Congratulations on your upcoming interview(s) in collaboration with c/p

We are excited to partner together as you take on your job search! Outlined below are what we have found are keys to success throughout this process. 

BEST PRACTICES: 

[1] Do your research and find out everything about the company: 

  • Check out their socials

  • Read their recent press

  • If they have an app - download it 

  • Look at what other people are saying about them 

  • Identify their investors or key partners 

  • Study their mission 

 

[2] Come ready with questions to ask your interviewer 

[3] Be prepared to answer, “why us?”

  • Share your passion and interest in the product 

  • How does this company align with what you are looking for next? 

[4] Study the people you will be speaking with 

  • Look up their LinkedIns 

  • Be ready with thoughtful questions about why they joined, their career journey, etc. 

[5] Lean into your strengths and impact by highlighting examples. Think about questions like: 

  • What ownership do you have within your team? 

  • What have you built 0 to 1? 

  • Have you been a part of a growing startup? 

  • How has the product scaled since you joined and what impact did you have on it? 

[6] Be prepared to share instances of growth and learning

  • Don’t be afraid to talk through challenges and how you turned them into future success

  • Think about stories where you turned around a failure, and others that didn’t end in a win. Those are often more revealing than a collection of stories that don’t reveal hardship.

  • In what ways do you demonstrate a growth mindset in the workplace? 

[7] Send thoughtful thank you notes following your interviews (or send them to me and I can send them for you) 

THE MOST SOUGHT AFTER CANDIDATE MINDSET FROM A SKILLS & CULTURE PERSPECTIVE:

  • User first mindset 

  • Highly collaborative 

  • Can work on the fly 

  • Adaptable to change 

  • Can ship quickly 

  • Strong design focus with a pulse on business implications

TOP 3 REASONS PEOPLE GET REJECTED FROM AN INTERVIEW PROCESS:

  1. Lack of process

    • Don’t be afraid to share the entire picture. The end product is important but more often than not hiring managers want to see the challenges and problem solving you did to get there 

  2. Design thinking not being human centered 

    • Make sure to emphasize the ways in which you explore the user, identify pain points, and truly empathize with the people behind the product 

  3. Failing to put your best foot forward

    • Have good questions prepared, nail your story, show enthusiasm for the company and the role through research and examples 

PORTFOLIO PRESENTATION: 

General Structure: 

Here is the general structure we recommend: 

  • ~ 5 minute introduction of yourself

  • ~ 30 minute project walkthrough

    1. Share your approach to design, research, and collaboration with cross functional partners (how you work with design, research, PMs + eng)

A few guidelines for a successful presentation: 

  • Manage your time so that you are able to show your process from beginning to end

  • Case studies should include a project that you completed and worked on start to finish. Show recent work that you are most proud of that also demonstrates solving very complex challenges. 

  • Show your work along with your process - it’s important to demonstrate what you’ve done, but also why you chose those design decisions.

  • Discuss the challenges you had to overcome, alternative solutions considered and the final results.

  • If you were working as a part of a team, clearly identify your contributions to the process and the final product, as well as dive into the collaborations and partnerships you created 

  • Share the metrics for success and the business problems you solved 

WHITEBOARD EXERCISE: 

  • Over communicate your ideas vs. under communicating - this is your time to emphasize how you collaborate with other designers and in a cross-functional environment 

  • The idea of an exercise is not always to get the "right" solution but to understand more about the way you think. Think about: 

    • Making assumptions with clear rationale

    • Understating constraints

    • Partnering with XFPs

    • Your overall approach to the design process 

  • Do what is right for you in a remote environment 

Seven simple things to have in mind during the exercise

  1. Why — Understand the Goal

  2. Who — Define the Audience

  3. When and Where — Understand the customer's context and needs

  4. What — List of different ideas to fulfill the customer's needs

  5. Prioritization and narrow down ideas — Based on impact/ Effort

  6. Solve — Map customer's journey, customer tasks, possible ui/ux (not perfect pixels obviously)

  7. How — Measure success

  8. Bonus: Validation — Validation your solution

Sample Questions for 1:1 Interviews w/ Cross-Collaborators: 

*This includes a compilation of questions we have seen in the past that we find helpful to think about situations in advance 

Engineering:

  • What’s the best engineering relationship you’ve had? Why? What worked?

  • Referencing work from their portfolio:

    • How did you work with engineering? What was good? What could have been better?

    • What were your deliverables? (Mocks? Wireframes? Storyboards? Animations? Prototypes?) And how were these deliverables reviewed and iterated on with the team?

    • What changed between the design and the implementation, and why?

    • How do you make sure your designs maintain a high bar of quality throughout implementation?

  • Looking for examples of technical limitations, or from learning from feedback:

    • Was the project designed to be delivered in phases?

    • What went into version 1? What was left out, and why?

Cross Functional Collaboration: 

  • One of our challenges for any given initiative is getting buy-in from stakeholders/business leaders. How do you like to engage them in the design process?

  • How do you handle disagreements among fellow teammates? How do you come to a resolution?

  • Can you tell me about a time that someone convinced you to do something you initially didn't want to do? How did they convince you?

  • How do you keep your stakeholders informed about what the design team is working on?

  • Describe a situation where you had to communicate something difficult to your team or manager.

  • How would you explain your current role to someone with no knowledge of your field?

Design Leadership: 

  • What was the last goal you set around your professional development, and what steps did you take to achieve it?

  • Tell me about a behavioral change you made due to receiving constructive feedback?

  • What has been the biggest mistake in your professional career?

    • Why did you make that mistake?

    • What have you done to correct that mistake?

  • Tell me about a time where you had to take the reins on something

  • Tell me about a time when it was hard for you to figure out how to move things forward. How did you handle that?

  • Have you ever felt passionate about an idea, but it took some convincing to get others to buy in?

  • In your prior experience, how have you contributed to a design-driven culture within the organization? 

    • How have you collaborated with other designers

    • What is in your toolbox helping to mentor other designers?

HOW TO STAY SANE DURING THE HIRING PROCESS:

  • Don’t fear rejection 

  • Remind yourself there is a home for everybody 

  • Be confident in your abilities 

  • Know you did your best regardless of the outcome 

  • Trust your gut 

  • Lean on c/p, mentors, and friends as a resource