I received the gift of feedback from product designers at tech giants
10 insights to make 2020s recruiting season a win for you.
This summer, I decided to grow a thick skin and receive the gift of feedback. I got my portfolio reviewed by product designers in the tech industry, using UX Coffee Hours and ADPList. Here are the secret insights, from designers at Google, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft, that helped my case studies stand out, and hopefully will help you too. Shhh. Don’t tell anyone.
Tip 1: Make sure your case studies focus on the role you’re applying for. OBV right? Not really.
More often than not, when applying for UX design roles, junior designers including myself showcase too much research. If your case study goes into a lot of research, you’re more likely to create loop holes before reaching the design section. You are applying for a design role, so show research that helps the reader understand your design, not create confusion and click-off. Cofolios.com is great for seeing examples of case studies that made it.
Tip 2: Use the STAR Method to cross-check your case study and to prepare for behavioral interview questions.
Situation > Task > Action > Result. While writing your case study, make sure you address what situation you were in: team members, time, type of project; the task at hand: what problem you were solving; the action you took to solve the problem, and what the result of your solution was. Recruiters and hiring managers are looking to check these boxes. This is also helpful for answering interview questions starting with, “Walk me through a time when...” or “describe an instance of how you handled…”
Tip 3: Create a hook. Show the solution before the process.
After you explain the problem your team was dealing with, give a glimpse of the solution before you start with the process. Think of it like biting into a burger without knowing what it’ll taste like. Going straight ahead with your process without showing your solution does not give the recruiter any incentive to read through your work. Providing an engaging solution and impact and then adding a heading like- ‘Here’s How I Got there’ before you start talking about process, will help you stand out.
Tip 4: Measure your solution. Highlight your Impact.
Highlighting the impact you made in the beginning of a case study can help you stand out instantly. Even if you’re showing a project that wasn’t launched, there are alternative ways to showcasing your impact. If you’re working on a personal project, you can test it on your target audience and measure your solution. You can also publish your case study on UX Design blogs. Impact could also be in the form of testimonials that the company’s team members said about you. Doing this instantly adds value to your portfolio.
Tip 5: Use anchors to guide recruiters through your case study.
If you are applying for different roles under product design, and your case study is heavy in research, design, and testing, you can create anchors that lead the recruiter to certain sections of your case study that they’re interested in. For example: If they’re interested in user testing, they can click on the user-testing anchor and skip through everything before that. This helps save their time. They get what they want, and you get what you want. It’s a win-win. To learn more about anchors you can use Wix’s anchor tool or Webflow’s sticky tool.
Tip 6: Add Freelance Projects instead of UI Design challenges.
UI Design challenges are good to show your graphic design skills, but companies want to see how you identified problem and found a solution. While freelancing, not only are your design choices solving problems faced by real life users, but you’re also building your clientele. More importantly, conversing with clients form really good anecdotes for interviews. Often an interviewer will ask you questions like the challenges you faced while communicating with PMs and developers. UI Design challenges don’t give you the experience to answer such questions, but freelancing does.
Tip 7: Use Personal Projects to help your portfolio stand out.
If you don’t have internship experience, here’s how you can make your personal projects stand out.
- Find solutions to current problems faced in the world. Instead of solving for any problem that exists in the world like redesigning the MTA system, solve for problems happening in the world right now. For instance: Currently, the pandemic has made people loose jobs, and work from home. Can your personal project help people who are laid-off find jobs easily? or help increase productivity while working from home?
- Ask for industry professionals to review your personal project. We’ve all read or done case studies that redesign a feature or experience of existing big companies. Instead of leaving it there, show your project to a designer at that company. For instance, if my project tries to improve Uber’s ride feature on their app, I can reach out to Uber designers on linkedIn, and share my project with them. Most times, they are willing to check it out and mentor you. This helps add value to your case study and might even open a new opportunity.
Tip 8: Use ‘I’ while writing case studies.
Recruiters want to see YOUR ROLE and how YOU work in a team. For example: If you collaborated with your team to prototype an MVP. Instead of saying, ‘We worked on prototyping the final MVP,’ you can say: ‘I worked with the senior designer and developer to prototype the MVP.’ ‘I was responsible for designing the primary navigation for the home screen.’ If you can make a recruiter’s job easier by specifying what you did, do it.
Tip 9: Tell a story. Not a novel.
Hiring managers care about how you solved the problem, not each and every thing you did in the process. Tell a story instead of listing your 50 page process. Save that for the interview.
Tip 10: Design intentionally.
It’s not only about what you think. It’s about what your users think. While writing your case study, make sure to address why you made a certain design decision. Tell recruiters that you’re making design decisions based on your user’s needs and not based on what you think is right. For example: ‘Our research insights said that users come to our app to find what they want not to browse around. So we prioritized the search feature.’ This shows companies that you understood what your users wanted and you acted upon it.
Lastly, thank you to all the amazing mentors for the insightful feedback. I would like to extend my gratitude to Ben Roach, Christopher Grose, Rahul Jain, Josh Cusick, Susse Sonderby, and Piyush Arora.
Now that my secret is out and that you have a badass portfolio. It’s time to land your dream internship. Good luck!
Let’s Chat!
Email: nityakumar@newschool.edu. LinkedIn: Nitya Kumar
