If you have a great quality product or service, but don’t have a seamless UX to go along, you are getting nowhere with it. How do you fix it? You need to focus on building your UX in a way that funnels your customers right at the spot where you want. Seems simple, right? In a candidate short market, finding the right UX Designer and getting them on board is no child’s play.
Maybe every candidate has a fancy resume alongside an adequate degree and qualifications — but besides those, here’s what you need to look for in an ideal UX Designer.
1. Pay attention to how they explain themselves
Alongside other things, a UX designer translates the information they have into meaningful data easily understandable by the user.
If a UX designer is good at that, they must inherently also be good at answering questions effectively.
Ask them a simple question, possibly something like “How exactly do you do what you do?”. If their answer is all over the place, they may not be a great fit for the job. But if they follow a certain hierarchy, i.e., they explain the bigger picture first, then get into each nitty-gritty detail later on — it’s a great sign that they’re good at funneling the user and presenting them with information.
2. Understand their obsession
A dedicated UX designer is obsessed with paying attention to minor details, like folder naming, file sorting, and element spacing.
Check out their previous work, and if they’re good at organizing their work files, naming them accordingly, and have accurately spaced different UI elements — it’s a green flag.
3. Are they asking questions?
A good UX designer is eager to understand the product in detail before they start working.
If a candidate asks specific questions and repeatedly tries to understand your product in detail, it’s a massive green flag. On the other hand, if they just want the job and aren’t trying to get to know your thing, they’re not the ideal candidate.
4. The tools they use
Dedicated UX designers are eager to explore different tools and pieces of software for the work they do.
Ask them some questions about which tools they use and why. If they instantly jump into details and excitedly start explaining the pros and cons, you want to hire that person.
5. What are their hobbies?
UX designers are artists — and many of them have an artistic mind that loves to “make” things.
Ask them what are their typical hobbies when they aren’t working. If their answer showcases they have a mind that loves to make, they might be a good fit. Some examples of such hobbies could be photography, painting, cooking, DIY, and other similar stuff.
These are the top 5 things to focus on when interviewing a UX designer — besides the usual experience-and-certificates details and cultural fit, of course.