THE Ultimate Guide to Getting a Product Design Job at Kalibrr Design 🌟
We’re building a center of product excellence in Kalibrr. To achieve that, we need a new wave of talented product designers who will lead the charge in crafting beautiful, relevant, and delightful software for jobseekers and recruiters.
Do you want to be a part of that?
I interviewed Kalibrr designers, engineers and product managers to see what they look for in potential designer hires.
Here are 16 tips that can help you get ready. 😊
1. Prepare your story. 📖
What’s your design journey? We want to know how you became a designer. We also want to understand how much you care about design.
2. Critique the products you use. 📲
Be critical. Why do you like these products? How can you improve them? What problem is it solving?
3. Go back to your design process. 🤔
Evaluate your process. Tell us how you solve problems. Walk us through how you think.
4. Have your design case studies ready. 🤓
For fresh graduates or people transitioning to a UX career, it doesn’t have to be a real project. However, let us see your creativity. Review and curate your past work.
5. Be yourself! 😺
Don’t be too rehearsed. Sometimes, it may come out as insincere. Help us trust you. Get a good night’s sleep and relax.
6. Practice your portfolio presentation. 🗣
Practice. Show us what problem you’re solving and how you reach a solution through design. Articulate your projects through a well-structured story.
7. Reflect on your past experiences. 🧠
Sell us on what you achieved and the things you have learned. Let us know how you can provide unique value to the team.
8. Ask questions after the interview. 🤩
The quality and quantity of questions you ask reflects your passion. Having no questions shows us you’re not interested in being part of the team.
9. Start cultivating a passion for the problem space. 🧐
Think of the problem in your spare time and try to test things out by yourself. We like candidates who put time and effort in some way to reflect on the jobseeker and recruiter problems.
10. Demonstrate a strong understanding of UX. 😎
We don’t want to hand hold somebody about UX concepts. Know difference between UI and UX. If you’re focused more on the solution and don’t care about what the user really feels, that’s a bad sign. Candidates that pass generally show strong empathy for the user and their problems.
11. Have a good aesthetic. 🤨
Brush up on your UI design skills. It’s a baseline for Product Designers at Kalibrr to understand what it takes to design beautiful yet usable interfaces.
12. Show your ability to collaborate. 👋🏻
We don’t just want somebody who is a yes-taker. Nor someone who has a big ego. We need someone who can see how they fit within the team and know how they can maximize their ability to collaborate.
You will have to work with Product Managers or Software Engineers who do not have a sophisticated understanding of what UX is or what being user-centric means. Likewise, we want someone who can innovate the process to make sure Be the champion for the user. Or maybe, it’s user-centric but process of understanding is not that strong.
13. See how your work fits the bigger scheme of things 👀
Yes, you may be working on designs at the application flow and interface level. However, a deeper understanding of how your design fits into the puzzle of the entire organization is important as well. Design can lead discussions of value for all departments.
14. Understand responsive web design. 💻
Software engineers in Kalibrr love designers who understand designing for web and mobile constraints. Study up on HTML and CSS plus responsive design.
15. Develop a shared vocabulary with software engineers. 🚀
Studying basic HTML and CSS will already work wonders for your work as a designer at Kalibrr. This means you can articulate design decisions better and understand feasibility of your designs.
16. Learn about pattern libraries and design systems. 🕹
At Kalibrr, we maintain our own design system. That means we don’t have to change up UI designs every time and focus on problem solving. Understanding how to use one is key to getting hired.
Ready to try?
We’re hiring for lots of Product Designers this 2019. We’re waiting for you!
