A guide to preparing and conducting a product designer job interview

A lot of times, product designers who need to interview new members for their team do not pay much attention to the importance of preparing and conducting the design interview well. Let’s see some tips about this topic

As I started to be more involved in the selection of product designers for the team I worked for, I noticed something interesting. When I was a candidate for a job, I was interviewed many times. However, as a product designer that interviewed designers I never took the time to ask myself, did I conduct the interview well, did I get the feedback I wanted from the candidate?

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At that point, I began to build a process for interviewing job seekers based on the articles I read on the topic, my experience as a job seeker, and my experiences as an interviewee.

The article is geared more towards those who are interviewing job seekers, but I would imagine that there are some benefits for those looking for jobs as well. In addition, this guide can help you if you are preparing an interview for a UI designer, UX designer, UX researcher, or visual designer.

I will divide the article into 3 parts, Preparing the interview, during the interview, and after the interview. I hope it will help you to understand the topic.

Be an empathic person

I would like to touch on one main aspect which is very essential for conducting an effective interview. This topic deals with soft skills that, from my perspective, are crucial to being a good interviewer.

When we converse with a candidate for a position we must remember that the person that we speak with can come to the interview with weight on the back. I am not talking about the obvious fact that being in an interview is not a comfortable situation. I am talking about the fact that the person we interview might be facing a tough situation, such as someone who needs the job because of his financial well-being or maybe a person who lacks confidence because they are junior or perhaps fired from their last job.