02 Mar The UX of Hiring UX in 2020
It’s amazing to me that nearing 2020, 25 years into the maturation of the industry and I see UX job postings and hear of hiring processes that are so out of touch with the actual skillsets that make a great designer that Don Norman would be rolling over in his grave — Yes, I know he isn’t dead, but proper user testing was required.
The problem with UX is that it isn’t as clearly defined as most other jobs. There is certainly a lot of ambiguity of what we do on the day to day, and the path that some take to get there. However, “Rocket surgeon” is still not a descriptor that should ever be used to describe someone with a collaborative mentality and ability to execute designs based on carefully constructed research and strategy.
If you want that perfect match, there are some things you’ll need to understand from both the employer side, and that of the UX practitioner.
Employers
1) Don’t Sell, Relate.
We all want to have the best talent occupy the open reqs we have. That’s nothing new, but I’m proposing you take your interviews as a chance to hone your listening skills, and to not oversell your company or open positions as something it isn’t. That’s just good hiring practice. It will result in finding the right personalities to solve your unique needs and will most certainly cause less turnover.
Sure, free snacks and ping-pong tables are cool and all, but if I hired an employee on their eating prowess and table tennis skills, I am missing the point.
2) Understand UNICORNS AREN’T REAL
All too often employers will spin their wheels attempting to find themselves a unicorn rather than assemble a crack team of collaboration artists, or taking it upon themselves to develop potential. The best creative managers are ones that can identify talent with conversation and pinpoint what is great and what may need improvement.
This is the job of a manager, not a recruiter. Exactly 1% (or less) of people can excel at all of the things generally required of a UX design practitioner.
Focus on the potential and groom competency.
3) DO NOT give spec work in the interview process or ever.
It’s 2020 y’all. Stop. Just stop it. A quick design challenge is fine, a whiteboarding session to see thought under pressure and collaboration and critique habits… a 3 day project for your brand is never ok.
Employees
1) Be honest with yourself, first
As a UXer you have the benefit of being a practitioner of a relatively young discipline. There are new grads and extremely talented craftspeople that are training up and joining every day, and those with experience oft get weeded out because if their lack of resolve.
I’m not encouraging comparing yourself to others with more talent or experience, but if you aren’t ready to spend a lot of time being wrong, messing up, re-thinking work, and never being finished, UX may not be for you.
The good side is there is always something new to learn, but you better take those opportunities or risk becoming irrelevant.
2) Have a dedicated focus
Having interviewed for positions and interviewed prospective designers, a lot of prospects can try and breach the elusive front door of the UX club by latching on as being a generalist. This is dangerous as it can lead to be difficult to explain what you do well and what you hope to do, but mostly it’s hard to gauge what you can offer the team.
3) Have more experiences, not experience
In our field there is a lot of talk about “empathy”. What this means for someone trying to get into UX is a bit difficult to explain, but it’s a bit easier to understand if you don’t limit yourself to just a day job. Go out, explore different cultures, observe service jobs and ask people about the frustrations they face on a daily basis. A large percentage of the time you’ll find that technology and processes lead to frustration — not to mention other people — but UX can only fix so much.
With an understanding of how things work in the world, Designers are better equipped to draw from personal experiences rather than just research data, and that is always a stronger link to creating empathy in the world. “I designed this because i interpreted it from data.” Is far less compelling than, “When I was standing in line, I observed this happening repeatedly, and asked why they were frustrated with their POS system.”
While hiring in the field of UX might be a daunting task, hopefully these simple rules will help you in your search for the right candidate, or job.