UX Interviews: Take-Home Design Assignments (and How to Deal with Them)
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- Опубліковано 24 чер 2021
- In this quick video, I'll cover one of the most requested topics recently - dealing with the take-home assignments in the UX interview process. While at the surface it seems like a simple request from the potential employers, where are a few things a designer or UX researcher needs to consider before committing to it. There's also an alternative and much more rightful option that can deliver greater value for both parties. I'll also cover how the take-home assignments if done at all should reflect actual UX responsibilities and why at the current state most of these efforts are pure UI exercise.
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How do you feel about take-home assignments in UX?
Still better than on-site assignmens, that's scary AF
I prefer on-site assignments. cause there I can have a better understanding with the team I am applying to work with. all the weird, insulting comments would be the signals of you are going to work with unpleasant people.
@@peligraso I agree on toxicity, but that's not what I thought. I meant that it's scarier because you have less time and it feels like more pressure than take-home assignments. Feeling the vibe of the place you can kind of also find if the company has the work culture pressented somewhere online, and you should get a taste of it when you meet team leads interviewing you. But that's just me, I am scared of on-site because I always apply to higher positions than where I am atm
Actual free freelancing....
Is it red flag if companies ask me to share previous companies wireframe, flows/ research. I would rather show a demo project of the whole design thinking process and give 1 or 2 advice on their current product.
I really wish designers of all levels would push back against these assignments. They hurt those who already have a full-time job or are parents and don't have unlimited time. I have 8 years of visual design experience and still get stupid take-home assignments. My last freelance job asked me to provide examples of the design style they were looking for, and I was able to go through my previous work and pick out samples that would fit their needs. It saved us both time. If the hiring company is asking for these assignments on top of a portfolio, it just tells me that they must not know how to properly evaluate a design portfolio.
That last sentence 👌
The issue I have is that he doesn't even fix the issue of recruiting good employees, it's going back to school and just restitute the info like an idiot. At the end it doesn't help you to get better talented employees. The ones that make the difference don't reply to assignment
This is one of the most useful channels for design on youtube. Thanks man for sharing all of this!
Glad it's useful. Thanks!
I'm looking for my first UX internship (specifically in UX research) while working on my master's dissertation simultaneously. I've so far gotten callbacks from 3 potential employers who said they loved my portfolio and then handed me assignments with deadlines ranging from 2 days to 5 days. Being a full-time student working on my own research, it's downright impossible for me to do these assignments, but that's not even the point. If you love my work so much, why not get on videocall with me and I'll be happy to explain my previous case studies to you! I really don't understand this practice.
First ever interview for a UX role, spent about 4-5 hours doing research on the company and their industry, reviewed my work, was properly prepared. The interviewer hasn’t even gone through my CV or at least write a few billet points about me I could tell from his questions. Manage to return all the curve ball questions during a one hour call. At the end I’m told I will receive an email about a challenge I need to do , deadline one week. The requirements are to do a swot analysis of their competitors, build wireframes on features I think they’re lacking, user flows and present my case on how how this will improve their product. Absolute pisstake! Turned it down without second thought even though I’m fresh off in this field and have a family to feed.
Exactly - they tried to sweat out REAL work from you and you did the right thing walking way. This is an example of how these tests damage and disrespect the role. If the test is related to the business in ANY way....challenge it or RUN lol.
Hold on, is this just an example or did you really get a take-home exercise for a Head of Design position? Personally, I think take-home assignments should be stricken from any hiring process. We are already asked to provide experience, and a portfolio, so what are they really trying to learn? Have there been so many candidates who have lied? Finding a job is already exhausting, anxiety-inducing, stressful, and feels like a full-time job already.
Your email reply is fantastic, and I'd love to see the whiteboard exercise.
Hey - yes these are actual examples from a few years ago I could dig up and remember being asked to do. I did do some that I truly wanted to though that were reasonable asks though (less than a couple of hours of work). It's not about lies though, I attribute hiring managers wanting this to insecurities and inexperience - a good hiring manager can tell capability from the portfolio alone.
Came to this video out of frustration from the past 3 candidates our company has hired; they all had great portfolios, but once put on client projects, it was clear that the portfolios most likely included work from other designers on the project since the candidate's skills did not match up, it's hard to find good people, unfortunately, not sure if this is a route to go, or what we can do best to vet candidates.
Not what I was expecting to watch but extremely interesting response. Well-thought out and fair as well! Thank you!
I agree though about not doing free work. A take-home assignment I was given was to redesign the site homepage of the company I was applying for... flag.
I did it anyway just cuz I'm starting out in the UX field and it was my first interview so my only loss is time. Mainly wanted to get experience on the interview process as a whole.
Totally agree! The only time I'll allow a take-home at my current level (Senior) is when the exploration is paid at my hourly rate. Most good companies have offered this from jump without me proposing it, and the test is a few hours at late stages. Doing them for free in the initial stages will likely be a waste of time - and there are horror stories about people not hiring you but implementing your solutions.
Appreciated your work and thanks for giving me the opportunity👍
Cool, you're completely right! Thanks for sharing your valuable suggestions.
This is very impressive, and I like the way you presented it. I won't do anyTake-Home Design Assignments @ home from now. thanks for the great advice,
Good stuff and you come dangerously close to knocking that drink off your desk!
oh my, I literally just got given a take home assignment, yet to watch the video but I think it'll help!
We have the same issue as content writers with unpaid articles. I still get asked to do them, even with 5 years of experience. It is so insulting.
So good. As always it depends on context but this are really useful tips to be aware of. I like this series of advise on the hiring process.👌🏻👌🏻
Some companies establish this take-home task recruiting process only to see the candidate's commitment to the position/company they're applying to; the outcome of the task, as long as it's within acceptable norms, sometimes, is completely irrelevant and often not even representative of future projects. Regardless, my answers are exactly like yours: past performance does not guarantee future performance as there are so many other variables (learning/onboarding curve, team, tech used, user base, industry type) and thus it is much more productive and relevant to have a real-time workshop exercise to demonstrate the thinking processes. You are 100% correct in your approach and assessment.
Can’t agree more! Well said. 👏
Thank you for make this video, very helpful. it would be nice if you make a another video about the whiteboard challenge interview
how would you do it if you're trying to expand this app/product/service to a wider range of people who might not understand it, like not being a specific target user. thanks, you are amazing!
Couldn't agree more!
UX interview these days be like - Make brand guidelines, marketing assets, redesign our entire website, redesign our entire app and we will reach out to you, maybe.
It is such a waste of time both for the candidate as well as for the recruiter.
yeah, I feel that.
not for the recruiter tho
"Design culture" India? I know bro🫂
That reply is class-act. It really shows that you understand what you want and unwilling to settle for anything else, the whole idea of a senior role requiring such assignment probably highlights a lack of UX maturity in that organization and you dodged a bullet by not giving in.
Hi, Vaexperice I have a question, where do I start? I have been given a task by the company which I applied for, I had to design a Mothers day poster, do I start designing or do I research and then get some inspiration from it.
I'm late to this thread but... I'm a junior level designer with some freelance projects going, but have yet to have an in-house ux position. I have gotten a 24 hr take home test, which was stressful enough, but I'm about to have a 2 hr technical interview where part of it is me designing on the spot. I'm running a practice one with my mentor, but I'm very stressed about it. Does anyone have advice / their experience to share in this situation?
In my experience, I documented my case studies with my thought processes, screenshot pieces of evidence, and design processes in approaching a problem but never passed after 2nd interview.
On the other hand, one company gave me a design challenge for a senior product design role and I documented my step processes in Figjam and did a couple of video recordings of my thought processes while doing the design. It was a lot of work but I got hired at the end of the day. I put a note from my emails, Figjam, and video recordings of all my assumptions to let them aware the limitation of the design challenge and the company understands it.
I think what I am trying to say is, that I don't agree with the design challenge but at some point, that's one way for them to test and understand your thought processes in solving a specific problem.
did you think how it felt for all those other candidates who worked as hard as you for the assignment but didn't get hired?
@@gonzalordtm Yes, I have been there a dozen of times so I can empathise with them. It was tough especially as I have to travel on hot sunny day and packed with commuters in public transportation just to get to their office then take few hours of design challenge. At the end of the day, I did not get the job and I have to continue doing that every single time.
I can go on and on with my horrible past experience with taking design challenges mate.
@@ConstantinoCoChuaI'm a fresher and I have been applying for internship/Jr design roles lately. Most of the recruiters don't even reply me back after submitting the assignment. I tried reaching out to them but no responses. It is been like this for the past 3 job assignments. I is so frustrating 😔
I’ve found my worst positions asked for 2 hour interview assignments or take-home assignments. It’s a danger sign for me.
I have a take-home assignment I was just given for a dream company. I don't want to not do it and lose the chance, but to do the assignment, would require me to talk to their team, which I can't do at home. It's frustrating.
I also had a health tech company a few months ago that requires a FOUR-HOUR PROCTORED EXAMINATION. This was before I could even get on the call with the recruiter and a 30-minute personality assessment. I asked why I would need to take this exam. I was told everyone takes this, no matter their role. The company told me that even if the person is a UX Designer, a Software Engineer, a Marketing Intern, part of the Housekeeping staff, Graphic Designer...everyone has to take it. They want to feel that everyone is "on the same level," which honestly sounded very ableist and gross.
And the questions on the tests were legitimate math problems, word analogies, logic games, and also riddles.
Here is one example:
You are painting a house and realize you forgot something you need. You go to the hardware store. You find what you need. You tell the clerk, I need 600 of these. The clerk says that it will be $10 for each one. You say, 'Okay, I have $3'. What is the thing you need more of?
It was a fill-in-the-blank. I am pretty sure the answer is "more money." But still wondering what that has to do with how well I can perform the role.
I've had this before - applying to a Scandinavian company. The first step in the interview process was to do what can only be described scientific /mathematical problem solving test. I mean, what the hell has that got to do with UX/UI design?
Companies who do this are red flags. Not everyone is strictly logical, most designers have more of a creative mindset. And yes it's very ableist to force these kinds of exams on people. There are neurodivergent people like myself who have ADHD that struggle with test-focusing and others with learning disabilities like dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, etc. I wouldn't want to work for a company like that.
@@annanabil73 Totally agree! And it was a healthcare company too! I will never subject myself to any of those things again. Thankfully things got better on my job hunt since I interviewed with that company. I have had a few offers and a great role! And zero of them required any of this mess.
@@VisualWizard79 It was ridiculous! There were sections of advanced math, coding, etc. Now I'm not doing design work but UX Research. Even in my full-time UXR role, none of the designers I have met had to do any of this on the job.
Amen, good sir!
What do you think about whiteboard sessions as part of the interview? Edit: Nevermind, just got to the part of the video.
Thank you so much! Very helpful, as always!
I cant understand why this still happens especially for senior roles or any role. Im not sure what kind of outcome you would actually get sending someone a take home assignment and asking them to complete it in 4-6 hours. What insights would it tell a hiring manager or interviewer about a person? The design process is collaborative and iterative, doing something like this feels backwards. I spent about 2 weeks bringing together case studies of actual work that span several months with actual results, that should be more then enough. Or if your really keen on testing someones process maybe having a white boarding session, that way we respect each others time and experience.
I recently had the worst interview experience from a company that asked me to spend at-least 16 hours in a case study and have a final presentation for 6 hours that included one on one interviews with the whole team (lead UX, Senior UX, engineering director and PM ) They rejected me saying I could not answer if the feature is feasible or not. The engineering director wanted me to answer how I can make the feature feasible. Is that mean he needs me to also be technically sound for a senior product designer role? UX interviews are getting unfair day by day.
Wow that sounds nuts! But honestly they probably did you a favor if they expecting this much in an interview, imagine what working there would have been like.
I'm at the point where I mostly get overblown UI or LeetCode exams (wtf) that require a ton of hours/software and have no real UX principals. Comes off like the company has no idea what a UX designer does and really wants a visual designer with coding skills, but confused what the job title is. If it looks like it will take more than 3hrs and is in either of these categories, I give them my freelance hourly rate. Usually I'm ghosted after that point, or receive a nasty email from the hiring manager.
That's the problem with these small startup's they don't even know the right job role and this leads to not so proper management of their company/organization,
done it at 5:00 guess what hiring manager ignored my request
I adore you
I almost want to counter your point but I am glad I finished the whole video before I leave my comment. You are right this is dependent on the maturity of the industry as well as the region/country. Personally I am not a fan of take-home assignments, but having been on both sides of the table (candidate and hiring manager), here is what I think:
Take-home assignments is the most accurate way to assess a candidate's latest capability. Portfolio could be too old, and does not reflect the current skill of the candidate. And with most projects being team-based anyway, some designers could kind of bluff their way claiming credits for things they did not do. For example, I have worked with designers who lack attention to details, but thanks to a good design team they are in, other members cleaned up their mess and the final output in the portfolio is still amazing. We would not be able to verify their claim then.
I have met a lot of candidates who are great at communication but terrible at execution, as well as average communicator with great execution. Take-home assignment is perfect to identify false positives and allow us to find gems we would not have found otherwise.
Why don't you hire them for a week and see how good they are instead of making them work for free? If you don't do that, then you are looking for the most desperate employees and desperate employees don't tend to be the best because good employees tend to be employed.
@@paxaeterna3709 let's say we ignore all the complications related to HR policy and operational process, how do you think any good employed designers are fine with taking a week off from their job to work with you even if it is paid?
@@walterhii It's nice to be at the hiring end and not know what candidates go through to put together the take home assignment. Sleepless night, time that could be spent with their loved ones all for them to get a one line sentence that you found a better candidate. That is not fair, at least pay for their time.
Bit late to the party but for me, I'm against take home assignments unless it's something that can be completed in an hour or two or a specific context where it is 100% necessary.
In the past I've had potential employers wanting what can only be described as an entire project covering all aspects of the design process done for them...and even argue that their tasks take a "reasonable" amount of time. One I was sent would have taken anywhere from 2-5 full days of working, it's just not acceptable. I'll even go so far as to say I'm very suspicious of companies that ask you to work on real / live products or solve specific issues they currently have as a take home assignment. This is a red flag to me and I always decline to do those, they are essentially getting several design minds to work on their existing problems free of charge
designing it right, and designing things right :) what an ignorant, biased and patronising answer.
Time to look into UX standards and the double diamond
@@vaexperience so did you find their statement right?
Don't work for free. I feel it's sad that some companies use this tactic for free UX feedback and labor.
Do you think a police officer would work for 1 day for free on a Friday night from 12 AM to 7 AM? Well, let's see how you do tonight . Makes no sense. Don't do it, bad practice.