how you will pace yourself and manage time
Tests how you would reflect back on your process

USE A FRAMEWORK

STEP 1: Understand the problem
STEP 2: Define the problem
STEP 3: Generate ideas
STEP 4: Flesh out the solution
STEP 5: Summarize and reflect
context
problem
solution
Solving a whiteboard challenge

Tips for a whiteboard challenge
Don’t work in silence
It’s okay to work with assumptions and set constraints
Don’t waste time designing tiny UI details
It’s okay to see other opportunities you missed out or realised something
wasn’t working as you initially thought. Talk about this
Talk about alternatives or things you would have done if you had more time.
Don’t start crafting the solution right away.
Previous talk on Navigating a whiteboard challenge

Step 4: Presentation/
Review call
On this call you are presenting your case study
solution, or any other tasks you were given to
complete.
Then you will be expected to answer questions
based on your deliverables.

Step 4: Culture fit
interview
Here, they want to evaluate if you are a cultural
fit. Don’t expect any technical discussions here.
The conversations on this call would be focused on
other soft skills, like how you would communicate
with your teammates - designers, PM, engineers.
Questions around how you work.
Questions around how you will deal with conflicts.

Final words...
Searching for a job is a job.
It is a numbers game.
If you’re getting a lot of negative responses, you’re probably not
doing something right.
Seek out a community.
You have to be self-aware. Reflect on your past failed interviews
and look out for the times you didn’t perform well. Go back and
plug the gaps.

Thank you!
Any questions?
@elroychibex
Etoniru Chibueze (Elroy)

Hacking through your UX Design Interview

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