Who I really look for

In my last post, I wrote on the importance of hiring and keeping great designers. It’s not exactly rocket science. The question is, what is ‘sh!t hot’?

The question ‘What are you looking for?’ often pops up during interviews. Another way to frame this - ‘What’s the definition of an exceptional designer?’.

Until recently, I would ramble on the obvious: ownership of end to end experience, good communication skills, craft etc. Often it was running down the list of soft and hard skills, categorised by the level of designer.

When I reflected more on this I realised this wasn’t always the case - it wasn’t a game of bingo on the designer capability matrix. Sure, these skills are important - but not always the deciding factor.

What I really look for

So, let’s assume the baseline are the hard (e.g. UX methodologies, practice, interaction design, customer journeys, research etc.) and soft skills (e.g. communication, leadership, ownership of problem etc.). This is my minimal requirement but often not the deciding factor.

So what do I really look for?

• Do they add to the culture?

  I can’t imagine a worse scenario than hiring a group of designers that mirror who I am as a designer and a personality. The phrase ‘variety is the spice of life’ rings true in a design team. A team that has diverse perspectives and complementary skill sets will trump a team that conforms. After all, we’re in the business of being creative.

• Do they ask the right questions?

  Early in my UX career, I had a manager that told me ‘If you don’t ask the right questions, you can’t find the right answers’. This has stuck with me even today.

  How curious you are and how you address this curiosity will drive your assumptions, your validation methods and the relentless pursue of ‘why’ and ‘how can we/I do better?’.

  Being curious broadens the scope of your work beyond the brief. You care enough to look in the weeds as well as view the work more broadly. As an example - you might ask what micro-interaction will create a better nudge as well as how the outcome will feed into a broader OKR?

  Of course, you also need to have the courage to ask the questions and to find the right person (or customer) to ask in the first place! Sometimes, this 'person’ is yourself. What am I aspiring to? How am I feeling.

• Do they lack a sense of entitlement?

  There’s a difference being a sh!t hot designer and believing you are one.

  Someone who is entitled means they always feel the need to be right. They work to win, not to learn. They pass on problems and blame others because they can admit no wrong. They believe things should come easily to them. They don’t ask for help.

  If the trait great UX designer is the ability to admit they don’t know everything but will work to validate assumptions starting with what’s riskiest - then there’s little room for entitlement.

  Oh, and don’t confuse being humble with confidence, as well as knowing your worth.

• Someone who gives a sh!t

  As humans, we’re pretty good at sniffing out someone who doesn’t care about their work, peers, stakeholders or even how to improve themselves. The drive within a designer differentiates whether they’re exceptional.

  If you don’t give a sh!t, how will you:

  • Speak up when something is wrong?

  • Reflect and find ways to improve?

  • Seek and give feedback?

  • Expect others to care?

So there it is, my summary of what I ultimately look for when hiring designers. I’d love to know what other hiring managers look for.

Thanks for reading and happy hiring!