How to Hire UX Designers: What Works and What Doesn't

One day, every product company realizes they need to hire a designer. But then comes the question: how do you hire a UX designer? User experience is becoming a priority for more and more companies, so demand for UX designers is growing. And besides competition being much tougher, professionals' expectations are not what they were 5 years ago.

How Do You Know If Your Team Needs a UX Designer?

The first question to ask yourself before moving forward is: should you hire a UX designer or someone else?

The thing is, there are so many design-related professions that employers easily confuse one with another. To make sure we're on the same page, UX designers work with the product to make it simple and pleasant to use. They work closely with the rest of the product team at all stages of product design: from research to developing user flows, creating structure, wireframes, prototypes, and testing them.

A UI designer works with the visual side of the interface. If you want someone to change illustrations, typography, and animations on your site or UI to make it more trendy, you might need a UI designer. And if you need a so-called "jack of all trades" who can help with both UI and UX, look for a UI/UX designer.
Product designers oversee the product at all stages of design and development. They generally have more responsibilities. Product designers track the product throughout all stages, and their work doesn't end after launch.
Interaction designers are close to UX designers but have a narrower scope of responsibilities: they focus only on the moments of user interaction with the product.

Now that you're sure you need to hire a user experience designer, let's move to the list of skills they should possess.

What Skills Should You Look For?

Here is a basic but not exhaustive list of both hard and soft skills a UX designer needs:

Familiarity with UX design tools such as user flows, user journey maps, wireframes, etc.;
Proficiency in software: graphic editors (Figma, Sketch, Adobe products), prototyping tools (Invision, Framer), animation programs (optional);
Knowledge of UX research methods and tools such as usability testing and Google Analytics;
Understanding of design thinking methodology;
Knowledge of basic psychological principles and their application in UX design;
Understanding the importance of design metrics.

So, we've discussed what skills a UX designer needs, and we'll move on to how much it costs to hire a UX designer.

How Much Does It Cost to Hire a UX Designer?

A mid-level UX designer in Russia will cost you about 6 million rubles per year. But both the hourly rate and the expected salary depend on many factors, such as experience level, location, form of cooperation, etc. If you want the full picture, plus some tips on how to find a designer without breaking the bank, our special article is waiting for you.

Now we're finally ready to discuss all the intricacies of the hiring process and how you can assess a UX designer's skills, so let's do that.

Hiring a UX Designer: A Step-by-Step Guide with Pros and Cons

So, let's say a few portfolios have caught your attention. How do you determine who is the best fit for your company?

Evaluate the UX Designer's Portfolio

A portfolio is the first and perhaps most important thing to look at when searching for a designer.

A strong portfolio demonstrates the skills and experience of seasoned UX designers, as well as their approach to problem-solving. Look for a variety of projects showing the designer's ability to work with different types of products and in different industries. Pay attention to the usability, functionality, and visual design of the projects in the portfolio.

Recommendations:

Pay attention to structure and presentation

Design is about structure and visual presentation. If a designer sends you a couple of screenshots thrown together on Google Drive instead of sharing their portfolio, they're probably not a good fit.

Be very detail-oriented

Sometimes at first glance a project looks good, but on closer inspection it has plenty of flaws.

Perfectionism, attention to detail, and diligence are especially important for UX designers who must create pixel-perfect results.

Look at the designer's thought process and problem-solving skills

Ask yourself if the candidate knows the technical constraints of UI/UX design.

Are their examples realistic? If you're hiring for a junior position, obviously this can be taught. However, for a more senior role, a good UX designer should have a clear understanding of whether their design will work at all.

What Not to Do

Prioritizing aesthetic appeal over functionality
For a UX designer, problem-solving, logical and analytical thinking are more important than trendy visual effects.

If you've reviewed the candidate's portfolio and are interested in moving forward, the next step is to conduct an interview.

Conducting the Interview

In some ways, the interview process with a UX designer is similar to interviewing any other professional. During the interview, you want to get a sense of the candidate's communication skills, problem-solving approach, and ability to work in a team.

Do This

Focus on soft skills.
According to our specialist, during the interview you should check the candidate's soft skills, which depend on their skill level. For a junior designer, these skills are:

Responsibility
Attention to detail
Communication skills
Proactive attitude (accountability).

To determine if a candidate has these skills, consider the STAR model:

Situation: Describe the situation and when it occurred.
Task: Explain what the task was and what the goal was.
Action: Detail the actions you took to achieve the goal.
Result: Conclude with the outcome of your actions.

To check responsibility, you could ask:

Can you tell us about a time when you missed a deadline?
What was the task?
What was your role? Did you work alone or in a team?
How do you assess the results? What would you have done differently?

Another example:

Have you ever dealt with an irresponsible colleague?
What was the situation?
How did you handle it?
What did you learn from it?

Evaluate the candidate's thought process:

Some specific UX designer interview questions include:

Can you walk us through your design process?
How do you approach user research?
How do you handle conflicting stakeholder feedback?
Can you give an example of a complex design problem you solved?
Make sure the candidate responds well to feedback.

You can ask about their experience with criticism, but there is another way to verify this.

Make Sure the Candidate Is Genuinely Interested in Working as a Designer

This is a very important point that can be decisive—especially for entry-level candidates.

Trust Your Gut

Sometimes intuition immediately tells you whether a person will fit the company or not. Of course, you should give them a chance. But if you feel they won't be a good team player or won't fit the company culture, listen to your inner voice. A candidate who is not a good fit not only won't perform the job well but can also disrupt the workflow, taking colleagues and the whole process down with them.

Weaknesses

Prioritizing exclusively technical skills over soft skills.

For better or worse, the days of the stereotypical socially awkward IT professional who only cares about coding and hardware are long gone.

A UX designer working on a project must be able to communicate with colleagues and clients. Otherwise, the designer will:

Need an intermediary between them and the client, affecting accuracy, speed, and budget;
Be unable to ask a colleague for help or participate in meetings and/or calls;
Be unable to work on a project requiring two or more designers.

All of this will inevitably affect the quality of their work.

Finally, if you feel the candidate is a good fit so far, you can ask them to complete a test assignment.

Test Assignment

A test assignment is an excellent way to assess a candidate's skills using a real scenario. The task should be tailored to your product or service and aim to test the candidate's problem-solving ability. Here are some points to keep in mind when creating a test assignment:

The task should be realistic and relevant to the role.
Give clear instructions and set a deadline.
Provide feedback to the candidate and give them the opportunity to discuss their approach to solving the task.

Don't Forget This

Make sure the candidate did what was asked

The accuracy with which a designer completes the test assignment speaks to their attention to detail, diligence, and analytical thinking. You don't want to work with someone who can't correctly process a brief.

Compare the portfolio with the test assignment

"A designer may spend a year on their portfolio to make sure everything is perfect. Or, in the worst case, even copy someone else's work. Make sure the portfolio and test assignment are at least broadly consistent in skill level. Very often, they truly don't match."

Although some mistakes can be attributed to nerves and tight deadlines, if the test assignment is significantly lower in quality than the portfolio, the candidate is unlikely to deliver consistently high results.

Unacceptable Mistakes

Underestimating the form of submission

Did the candidate send you a link to a Figma file or a PDF on Google Drive?

Figma files allow interaction with the content and also let you check the edit history. If the candidate chose a PDF, there's a chance they did the work poorly or even plagiarized.

Final Thoughts

Depending on the company size, industry, and project complexity, UX designer requirements and job responsibilities can vary. To avoid misunderstandings, it is essential to clearly define what is expected from the candidate and what their job description will be.

If you're not sure you want to hire and onboard an in-house designer, consider hiring an agency.