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Interviews

Types of UX interviews and how you can prepare for them.

Overview

UX interviews are generally non-technical, but will instead test your design thinking, presentation, and persuasive speaking skills. There are three main types of interviews: the portfolio review, behavioral, and white-boarding interview. A full recruitment process can include all three types, and it’s best to practice all three so you can get comfortable with what each one requires. Because of the pandemic, many final on-site interviews that used to be in-person have gone fully virtual, which is important to consider when thinking of how to prepare.

When I get an interview invitation, should I schedule it to be as soon as possible, or give myself time to prepare?

If you feel thoroughly prepared, earlier is better. Especially if a company is known for giving offers on a rolling basis, it’s a good idea to get ahead in the process.

However, if you feel unprepared, most recruiters will be okay with dates within the two weeks after the invitation is sent. Your presentation will likely cover a lot and being rehearsed will make it a lot less intimidating.

Types of Interviews

Portfolio review

Present 2-3 projects from your portfolio live. This may be in front of one person or a panel of current employees that work in your role or other adjacent roles.

Focus on "telling your story" during this presentation, and keep it interesting—your audience will likely have to sit through many of these, so adding a little humor can go a long way. Also be ready to defend your decisions; you should know the exact whys behind your designs. We also recommend practicing explaining more complex topics, in case your interviewer is not in your exact role.

⁠

See tips for curating your portfolio for interviews.⁠

⁠

Common questions in portfolio reviews

How did you discover UX design / what drew you to pursue a career in UX?

How did you collaborate with other stakeholders for this project?

How did you incorporate user feedback into your final design? How are you measuring success? How are you accounting for accessibility?

Did you consider other solutions to this problem, and why was this the best possible approach?

If you had (more time / extra limitation / extra resource), what would you do differently?

Behavioral

Like most other behavioral questions for interviews, this section will allow you to talk about important lessons or themes that you learned through previous projects or experiences. Many companies also have specific published company values (ex.

Amazon Leadership Principles⁠

, “

Googleyness⁠

”), so study those if they exist and have examples ready to demonstrate that you’ve done your research.

⁠

⁠

Duolingo also features their “

operating principles⁠

” on their career page.

Common behavioral questions

Why do you want to work for [Company X]?

Tell me about a time you disagreed with (a teammate / client / manager) and how you resolved it. Was there a time you weren’t able to come to an agreement, and what happened then?

What do you look for in your ideal work environment?

What are your top strengths and weaknesses as a designer?

What traits do you think are most important to have when working in UX and why?

White-boarding

This is the closest thing to a coding interview for designers. You'll likely receive a prompt with limited time to solve the problem, usually half to a full hour. If done in person, interviewers should provide a whiteboard or paper to map out your ideas; virtually, you may use screen sharing or hold up your sketches to the camera.

Most of the time, the interviewer doesn't care if the final solution is "perfect" and is more interested in the process that you use to solve problems. Some important things to do during white-boarding is to show your thinking, talk through your ideas, and check in with your interviewer. In many cases, your interviewer is also a soundboard to bounce your ideas off of, and you should ask if they can help set limitations to the scope or provide “research findings” for the hypothetical situation.

This is probably the hardest type of UX interview to master, but there are lots of resources online to help you prepare. We’ve included links in the

Other resources⁠

section on this page with examples of how to structure your white-boarding.

⁠

Whiteboard challenge cheat sheet from

Sarah Tan⁠

⁠

Common white-boarding questions

Design a (solution / app / system) to solve [particular problem] for [this user base].

Why did you make this choice? What if [adds another factor]...

Questions you can ask the interviewer:

What demographic of users should this solution target?

Is there something I’m missing/should prioritize? How much time do I have left?

Can I assume we’ve done the necessary user research for this topic?

Other resources

⁠

5 steps to master whiteboard design challenge⁠

⁠

19 practice take-home challenges for UX designers⁠

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Whiteboard Design Challenge structure example⁠

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Compiled Questions for your Whiteboard Product Design Challenge⁠

⁠

Overview

When I get an interview invitation, should I schedule it to be as soon as possible, or give myself time to prepare?

Types of Interviews

Portfolio review

Common questions in portfolio reviews

Behavioral

Common behavioral questions

White-boarding

Common white-boarding questions

Other resources

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