What I learned from interviews with 10+ companies for a UX research internship
What to expect during UX research interviews.
From October 2019 to May 2020, I embarked on a long journey of finding a UX research internship for summer 2020. Here is a quick glance at what this journey looks like:
rejected after pre-interview challenge/assessment
- Thumbtack
- Nutanix
- Chegg
rejected before 1st or 2nd round
- Quora
- Gusto
- Alibaba
rejected after the final round
- Lyft
- Splunk
- Red Hat
- Amazon
- Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield
offer received
- NetEase（网易）
- ByteDance （字节跳动）
It is a privilege to be able to interview with so many companies and learn from these experiences. In this article, I want to share my takeaways with you so you can bypass the hurdles I stumbled upon and shine at your next UX research interview! 😃
Four Main Types of Interview Questions
The type of questions asked during an interview for UX research does not differ too much from company to company. Some of the questions many come at different order or in different forms depending on the company, but the gist of it stays the same.
1. past projects walkthrough
“Walk me through a project you did” is, in my opinion, the most commonly asked question. It comes in different forms, however. It could be asked casually as a way for you to provide some examples of the skills you claimed — “can you describe a project where you used quantitative analysis?”. It could be thrown at you right after you introduce yourself — “ok, let’s hear about a recent project you did”, and this may take up the entire session. Or, it could be even more formally planned as a “portfolio presentation” that you likely would prepare with slides.
No matter which forms the question appears in, the key to answering this question remains the same: to tell a story with a clear purpose.
We are telling a story because we need to keep our audience (the interviewer) engaged and interested. In order to do that, we need to be engaged and interested ourselves in the first place, as the storyteller. So, when deciding on which project to talk about, ask yourself: do I really care about this project? Is this the one that I am most proud of and excited to talk about?
The second part of the key is “a clear purpose”. We are not just here to tell a great story, we are here to tell the story and show the interviewer that we are great for the position because of how we behaved in the story. Therefore, think about what specific skills or qualities you want to highlight and wherein the story you can highlight those things.
The art of telling a past project is shone through the subtle balance between owning the decisions you made and keeping an open mind for critique.
When the interviewer questions the details of your project, don’t become immediately deflated or start going along with the “suggestions” of the interviewer. You made the decisions at the time for a reason and you should own up to it when being challenged. On the other hand, projects can always be improved so there is no need to get defensive if the interviewer has truly spotted a weak point in the project — simply acknowledge it and explain how you would do it differently if given another chance.
2. research challenge
A research challenge is when the interviewer gives you a problem and asks you to come up with a research plan to solve it. Although sometimes the challenge is given beforehand and leads up to a presentation later, the more common situation is presenting the challenge on the spot during an interview. This can be very daunting — it is my most dreaded type of interview question! But it doesn’t have to be that scary.
When the interviewer asks the question on the spot, they might not have the perfect answer in mind either. Rather, they are more interested in how you approach a problem when it’s thrown at you: what questions would you ask? what assumptions do you make? what methods do you choose and why? what alternatives can you think of? what practical challenges have you considered and tried to address? The interviewer is evaluating all these things holistically through your reactions, so your goal shouldn’t be quickly producing a clear-cut perfect answer.
“It’s still scary and I get so nervous!”, you might say. Well, the best way to boost confidence is by mastering the technicality of choosing the appropriate research methods. My approach to these challenges is by “thinking backward” and consider what kind of output would I need to have in order to answer the question at hand. In this case, the output is usually data produced by my proposed research plan. I ask myself, is the data I need…
- generative or evaluative? Does the problem require me to uncover new needs, pain points, opportunities, etc, or does it require an evaluation of a product?
- qualitative or quantitative (or both)? Which kind of data makes more sense: stories or numbers?
- attitudinal or behavioral (or both)? Do I care about what users think or what they do at this point?
- contextual or not? How important is the context in which the use case happens, for this research study?
Thinking through these dimensions helps narrow down on the various research methods you could potentially employ. The graph from this NN Group article is worth keeping:
Still nervous? Think about it: these problems are likely what you would face on the job when you actually start a research position. Would you get nervous every time you receive a new project from the team? No! You are excited and pumped to show your research abilities, and you need time to think through the problem before delivering a research plan. So simply do the same at an interview: take your time and let it shine!
3. behavioral questions
Behavioral questions are common interview questions for any field, and there is no trick to answering those the right way except preparing your stories, examples, and talking points really well before the interview.
We all know that we are great team players, excellent collaborators, and skillful communicators, right? (hopefully 😄) The interviewer, however, needs to hear specific stories to come to that conclusion, and it’s our job to be ready to share those stories. The truth is that we don’t usually remember all the great experiences in the past because oblivion is simply human nature. Therefore, to avoid “I can’t think of an example off the top of my head…” situation, actually sit down and compile a list of stories that showcase:
- how you process an accomplishment
- how you learn from a failure
- how you deal with conflict
- how you perform under stress
- how you manage a tight timeline / fast-paced environment
- how you collaborate with stakeholders
- how you communicate disagreeing opinions to higher-ups
- how you prioritize competing demands
- how you lead a team
Don’t stress too much about “crafting the perfect story”, because your personality comes out as you tell someone about a true experience that has impacted you. If your working style matches the company culture, both the interviewer and you will be able to sense that. Take this portion of the interview as an opportunity to be authentic and be yourself (with professionalism, of course)!
4. questions about research technicalities or the company
This last type of question is the least common, but still nice to be fully prepared for. Questions about research technicalities are similar to textbook questions that examine your technical knowledge as a researcher. This article has some great examples:
Questions about the companies go without saying — even out of courtesy, we should always do research about the companies or teams we apply for. Be prepared to answer:
- what do you know about our company?
- what is your understanding of what we do at [company name]?
- do you have any thoughts around the user experience at [platform]?
- how would you propose a UX study related to [company name]?
Recruitment Etiquette
How to stay professional during a recruitment season is definitely something I learned from doing and making mistakes, here is my takeaways:
- Always confirm interview time with time zone information (e.g. 10 am PST instead of 10 am). Believe it or not, I had missed an interview because of the time difference.
- Send thank-you notes to the interviewer if you have the contact info.
- It’s okay to follow-up — sometimes recruiters are caught in between assignments — but don’t push.
- Treat every contact as a valuable network. Even if the interview didn’t lead to the next steps, we can still thank the recruiters and hiring managers for their time and consideration, and connect with them. I have had a recruiter refer me to another position at their company after turning me down for the one I initially applied.
If you have made it here, thanks so much and I hope it is helpful. Good luck with your next UX interview! 😃