Getting a job in user experience design can be tricky, and in 2024, it’s especially challenging due to the competitive job market. Wherever you look, layoffs are happening for many different reasons — like having different business needs or restructuring — and even the most talented UX designers have felt the impact.
Meanwhile, in the past few years, companies have grown out of nowhere that offer UX design certificate courses and promise to get candidates job-ready within three to six months. Many YouTubers have even made videos with titles like, “How to be a UX designer in 3 months.”
However, the reality is very far from the truth. I’m proud of not ever making videos or courses like that, as I never want to sell an unattainable dream. If you keep an eye on social media, people keep telling us about their struggles and how difficult it is to secure a full-time UX position right now.
We all know you need an excellent resume that passes the ATS bots and a killer portfolio to get invited to a screening interview and subsequent hiring manager and panel interviews. Preparation is key! You need to showcase your skill set and professional experience effectively to stand out, especially when applying for more entry-level or junior roles.
As someone who has made over 20 hiring decisions in the past, I’d like to give you a guide that will help you navigate UX interview prep. In this guide, I’ll provide strategies to ensure that you leave a positive and lasting impression so you can get that job.
Familiarize yourself with the company and role you’re interviewing for, as well as refreshing your knowledge of general market information. Knowing what boxes the company is looking to check will help you align yourself with their expectations, while awareness of the market shows you know how to appeal to users across demographics.
This will also help you shape your responses to both general and specific questions during the interview, like why you’re interested in the company, what you would change about the company’s product line, or even what your favorite product is, how you would improve it, and why.
These types of questions help interviewers gauge your product sense, critical thinking, and ability to identify user pain points. It can also be your opportunity to show your understanding of the company’s product line and its target market, your design thinking skills, and your ability to provide constructive feedback.
Again, preparation is key! Before the interview, research the company and its product thoroughly, focusing on the following areas: product features and functionality, target audience and market, user reviews, and industry trends.
Yes, hiring managers scan your resume. No, we don’t read it from top to bottom. I like to start by asking the candidate to tell me about themself and why they chose UX design. This is usually my first question to put the candidate at ease; think about it as small talk.
This is your opportunity to set the stage for the entire interview by presenting a personal, engaging narrative about your professional journey and passion for UX design. Practice your answer to great length, and remember to keep the job description in mind!
Make sure you keep your story engaging, sparking interest without going too in-depth. Aim for a concise answer in under three minutes.
There are many hats we wear throughout the product development process as UXDs, and everyone wants to know how much impact we can have throughout those responsibilities. It’s tough because UX practitioners often work on low-visibility items that are important, but don’t necessarily have a grandiose impact.
Understanding and articulating what you’ve accomplished in your previous roles is important to getting hired. You might get asked questions such as, what have been your responsibilities as a UX designer? What’s the most impactful UX project you’ve worked on?
Focus on the following aspects for each main responsibility.
User research and understanding:
Information architecture (IA) and interaction design (IxD):
Wireframing & prototyping, and usability testing:
Visual design (if it’s a UI designer’s responsibility):
Collaboration and communication:
A UX designer’s specific responsibilities can vary depending on the company, project, and team structure, so it’s best to align your answers to what the company expects from a UX designer. Study the job description to understand how and what they expect from you. You can also learn a lot by checking out other UX designers working for the same company on LinkedIn.
One last thing to win the interviewers over is to express how you stay current. Tell them how you stay up-to-date on the latest UX trends, tools, and methodologies, continuously learn and develop new skills to improve yourself, and advocate for customer-centricity and user-centered design principles.
Questions about your greatest achievements and your biggest failures help interviewers assess your ability to learn and grow from your experiences, whether good or bad. Self-reflection is important here, but you should also prepare to explain how you handle positive and negative feedback, as being receptive to feedback is a huge part of being a skillful UX practitioner.
At some point during a UX interview, you’ll likely be asked to analyze a specific product — either you’ll pick a product, or they’ll pick one of their products for you to dissect — and walk through your design strategy for improving it. This question tests your strategic thinking and understanding of UX principles.
If you’ve done your research on the company and the products and services they offer, you should be well prepared for this aspect of the interview.
Effective time management is important in UX design, where juggling multiple tasks and deadlines is always a challenge. Likewise, questions about how you commit to deadlines will further help your interviewers assess your leadership and project management skills, as well as your ability to set and achieve realistic goals.
We all know that things in product development are not always hunky-dory — and hiring managers know that too! Navigating disagreements between stakeholders is such a valuable skill to have for ensuring progress and maintaining harmony within your team members.
It’s super important to have relevant examples that showcase your ability to navigate healthy disagreements. Try to add a positive spin to your examples if possible, but be sure to give honest answers.
Behavioral interview questions are pretty much the standard questions in any interview, including UX interviews. Yes, they seem unpredictable, but with preparation, you can easily turn them into opportunities. I like to prepare stories rather than answers, because one story can be applied to multiple interview questions.
I said it multiple times, but I’ll repeat it: Preparation is key, and interviewing skills are acquired through deliberate practice!
You can anticipate behavioral questions and tell compelling stories. Work on your interviewing skills for a few hours before any interview, and you’ll be well-equipped to showcase your hard and soft skills in the best light.
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