Resources

A collection of ideas, tips, and helpful tools to make hiring great designers a little easier and a lot more effective.

Interview methods high-performing product design teams use to evaluate designers

When I built my first team as a Product Design Manager, I hired 36 designers in 10 months. My interview process was simple for all levels and disciplines: a quick 15-minute screening call, and if that went well, a one-hour in-person portfolio review.

AI portfolios and the future of hiring designers

I recently interviewed a designer who used AI to create a prototype for her portfolio. On the surface, that was fine, AI can be a powerful tool for designers. But when I asked why she made a specific design decision (the placement of

How to run a whiteboard activity to reveal a designer’s true potential

Whiteboard activities have become a staple in design interviews especially for UX and product designers. Done well, they give you a window into how a candidate thinks, collaborates, and approaches problems. But here’s the catch: done poorly, whiteboard activities can feel intimidating, biased,

The one question you should always ask a designer during a screening call

Screening calls may seem old-fashioned in an age of AI recruiting tools, but they’re still one of the most valuable steps in the hiring process. Why? Because in less than 30 minutes, you can figure out if a candidate is worth moving forward

Want better design candidates? Start with a better job description

Hiring a great designer starts long before the first interview. It starts with your job description. Too often, job postings for UX, product design, design research, and UX engineering roles read like a laundry list of tools and buzzwords. The result? You don’t

The secret to conducting great design interviews

When we think about job interviews, especially in competitive fields like product design, the focus often falls on rigorous evaluations, tricky whiteboard exercises, or clever questions meant to test a candidate’s abilities under pressure. Here is the real secret. The most successful interviews

Interview methods high-performing product design teams use to evaluate designers

When I built my first team as a Product Design Manager, I hired 36 designers in 10 months. My interview process was simple for all levels and disciplines: a quick 15-minute screening call, and if that went well, a one-hour in-person portfolio review.

Why designing your resume like a product gets better results

Your resume is the first design project a hiring manager will see. I’ve reviewed thousands of resumes over the past 10 years, and it still surprises me how many designers don’t apply UX principles to their own careers. In this scenario, the hiring

Interview methods high-performing product design teams use to evaluate designers

When I built my first team as a Product Design Manager, I hired 36 designers in 10 months. My interview process was simple for all levels and disciplines: a quick 15-minute screening call, and if that went well, a one-hour in-person portfolio review.

Why designing your resume like a product gets better results

Your resume is the first design project a hiring manager will see. I’ve reviewed thousands of resumes over the past 10 years, and it still surprises me how many designers don’t apply UX principles to their own careers. In this scenario, the hiring

AI portfolios and the future of hiring designers

I recently interviewed a designer who used AI to create a prototype for her portfolio. On the surface, that was fine, AI can be a powerful tool for designers. But when I asked why she made a specific design decision (the placement of

How to run a whiteboard activity to reveal a designer’s true potential

Whiteboard activities have become a staple in design interviews especially for UX and product designers. Done well, they give you a window into how a candidate thinks, collaborates, and approaches problems. But here’s the catch: done poorly, whiteboard activities can feel intimidating, biased,

The one question you should always ask a designer during a screening call

Screening calls may seem old-fashioned in an age of AI recruiting tools, but they’re still one of the most valuable steps in the hiring process. Why? Because in less than 30 minutes, you can figure out if a candidate is worth moving forward

Want better design candidates? Start with a better job description

Hiring a great designer starts long before the first interview. It starts with your job description. Too often, job postings for UX, product design, design research, and UX engineering roles read like a laundry list of tools and buzzwords. The result? You don’t

The secret to conducting great design interviews

When we think about job interviews, especially in competitive fields like product design, the focus often falls on rigorous evaluations, tricky whiteboard exercises, or clever questions meant to test a candidate’s abilities under pressure. Here is the real secret. The most successful interviews