5 ways to keep your UX interview skills fresh
As a UX Designer who is currently in the middle of a job search, the application process is super daunting and has a lot of moving pieces. However, between writing up your cover letters, finding new job postings, and setting up coffee chats, that only takes up a few hours of the day. While I have navigated on figuring out my day-to-day schedule, I realized that there are a lot you can do to keep your design skills sharp and prepare for the hard and soft skills based components of the job interview.
Here are 5 things that I have been working to schedule each week:
1. Sign up for UX workshops and panels
The pandemic has created a lot of opportunities for the design community to connect online. Using event sites like Meetup and EventBrite have many options to keep your UX skills fresh, whether that’s a writing workshop with Bite Size UX, a portfolio workshop with the UX Come Up, or “A Day in the Life of a UX Designer” by General Assembly, there is so much to choose from.
2. Whiteboard/design challenges with friends
I’m sure you’ve read a ton about the whiteboard challenge or the take home challenges as part of designer interviews. Instead of scrambling to prepare for these types of exercises, I decided to make this practice a weekly online event with my fellow GA graduates. Create a standing calendar event with one of your design friends and find a whiteboard challenge or take home challenge to give each other. This is a chance to keep your design thinking skills fresh through the job search.
3. UX side projects
During my bootcamp, there was always a project that kept me occupied, allowing me to hone my UX skills along the way. I kept that momentum going by assessing my own network and finding a UX project that I can work on during the job search. You can set your own deadline to have this new project up on your portfolio to show future employers that you’re keeping busy during your search.
4. Portfolio critiques with seasoned designers
The portfolio is constantly a work in progress. I set mine up to meet a deadline at the end of my bootcamp, but I know that there’s always room to improve. Take this time to meet with designers in your network to review your case studies and give you feedback. Then, take that feedback and dedicate some time in the week to edit accordingly. Your skills will grow as you improve as a designer, and having a constant mechanism to update your portfolio will help you so much in the long run.
5. Practice interview questions with friends
We all know about the dreaded job interview not matter what field you are in. If you’re like me, you’re also scrambling to practice the basic questions e.g. “so tell me about yourself!” The night before. However, just as design just takes iteration and practice, interviewing is a skill too! Figure out who in your network could use some interview practice, and set a recurring 15-minute weekly calendar invite where you both take turns asking each other common interview questions, and give feedback to each other on how to improve. This will help build confidence in those talking points for when you eventually land those interviews.
These tips alone have helped to fill my Monday-Friday schedule with plenty of things to do during business hours which help with my job search. Let’s avoid the last minute scramble and do a little bit each week!
Are you a recent bootcamp graduate? What have you been up to? Is there anything that I missed? I would love to keep the conversation going in the comments!
Thanks for stopping by 🤠. Feel free to reach out and connect! You can find me on LinkedIn or check out my work on my website.
