Job changes, even if it is something you initiated, are one of the top three stressful life events. This can be even more stressful if you weren’t the one who decided you wanted to switch jobs — whether that be from a move, a toxic work environment, or a lay-off. Regardless of how many times you’ve done it, job interviews are difficult and anxiety-inducing.

I’ve had many instances in my career where I have chosen to take a job interview because I needed a change. I was secure in my role, but wanted to explore other opportunities. Even in this situation, I found job interviews challenging.

And then there was the time that I interviewed at over 70 companies before I was able to get my first user research job.

And then finally, there was the time when I got laid-off from a role I absolutely cherished and was forced into the job interview process.

That said, I’ve interviewed over 100 times. Some of those interviews I knew I completely failed at before the interview even finished. Some of them I thought I nailed, but then got rejected. And others I thought I sucked at, but I moved on to the next stage. For a while, it honestly felt like a toss up. I had no idea what to expect and how to prepare.

Luckily, I then moved to the other side of job interviews. I interviewed hundreds of user research candidates at various companies and started to learn the most valuable lesson I could — what my audience wanted.

Becoming a hiring manager gave me so much empathy and deep understanding of what employers are looking for during the job interview process. With those experiences, I have learned a few tricks along the way to help me feel more confident and increase my chances of getting to the next step. And I want to share those with you today.

What are the General Stages of UXR Interviews?

Way back when, an interview was an interview, but now, there are many stages in the user research job process. Although not every company operates the same way, this is the general and typical journey I’ve found within the UXR job process:

• HR/recruitment call (30-45 minutes). The standard get-to-know-you call. In this call, recruiters are looking to understand your general level, skills, and competence for the role
• 1-on-1 deep-dive interview (60-90 minutes). During the deep-dive interview, you will be presenting one to three case studies to either one person or multiple people.
• Panel interview (60 minutes). You are presenting (usually the same) case studies to a broader audience. Sometimes the team members may be from different teams, such as product managers, designers, or developers.
• Whiteboard challenge (45-60 minutes). Companies use the whiteboard challenge to assess how you respond to a problem - either having to do with that company or completely random. This challenge can be live or take-home.
• 1-on-1 interview with another team member or manager (30-60 minutes). This call is mostly about culture fit to ensure you would work well in the company environment
• Final HR/recruitment call (30 minutes). This step can come in a few different ways, such as a general wrap-up to see how everything went, an offer, or a rejection call.

HR/Recruitment Call - What to Talk About

During this call, explain the different projects you have been working on at a high level. You can mention you do both generative and evaluative research, work collaboratively, and your role in most of your projects (ex: are you leading them, working with other researchers, in an agency set-up?).

Have specific examples to explain these points. For example, if you mention that you recently did a generative project, talk about the method you used and its impact.

1-on-1 Deep-Dive Interview - What to Talk About

The most important piece of advice I can give for the deep-dive is to explain your process. Go step-by-step through what you did and why you did it that way. In this step, we want to see how you approached a problem and why you approached it in that way so we can project how you might address a problem at our organization.