Navigating UX Design Interviews in Tech Companies

Understanding the interview process is essential for product and UX designers to succeed in big tech and startups.

### Navigating the Interview Process for UX and Product Design Roles
* 🗣 "The interview process is crucial, often requiring you to **discuss your past experiences** to assess your **job performance potential**."
* 💼 In big tech, the roles of product designers and UX designers differ, with product designers being more **generalists involved in various aspects of design**, while UX designers focus on **strategy and execution**.
* 📊 Typically, big tech companies prefer hiring **specialized UX designers**, although product designers can still be considered for certain positions.
* 🤝 When interviewing with general tech companies, it's important to **establish rapport with recruiters**, who share the mutual interest of **helping you get hired**.
* ⏳ Candidates should prepare concise responses about their backgrounds, ideally keeping them **under five minutes** to maintain the interview's flow.
* 📑 The on-site interview usually begins with a **portfolio review**, followed by a design exercise, where candidates must **engage and ask clarifying questions**.
* 📝 Interviewers will cover various topics, including **design leadership** and **problem-solving**, and candidates should prepare stories that align with their experience.
* 🔄 Lastly, remember that interviews assess both **skills and personality fit**, so practice self-presentation to convey your **readiness to collaborate effectively with the team**.

hi. I'm May. I recently changed my job and joined Google as a senior UX designer. For this video, I will talk about the basic interview process, the difference between big tech, general tech, and startups, so you will be prepared to handle all types of companies' interviews. I will also share some tips and tricks for you to stand out. Changing jobs is really hard, especially for product designers or UX/UI designers, so once you understand the interview process, it's easier to prepare all the materials that you will need. I'll start with big tech, which are established technology companies such as FAANG. I interviewed with Google, Meta, and LinkedIn, and briefly got all the offers. There are minor differences between big tech interviews, but generally, there are five steps: recruiter call, initial interview, on-site interview, team matching, and offer. You can take a screenshot if you're interested in this three companies' minor differences. I'll also link the official guidelines from some of the big tech. Let's dive into the first step. The recruiter call is very straightforward. It's always 30 minutes. Quick reminder here: treat your

recruiter with respect. Greet them by asking how they're doing today and thank them for their time. Your recruiter has mutual interest with you, which is getting you hired. Recruiters will help as much as they can within the company's policies. I'm always being asked at least these two questions: Can you tell me about your background? What are you looking for for your next move? I have heard some stories that recruiters ask salary expectations. It's not a normal practice for the initial call, so I would say, Let's discuss that after the interviews, so that you can save the time to talk about more important topics. When you answer the first question, I have many mentees who can talk for 50 minutes about their background. It's way too long. Please shorten that within five minutes. You can see a template here. Let me give you a fake example. Pretend I was working at a tech startup. I'm my son. I'm currently working as a product design need. So, technology for five years. My primary focus is to bring delightful mobile experiences for high school.

students to learn advanced math, and our mobile platform Mau has grown 50% since last year. Before that, I was a product designer working at Growth Education for two years. I also spent five years designing for a variety of startups. We can dive into that if you're interested. For the second question, the answer can be templated. Everyone has their own goal in pursuing their career, and recruiters know that what they're really asking is why you want to join their company. I would recommend an honest answer that's aligned with your own goal/slashing interest. Don't say, I think your company is great, the best technology company out there. This answer is not wrong, but you're not bringing valuable insights into why you want to join the company, why you're interested in it. Is it because you want to change the industry, to get closer to your personal interest, or you thrive in complexity? The company has more appealing problems for you to solve, or you want to help general public users to address their daily pain points. I'm just throwing a couple of examples to get you started to think about your

motivation after the initial Q&A. Recruiters will give you a quick walkthrough of what the interview process is like for the company. By the end, you can ask a couple of questions, such as the timeline, any resources recruiters can share with you to better prepare your next interview. Now let's dive into the Second Step: portfolio review and app critiques. Most big tech will start your interviews with a portfolio review. Quick note here: put your case study in a presentation instead of showing your website. You don't want to lose an opportunity but lack of preparation. Some of the companies have app critique right after the portfolio review, so you will be asked to choose a popular mobile app that you and the interviewer both use, then dive into the product itself. After the second step, you will hear back from your recruiter whether or not you're invited to an on-site interview. I call this on-site interview an interview marathon. You need to bring the best version of yourself during this day. Breakfast is very necessary. Have plenty of water by you because you will talk the whole day.

for the on-site interview, you will start with a portfolio review, again very likely with a different interviewer or a group of interviewers. The recommended number for case studies is two to three, given the time constraints. A whiteboard session normally follows right after, AKA design exercise, in which you will be prompted with the scenario or a problem. I want to remind you that this session is interactive. You need to ask questions to clarify if your understanding aligns with what the interviewer is looking for. Also, ask clarifying questions along the way. Don't be shy to ask for a hint if you're stuck. It shows the quality of you can proactively unblock yourself. Then you will have four to five one-on-one or two-on-ones with different interviewers who are likely to be user experience designers or other UXRs. Each interviewer has a specific topic that they focus on, so all the questions are not repeated. The topics can be design leadership, collaboration, product thinking, problem-solving, and design execution. Preparing your stories before the

interview would be crucial. Lots of questions are asking you to dive into your past working experiences based on your behavior to better judge how well you can perform on the job. So, that's a general walkthrough of the interview process. If you are interested in big Tech UX design roles, a quick note about the difference between a product designer versus UX designer is that product designer is a more generalist role. The responsibility includes research, strategy, usability, interface design, and user flow design. User experience designers' responsibility is more specialized. You're more focused on creating strategy, workflows, and execution. Big Tech normally hires experts such as UX designers since there are researchers and interface designers in place. This is not a rule of thumb that big tech only hires UX designers instead of product designers, but now you wouldn't be confused about what they are when you see those job titles. The interview process is normally the same. Now, I want to touch point on the difference between big Tech interview versus General Tech interview and startups. General tech companies are the ones that need to digitalize their

existing business for their users, such as investment banks or insurance companies. The hand count is sponsored by a specific team, so you wouldn't have a team matching process. Another difference is that your interviewers will not only be designers but also stakeholders, such as engineers and product managers. Startups normally can have a faster interview process, and you will have the opportunity to talk with the CEO directly if the team is relatively small. Startup headcounts are limited, so they want to have candidates that are not afraid of getting their hands dirty and eager to try everything, including animations or marketing. Throughout the interview process, I was following up actively with all my recruiters and getting the latest updates, so don't be afraid to reach out and ask for the results if you haven't heard back after three days. A general interview tip is that a company is not only hiring for skills but also personalities. Each of your interviewers is thinking about whether or not they can work with you daily, so when you prepare your interviews, you might want to record yourself and play

back. That's the quickest way I find to raise self-awareness during interviews. If you have questions or insights about the interview process, leave me a comment and let's share knowledge together.

The UX/Product Design Interview Process Explained (2023) - how I landed multiple FAANG offers

May Sun Design

Navigating the Recruiter and Interview Process

Building a positive relationship with your recruiter is important, as they have a mutual interest in getting you hired.

Keep your background story concise, aiming for a five-minute summary, and save salary discussions for after the interviews.

During the on-site interview, focus on two to three case studies during the portfolio review, participate actively in the whiteboard session, and expect one-on-one or two-on-one interviews with different interviewers, each focusing on specific topics.

Navigating the Job Interview Process in Tech

May, a senior UX designer at Google, shares her career journey and insights on the interview process for tech companies.

She emphasizes the importance of aligning personal goals with the company's mission when answering why you want to join.

The interview process for big tech companies like Google, Meta, and LinkedIn typically involves five steps: recruiter call, initial interview, on-site interview, team matching, and offer.

Recruiters provide a walkthrough of the interview process, including a portfolio review and app critique.

The on-site interview is intense, with a focus on bringing your best self and staying hydrated.

Startups offer a faster interview process and direct access to the CEO, while also looking for candidates willing to take on various roles.

Navigating the Interview Process for Tech UX Design Roles

Self-awareness is key during interviews, with a focus on past working experiences to assess job performance.

The main difference between product designers and UX designers lies in their roles, with product designers being more generalist and UX designers specializing in strategy and execution.

Big Tech companies often hire UX designers, but the interview process is generally similar across tech companies and startups.