What it is like to be an Experience Design Research Co-op at Wayfair
2020 was a tumultuous year — for me, it brought along a tremendous opportunity. I completed a 6-month co-op as a User Experience (UX) researcher with Wayfair’s Experience Design (XD) organization on the Wayfair Professional team (serving B2B customers such as contractors and interior designers).
How did I end up pursuing an internship?
Early on in my graduate program, I realized that I wanted to use my research acumen to solve real-world problems. This brought me to pursue UX as a career. During graduate school, I aspired to pursue an internship to complement my academic experience. I came across this wonderful opportunity at Wayfair through LinkedIn, and immediately applied.
The interview process
The initial phone screen
I spoke with a senior researcher (who was to be my manager) on the User Experience Research (UXR) team. At first, I was very nervous, but she made me feel comfortable throughout the process. We began with a round of introductions, and she walked me through her role and also the work culture at Wayfair. Hearing her talk passionately about her work and Wayfair as a workplace, my interest in the role was piqued! She asked me questions that spanned my research and technical abilities as well as my soft skills. All the nerves that I experienced at the beginning of the interview dissipated because the interview seemed to flow more like a conversation.
The panel interview
After the phone screen, I was invited to take part in a 90-minute long panel interview. Because this process coincided with the onset of lockdown measures, the process took place virtually. The panel segment consisted of a portfolio review for 45 minutes with the UXR team manager, followed by a 30 minute behavioral interview with a content strategist. The portfolio review assessed my research toolkit and past experience. I presented a motley of past work including one project from graduate school, and a website redesign endeavor that I had instituted for my previous employer.
The business case interview
After the panel interview, I was invited to complete a business case interview with three members of the UXR team. This interview focused on my analytical and critical thinking skills wherein I was given various (highly probable) work scenarios to solve. This session helped me gauge the environment that I would possibly be working in over the latter half of the year. Of all the three interviews, I enjoyed this one the most because it helped me learn a lot about the position, and also about the team culture.
Soon after, I had an offer from the team! The entire interview process took about 6 weeks.
What I did
I was not sure what to expect; given the circumstances of work-from-home, the co-op program was going to be fully remote. Soon, I went through a series of thorough onboarding processes that helped me become familiar with the various facets of the organization. I realized that as a UXR co-op, I would be part of multiple teams within the organization that went beyond my immediate stakeholder groups. Though overwhelming at first, I capitalized on this great opportunity to build connections and network beyond the people I would work with closely.
During my time as an XD co-op, I completed three UXR projects using a variety of research methods, and provided research support to multiple adjacent projects.
A snapshot of what my day looked like:
- Attend: Participate in meetings to understand aspects of the business beyond XD, scope studies, de-brief about studies
- Present: my work to my product and experience design partners
- Work: Plan, conduct, analyze and synthesize my research
- Peer review: Various opportunities to engage in peer-review with allied teams
- Extracurricular: Gave a lightning talk on design biases in products we use, and also participated in an XD collective to further goals for more accessible and inclusive design at Wayfair
- Professional development: I had access to a variety of ad-hoc training through the Learn@work program. I learned new skills (Added SQL to my skill set!)
- Social: Organized as well as participated in various fun virtual non-work social events, coffee chats
What I gained out of this co-op
My motivation to pursue a co-op in design was to be able to expand my technical research skill sets beyond the academic setting. I observed several parallels between academic and industry research, but was also challenged to adapt to the fast-paced rhythm of research in XD. While I used methodological skills such as designing surveys and conducting interviews from my academic background, I also expanded my domain knowledge to implement design research methods such as card sorts, usability tests and shop-alongs. My co-op provided me a platform to apply my academic research skills, while also helping me cultivate new skills in a product design environment.
What I loved most about my experience is the sense of agency I felt when working on my projects, while being an integral part of the design and product community. I was encouraged to take the lead on my projects, yet received critical feedback from my peers, manager and even leadership at every stage of the process. I was a thought partner and a collaborator for my peers. My usual stage fright vanished, as I interacted with and presented to large groups of fellow Wayfarians. Even as a co-op I felt like I have a voice, and that my voice matters!
I highly recommend becoming a co-op with Wayfair XD if you are interested in UX. My co-op has been a wonderful learning experience, and the team is highly innovative, dynamic, warm and welcoming. From this co-op, I take away a boatload of knowledge and meaningful connections.
