Hiring a UX Designer is a difficult task, especially if you’ve never worked in the UX world before. Best practices are being established and changed every day, there’s the constant introduction of new devices and habits, and the industry is riddled with confusion around qualifications, titles, roles, and experience needed to perform the job.
Before you hire a UX Designer to join your team, make sure that you understand these common hiring challenges and learn how to find a UX Designer whose skills match your open role.
Lack of Preparation
Too often, companies will jump right into the process of hiring a UX Designer with little to no preparation. They will Google a UX job description, post the job on their company job board and think they’re ready to interview candidates. Using this approach will almost guarantee failure.
If you don’t understand what skills and experience you need from a UX Designer, then it will be impossible to find the right professional for the job. UX design is a big field with various titles and certifications that includes designers with very different experiences and backgrounds.
Start by doing your research on the position, compensation ranges for talented UX Designers, and interview best practices. Next, you need to think through the onboarding process, who the new hire will report to, and expectations.
For example, what design challenges are you going to use to test their skill set and how will they be measured? Will they perform this challenge at home or in person? Will you leave the completion time open ended or give them a deadline?
If you’re prepared for what to expect during and after the hiring process, then you can focus on hiring the best candidate for the position, and not worry about what questions to ask.
Hiring Only for Specific Skillsets
Not only do UX Designers have different backgrounds, but there are also many areas of focus within the UX field. Interaction Design, Visual Design, User Research, Prototyping, Typography, etc, are all different roles you may encounter while searching for UX talent. This long list of specialties can be intimidating, but you shouldn’t stress yourself out by spending too much time searching for only one particular skill.
For example, when the iPhone first came out, everyone was looking for designers with iOS experience. However, the technology was so new that no one had extensive experience with iOS. Companies were looking for designers with a skill set that didn’t exist.
Instead, you should create criteria of skills and characteristics of your ideal candidate. Then, you’ll have a larger talent pool to work with and can easily identify whether or not the candidate possesses the traits you’re looking for.
In your initial phone screens, you can then focus on asking the candidates questions to test their critical thinking skills, for example, or time management abilities, instead of just looking to see if they have a particular skill listed on their resume.
Hiring a Junior UX Designer Instead of a Senior UX Designer
It can be difficult for companies to pay the high salaries that come with hiring top UX designers. One way companies think they can get around this is by hiring a more junior designer with less experience. While this can be a viable option, it’s not going to work for every company.
First, you need to evaluate how much UX experience your current team has and what would happen if a junior designer had a problem they couldn’t solve or have questions you couldn’t answer. If you’re not confident that you could come up with a solution, then you probably need to hire someone with more experience.
Another consideration is time. Does your team have the time to devote to training and mentoring a more junior UX designer? If the junior designer isn’t getting enough instruction or feels they’re not learning, they will likely look for jobs elsewhere.
Typically, junior UX designers start out at agencies where they build up their resume and experience before moving onto companies in other industries. Make sure you evaluate your company and do your research before hiring a junior UX designer. You might think you’re saving money, but the costs of turnover and lack of productivity will cost ever more.
Not Offering a Competitive Salary and Benefits
It’s no secret that UX Design jobs are highly competitive and that companies will aggressively sell their opportunities to top candidates. This high demand and low supply of talent give top UX professionals the upper hand.
However, there are still ways you can attract top talent to your company, even if you’re not able to always pay the highest salary.
One of the best things you can do is communicate to the candidate why your opportunity is unique and how they can make a direct impact on the company. Top candidates and Millennial talent aren’t just interested in money. They want career growth, learning opportunities, and work-life balance, and if your company can provide these things that you will have an advantage over the competition.
Navigating the UX world can be very difficult and making the wrong hire can have lasting negative effects on your business. If you need more assistance with hiring a UX Designer, reach out to Creative Compass at 844.900.8787.
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