A very common mistake I see when designers are interviewing is that they focus on one of the stages of an interview but not another. That often will prevent them from getting enough interviews that make it to onsite or block them from offers.
It’s important to understand each stage so to know exactly where you’re getting stuck.
Stage 0 - Win over the computer, get your resume seen
How do I get this in front of a human? Cater your resume/LinkedIn Cold emails/inMails, etc. Introduction through a friend at a company
Stage 1 - Win over the recruiter
Recruiters know very little about the real job Good profile photo, background photo a plus Look experienced or opinionated What you’re looking for in your next role Your list of things you’ve Easy to convey and remember Matches company vision, needs, JD requirements
Stage 2 - Win over the hiring manager
Recruiter gives a filtered set of candidates for Hiring manager to review Hiring manager is comparing each of these candidates to one another in the set Hiring managers compare candidates in sets to one another Like Section 1, need ways to stand out Exercise: Look at other LinkedIn profiles for similar roles or for people at that company Exercise: Look over 1-2 similar job postings and make sure you share the same language Initial hiring manager phone screen Why you’re such a great person to work with What you’re looking for in your next role and how that matches perfectly with what the company needs and wants It should feel like a natural progression that this next role is a logical next chapter Watch a lot of interviews and podcasts Search executives or leaders names on Listen Notes or YouTube Search the hiring manager’s name or interviewer
Stage 3 - Exercise
Tareq to provide examples
Stage 4 - Screener product intuition interview
Stage 5 - Onsite
Portfolio/walkthrough a product you launched
