During an intern recruiting event, I was asked what I look for in UX interviews.<\/p>\n
Your UX skills are necessary, but not sufficient. \u00a0If you are a designer, I want to see examples of designs that consider what your user wants to accomplish. \u00a0If you are a researcher, I want to see examples of research that illuminate what users want and need, and how you translate that into actionable results.<\/p>\n
I look for communication skills. \u00a0In UX, our primary job is communication. \u00a0We have to share our designs and our research with others, who may or may not understand UX at all. \u00a0 \u00a0We have to take feedback about our work, make decisions about that feedback, and communicate the results back to those who gave us the feedback.<\/p>\n
I look for negotiation skills. \u00a0We might not have the time or resources for the perfect design, or to address all of the issues that were uncovered during user research. \u00a0How did you work with the rest of the team to prioritize what would be done, both short-term and long-term? \u00a0What compromises did you make?<\/p>\n
I look for follow-up skills. \u00a0Creating an awesome design or conducting awesome research and not doing anything else is not\u00a0creating a good UX. \u00a0The best design and research impacts the product that is delivered. \u00a0If you create a beautiful design that goes nowhere, that is not creating a good UX. \u00a0You have to work with the rest of your product team to ensure that your design or research is acted upon, and you have to follow it throughout the product development lifecycle. \u00a0If changes are made to your design or to the product that you researched, you should be a part of that conversation so that the team can make informed decisions about the changes to be made and the impact to the UX that changes will have.<\/p>\n
All of this scales to where you are in your career. \u00a0If you are coming out of college, you likely have had less of an opportunity to follow a whole product design through to release. \u00a0You will\u00a0have examples of communication and negotiation, especially if you have done any group projects or an internship. \u00a0The longer that you have been in UX, the more important your communication, negotiation, and follow-up skills are.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
During an intern recruiting event, I was asked what I look for in UX interviews. Your UX skills are necessary, but not sufficient. \u00a0If you are a designer, I want to see examples of designs that consider what your user wants to accomplish. \u00a0If you are a researcher, I want to see examples of research … Continue reading Q&A: UX interviews<\/span>