How to Prepare for a UX Interview

Preparation determines success.

When you get an interview for a UX job, preparation determines success. You can greatly increase your chances with some planning and interviewing strategies.

Let’s assume your resume, portfolio, and networking skills have helped you to land an interview. You have only a few days to prepare for your interview. What do you do? Where do you start? Let’s see what you can do.

Tip #1: Schedule Your Interview for Tuesday Morning

Interviewers are very busy people with many other duties beyond your interview. They have their own projects, meetings, and deadlines. As they interview candidates, the interviewers must juggle their already busy schedules to talk with potential employees.

According to Glassdoor, Tuesday morning at 10:30 am is one of the best times to schedule your interview. Consider these facts about a person’s work day schedule:

• Mondays are busy catching up on emails and scheduling other work.
• First day back from a three-day weekend is just too chaotic.
• Fridays are busy with people trying to leave for the weekend.
• No interviewer likes meetings the day before a holiday break.

Now, consider the different times of day that can affect an interviewer:

• Some people do not enjoy early meetings, while other people do.
• People check emails and voice messages the first thing in the morning.
• Interviewers get tired after eating a large lunch, so attention decreases.
• Most people do not schedule meetings at the end of the day.

Tuesday morning interviews seems to be your best option. People have started their work week, shuffled their schedule, ate breakfast, checked their emails, and (maybe) looked at your resume and portfolio. If timing is everything, timing of your interview will improve your chances.

Tip #2: Do Your Research on the Company

I am amazed (and disappointed) at the lack of research most candidates conduct for a job opportunity. Many candidates just review the company home page. Some candidates do not even review the home page.

After you get an interview scheduled, spend time conducting research beyond the company home page. Here are some great places to get additional data:

1. Review LinkedIn to see if someone in your network works there.
2. Read quarterly earnings reports and blog posts.
3. Search for company information on glassdoor.com.
4. Talk with previous employees that have worked at the company.
5. Review marketing material and press releases.

Your goal is to get information to see if it matches your interests. Plus, you can sound more informed in some answers in your interviews. When you have done your research, you sound more professional. Here is an example:

I was reading your quarterly earnings report about the importance of innovation in your company. I really like how the president of the company mentioned wearables, which is fascinates me. I think that I can …

As shown above, you have done your research, shown your interest, and move to talk about your strengths.

Tip #3: Plan to Use Your Resume and Portfolio as Interview Props

If you bring additional copies of your resume and portfolio, you can use them as interview props to give your interviewer(s) things to review. Some people get nervous when they talk to interviewers. Using your resume and portfolio to help guide the conversation.

Use your resume and portfolio as interview props.

Other candidates will come into their interview to talk about their qualifications. You can show them your qualifications by using your resume and portfolio as interview props. Let’s assume you are being interviewed by three people. You might do this:

• First person receives a copy of your resume.
• Second person receives your portfolio.
• Third person receives your attention and focus.

People will naturally take time to review your resume and portfolio. The interviewers will alternate asking your questions. By using these interview props, you can divide the attention of the interviews, so it is less intimidating for you.

Tip #4: Tell Your Story with Your Resume and Portfolio

Many interviewers will have just glanced at your resume and portfolio before going into the meeting. Most of them will not have studied your resume and portfolio in great detail. So, plan to walk people through your resume and portfolio.

Your resume and portfolio are visual representations of your story. Without a great story, they are just pieces of information.

People hire individuals. They do not hire a resume or portfolio. Interviewers want to connect with candidates because they may be working with them in the future. So, you need to be able to tell your story.

When an interviewer asks you to tell them about yourself, they are asking you to tell them your story. Make it a great one.

Your story should be personal, informative, and crafted for the interview. For example, your personal story for a manager position would spotlight your leadership skills more than your technical abilities. You want interviewers to hear your story and imagine the next chapter of your story (which is the open position they need to fill).

Several years ago, I went into an interview to get a position as usability professional. I did not have any experience in this particular field. Here is the personal story I told:

Let’s start at the bottom of my resume. As you can see from my resume, I over 2o years of experience in software development in a variety of industries. After finishing college, I decided to go back to get a Master’s degree in English because I have always been interested in communication, learning, and research.

I briefly pointed to the education section of my resume (which is on the bottom). I decided to go through the earliest jobs to explain my contributions.

After getting my Master’s in English, I moved into several different positions that involved talking with customers. First, I was Training Developer, where I taught classes with material I developed for medical professionals. I really enjoyed talking professionals and designing the training materials. I taught classes to over 1,500 students during this four year period. It was alot of fun!

I pointed to the Quality Assurance section of my resume and said:

Then, I moved into Quality Assurance, where I made sure products were easy to use and learn. As a QA professional, I wrote test scripts and performed user acceptance testing onsite at Fortune 500 companies.

I pointed to some bullet points under Quality Assurance to spotlight a specific story. I told the interviewer this story:

While I was working in QA, I met Bill Scott. I had discovered user experience. It seemed like every job I had ever held was leading me into UX. Bill is now the UX Director at Netflix. I actually borrowed over 20 UX books and read them.

My interviewer was shocked to learn that I knew Bill Scott. And, she was excited to learn about the 20 UX books I had been reading. We compared the different boos we had read. She suggested other books. I had made a connection.

After finishing our brief conversation, we started to laugh and share additional stories. I continued with my story by going to my current position on my resume. I told this part of my story:

My current job is as a Customer Support Specialist. I carry a pager because I have to handle all of the support for several major airlines for XYZ’s software. In my job, I interview customers, troubleshoot and debug issues, determine customer requirements for new enhancements, and more.

As you can see, I used my resume to help tell my story. I needed to have my interviewer envision the next chapter of my career, which was her open position. In finished my story by saying:

In my mind, every job I have held has led me to this interview and this opportunity. Over the past 20+ years, I have been getting advanced degrees to improve my own communication and understanding of business. I have held position that have focused helping customers better understand, use, and learn software. My focus has been to make things easier for people. This particular opportunity is about making things easier for customers, which excited me.

I received a job offer three days later.

Tip #5: Clean Up Your Social Media Presence

Most recruiters and hiring managers search your social media for any red flags. You must watch your behavior on social media, as it can prevent you from getting your first opportunity. Plus, you might be asked about something you have said or done on social media.

Here are some things you can do to improve your social media presence before your interview:

1. Clean Up Your Existing Presence. Clean up your social presence by using Social Sweepster, which is an app that detects pictures of beer bottles and other “suspicious” objects. It sweeps for profanity in your past posts. You just need to clean it up based upon its sweep.
2. Establish a Professional Presence. You should develop a professional presence online. Create a LinkedIn profile, join groups, ask questions, make comments, and so on. Interviewers want to hire people, who share their interests.
3. Post Interesting Pictures on Design. Most people enjoy looking at pictures. You can quickly develop an Instagram and Pinterest following by posting interest pictures on design and usability. Some designers use Pinterest as a design pattern library or vision boards.
4. Contribute to Popular Sites. Many design sites want writers to contribute their perspective. These blog posts help you to establish an online presence, which you can showcase in your interview. These sites want to hear from newbies and professional writers, too.

Your online presence can help or hurt you in an interview. Clean it up, and then use it to your advantage.

Conclusions

Preparation determines success.

Planning your interview will help you when you meet the interviewer(s). You can develop strategies for telling your story, using your resume and portfolio as interviewing props, and talking about the company based upon your research.

In my mind, the most important planning tip is to be able to effectively tell your story. You want the interviewer(s) to envision you in the open position. In addition, I think the timing of your interview is critical because your interviewers are busy people, too.

What tips and tricks do you use when you are planning your interview?

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