UX Intern Interview Tips from an Up-and-coming UX Designer
Hi! I am a graduate student in HCI/d at Indiana University. Since December, I started to apply for UX/Produce design Intern for Summer 2019. I submitted more than 50 applications but only received several interviews invitations. Fortunately, I got an offer from these several interviews. Here are some tips I concluded according to my preparation experience, my friends’ experience and some online sources. Just to keep this article as a record for my future job searching and possibly help others who are in similar situations as me.
1. Speak more and speak to the points.
Don’t assume recruiters know what you are studying, what kind of classes you have taken, what background you come from. Imagine you are the recruiter. If there is a stranger in front of you, what do you want to know about this person for you to hire her/him? The information you provided should be related to your interests and the job description. Don’t be afraid of spending more time introducing yourself. Only if you speak to the point, the recruiter won’t feel it’s too long.
2. Prepare examples to support your points
I myself created a table of possible behavioural questions and examples I can use to support my points. Sometimes one example can be used for multiple questions. For example, one example I prepared about one teamwork projects. There are multiple aspects of this project story include how I collaborated with other teammates, what kind of research and design methods we used and how I overcame the obstacles. Therefore, I can take it as an example to answer what’s your role in a team?, tell me about a time when you set a goal and work towards it and tell me about an experience when you overcome a challenge.
3. Always ask before the interview
When I scheduled an interview time with the recruiter or designer, I always ask one more question at the end of the email like is there anything I can prepare beforehand? Some companies told me brief information like we wanted to know more about you and your works. The other companies provided specific details. There was one company told me that they would ask me to give some recommendations to their website there would be a scenario to ask me to walk through. This way, the preparations would have a focus.
4. Prepare a slide if necessary
Sometimes, when you walk through your portfolio without sharing the screen, you are not sure where the recruiters would look at, which would make the messages that you want to convey unclear. In order to make them on the same page while you are explaining, I would recommend preparing a slide with brief visual-aids and key points so that recruiters can better follow your mind. If you are not asked to walk through your portfolio, slides can also be a good add-on to present your thoughts. From my experience, when I prepared the recommendations for a company’s website, I thought of six minor suggestions. When I tried to explain them during preparation, I was not sure if people could understand what I imagined in my mind without seeing it. Therefore, I made some simple mock-ups and put them together in a slide. Five mins before the video interview, I sent the slides through email so that recruiters could skim it before I explained. I received positive feedback right after my presentation and I think the slides helped me a lot to convey my messages efficiently.
5. Practice a lot
Preparing interview can be a long and struggling process. I often start it at least one week beforehand, writing down all the possible questions (I collected from Google, YouTube, or Glassdoor) in my doc and practicing a lot. Sometimes, I practiced it in front of a mirror. The other times, I even did this when I was showering or during the commute. Speaking in different environments can help you become more familiar with the content and reduce the chance of the brain suddenly going blank during the interview. Through practice, I write down some key points on a paper for the most frequent questions like tell me about yourself, why do you interested in this internship and what do you know about the company. So that during the interview, I could take a glance at it and make sure I cover the key points even if I feel nervous.
6. Accept your anxiety
It is unavoidable to be anxious for a while before the interview. I think what we could do is to accept the anxiety. Your anxiety cannot define who you are. It is important to learn to be at ease with it. Usually, when the interview begins and when you start talking, you will find it more relaxed. Also, it is important to understand that an interview is a two-way communication to see if you and this company match in different aspects. A failure doesn’t mean you are not competent. It’s probably just because the company doesn’t fit for you very well. I’m not saying that you don’t need to reflect on yourself but I found out thinking in this way made an interview less stressful for me.
Thanks for reading! Hope this can be helpful & Good luck : )
If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to contact me at weiymeng@iu.edu
More about my work at www.weiyi-meng.com
