What landing competing offers as a Junior UX/UI designer taught me
After 4 months of interviewing for full-time Junior UX/UI designer positions and having to adapt the the varying interview processes companies have to assess a candidate, I found myself in a position of choosing between 2 great offers to begin my UX/UI career with. I was humbled, grateful, and in disbelief I was actually choosing and not begging lol.
I wanted to talk about my experience and advice I would give to other Juniors casting a wide net of applications hoping to have 1 bite.
Before I graduated college, I began applying for full-time jobs about 3–4 months prior and did different interviews that would end up ghosting or low balling me. From the interview questions I would answer (“Is a hot dog a sandwich?) and different design challenges (designing a Jira-like dashboard for a grass cutting company) I was getting a lot of practice in answering the same type of behavioral, team collaborating, and work style questions to at least past the HR screening. And that was the silver lining I got out of all the interviews I did. If I really cared about the company I was interviewing for then it would definitely sting for a day or 2 if I received a rejection letter, but for the most part, I didn’t take it personal. The company clearly was looking for something else in a candidate and it simply is okay if that quality or trait isn’t in me or my work experience.
The proof is in the Portfolio
I had a design manager tell me he read everything in my portfolio prior to our first meeting so he wouldn’t be asking me to present anything and would just be asking behind the scenes questions of the processes I wrote out. This took me back because this rarely happens! I am used to hearing portfolios get a 30–40 second scan before the person making a decision makes a distinct first impression on a candidate. During all my interview processes (except 1 I can distinguish), no one asked about my Bachelor’s degree. This is still funny and ironic to me now as a self-taught designer. I mean, I was marketed to believe my Bachelor’s would be very meaningful and transferrable as I interviewed for jobs, but it was probably a bare minimum as knowing the Microsoft suite of tools is.
Receiving 2 offer letters
I had been interviewing for a company for 3 weeks and spent a total of 5 hours getting to know the team and vice versa and I received an offer! I felt excited and proud of myself as I went through my first whiteboard challenge as part of the interview process and felt like I could definitely see myself part of their very sharp and well oiled design team.
I then ended up getting an offer from another company I spent half the time interviewing for, but it was an impactful product combining my degree, product design interests, and a diversified background of teammates that would nurture my self-taught design background well.
It was a hard decision and I narrowed it down from my personal Pros/Cons list that had what I wanted in a UX/UI role. This list was also narrowed down to the specifics of what both companies had to offer.
I took this opportunity to negotiate!! It was insanely scary, intimidating, and was the first time I had ever done it. I didn’t know how to approach this delicate conversation, so I went straight to a mentor and I learned a lot about the right things to say, how to say it, and what to expect.
Have confidence!
It can be easy to feel discouraged and not ready to apply for a junior role. I totally felt that and was going to stick through another internship to feel more equipped to come into the full-time role more prepared. What going through these interview processes taught me was:
- It is about how you carry yourself in these face to face interviews
- How you can tell the story of your problem solving
A company is out there that is willing to take a chance based on your demonstrated confidence carried out through how you answer behavioral questions, take on ambiguous design challenges, and walk through your problem-solving process with a passion project.
Passing different checkpoints in the hiring process should definitely be a green flag that you are giving right answers and a company can see you excelling on the team!
Best of luck in your search & trust the process ;)
