UX Hiring (process) should be a win-win! -Part 2
Now's that you have a great job description and recruiter on your side, its time to decide the actual interview process. In part 1, we saw some added benefits for the hiring manager but if you are a UX candidate - knowing a "super-tight job description" should make you happy for one, to know the exact job responsibilities and for two, you are dealing with hiring manager who knows what s/he is doing.
Part 2 is for everyone.
1. I created a brand new interview process. It was documented and published on shared drive including agendas. It was made available to the candidate every step of the way, so they knew what to expect next.
I called it "Transparent Hiring"
2. The multi-step process worked something like this:
Step 0: HR Screening: It happened for every candidate that I said "yes" on a resume. There was a google drive folder created with resumes that I filtered into two categories: Yes move forward with step 1 or No, not interested with my brief explanation. HR and my leads had access to those as they were helping me the process.
Step 1: 1/1 Interview: In-person, if the candidate was local. Google hangout, if out of state.
Step 2: At Home Exercise: should be completed in 3 business days but should take about 4 hrs to complete
Step 3: Group Interview with the team: Candidate will come out for 3 hrs or so to our corporate campus to do 30 min presentation on any UX topic of his/her liking; followed by several 30 min interviews including the entire team, management, product management etc.
All the notes and observations are stored on google drive for one single view on the candidate when the time comes to make a final decision.
3. Benefits: I can not start enlisting benefits of this (a bit prolonged!) process. It worked like a charm for me every-time.
I will list a few:
1. Gave me enough time to assess diff types of skills (communication, presentation, design, research etc) since all these parts test candidates different skill-set. It is very important for the successful UX career. One can not be a great designer just designing great web pages. You should be able to explain the rationale with the same vigor - you get the point.
2. Gave candidate enough time to assess the company, hiring manager and the team that they will be working with. They not only understood the job responsibilities but met everyone on the team ahead of time - no surprises later!
I always said hiring is a two-way street and candidate should know what they are getting into before making their final decision.
3. Involved my entire team in the process. Making them feel they are important to me as I make decisions for our department. They loved it.
4. Although I made the final call - gave me different perspective from the team member and Sr. management lens. I listened to the candidate, my team and my management as I made the call.
I was taunted that its a long and complicated process, but the ones who made fun of me before became my fans and adopted my process once they knew the kind of people I hired.
I hired more than 20 professionals over the course of 6-8 years, and I would say hiring the best people is the most satisfying thing you will do as a manager.
I was called the best "hiring gun" & I gladly accepted the title with a broad smile for years.
Author Bio: My name is Mandar Pathak and I run the website www.optimizeprodux.com and its associated blog. Optimize-ProdUX is my consulting adventure advising clients about better User Experience (UX) and Digital Strategy. The office is located in St. Louis, MO.
You can subscribe on this website or follow me on Twitter @optimizeprodux to get the latest updates. if you prefer email give me a shout at mandar@optimizeprodux.com
