How to prepare for UX design job interviews

In this session, Janus will break down the UX design job interview process and timeline, sharing real interview questions and some actionable tips and tricks to help designers prepare for each type of interview like portfolio presentations and whiteboard challenges.
Janus is a Senior Experience Designer at Electronic Arts, where she leads the design efforts for EA Connect, a cross-platform social tool for EA's portfolio of games, serving eight million users from all around the world. She is also the Founder of Liftyz and its Program Lead, which provides career training and coaching services, to assist designers in landing their next jobs and leveling up their design careers. Liftyz has served over 253 designers from 18 different countries.

[@plextoob]

I have to say, as a Digital Designer who ahs been a working corporate deisnger for over 30 years, there is much wrong with this interview. I do appreciate the effort and information. However talking about how to pursue a career in design requires a significant amount of diverse experience to fully address. Without getting into specific, I would encouge viewers to seek out other videos on the topic to supplemtn the information in this one. I will give you one example: question was how do you ensure you arent being asked to real work during a design challenge. Answer was: If the topic of the challenge is very close to the company's product, it should be avoided. Wrong. The answer is, you don't know. You have to decide if you want to do the challenge amid the risks vs bowing out. One tiip is to not be so arrogant to think that your work during an interview will be used for production - it likely won't. Most design challenges are legit, regardless of what is being aksed. Finally, it would be heplful if the host could get their audio issues sorted out to ensure clear consistent audio from all sounces used in the video.

[@Janustiu]

Thanks a lot for your comment. You're right, there's a lot to learn about to start a career in design, and I appreciate you pointing that out. My talk was only 45 minutes, so I couldn't cover everything. The goal of this presentation is to provide an overview of the UX job interview process. I encourage viewers to explore additional resources online, as they can provide varied perspectives and fill in any potential gaps in my presentation. Regarding design challenges in interviews, I think that each should be assessed individually. Based on my experience working with my students, most reputable companies tend to avoid posing challenges that closely mirror their actual products. This approach isn't just about ethics; it's also impractical. Candidates who lack in-depth knowledge of the company's user base, problem areas, features, and technical constraints, will find themselves at a disadvantage when dealing with real product scenarios. This often results in less successful outcomes in the hiring process. Sadly, some companies do take advantage of designers looking for jobs :( One of my design students was asked to create a high-fidelity website for a startup, and the company even provided her with a design system. Eventually, the startup updated their website to look exactly like her design. There was also a recent Reddit post about a startup that kept asking for free design work but never hired a designer. That's why I think if a company asks you to design something exactly like their products, it's usually not a good sign.