#37 The Future of UX Design Hiring
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Hello friends and welcome back to the future of UX podcast. My name is Patricia Reiners. I'm a UX and innovation designer from Berlin, and I am your host for this podcast.

So this episode is especially exciting because we never really talk that much about this specific topic, which is hiring. Hiring for especially UX positions. And in this episode, we will take a closer look at how the hiring process for UX roles is changing in an era of AI. Okay, friends, but before I am diving into the topic, I just want to share something really quick.

I am working on a course at the moment for designers. It's about AI and how to use AI effectively in your workflows for your portfolios to add this AI skill to your skill set, which will be so beneficial for the future. So I'm working on that course at the moment and in case

That sounds interesting to you. Feel free to just sign up for the waiting list and then you will get notified as soon as the course will get live. It will only be live for a really short time frame, so in case you don't want to miss it, you can just sign up, you get notified and then you can decide if that's a thing for you.

Okay friends, super exciting. I would say let's dive right into the exciting topic. Especially in the era of AI, I think it's super important to talk about the hiring process. So how is the... Before we talk about AI, let's have a look at the current AI or the current UX hiring process. First of all,

We have a lot of remote work, a lot of remote positions, not only for dedicated jobs in a company, but also freelance positions because of the pandemic. We have a lot of specialization. Companies are looking for new skills all around the world and soft skills has become much, much more important because of all the possibilities to automate. So this is just some kind of like background information.

Then what's also really important, the usual or the typical UX hiring process looks like that. You apply with your portfolio. If that's great, you get an interview. If that's also working great, then you get some kind of like a UX task. These UX tasks could either be done at home, could be like develop a certain concept for something or create a wireframe or flow or what are edge cases for a certain scenario, write them down or highlight them.

or you are invited to a company where you do a whiteboard challenge. So where you do some kind of like let the people who are hiring through your thought process, more or less like that. But what I think is really interesting now when we have JudgeGPT, for example, meaning that everybody, especially when they're doing their task at home, will have a very similar solution. So this really results in

In a scenario where these kind of UX tests or these whiteboard challenges or these kind of skills or tests for your applicants are probably not the best way. It's not what you actually need to be successful in the workplace because the workplace where you are applying probably going to use ChatGPT anyway, right? So there's already some kind of like a change that we can see.

So overall, let's have a look at the impact of AI on UX design. I mean, we all know that I'm talking about that topic in basically every podcast. You see that on my Instagram, I think on a daily basis where I'm talking about new tools and how to use AI, JetGPT, all the Figma plugins, mid-journey, image creation tools, all these things, they are not just optional, right? And they're becoming more and more a necessity.

And this actually means for us that AI will become part of our portfolio so that we are showcasing our ability to work with AI tools. This is something that will really set us apart as designers. And that's not cheating. That's being efficient and innovative. And more and more companies and agencies and people are really understanding that. Second thing is continuous learning.

AI is evolving rapidly and I am realizing that I'm going through all the news every day and then sharing some insights on my socials or newsletter. And I think it's so interesting how important it is to really stay up to date. This is also not optional. This is also a must necessity. And the other thing that I find really interesting is that data driven design is becoming a super important thing.

AI can help you make more informed product because most of the times you don't need to analyze the data yourself you have an AI to do that for you and give you the insights especially if you're not like a data first person but a designer so what does that mean for us as designers if we really want to

stand out in the application process if we want to get ready, if we already know, okay, I might apply for your exposition, I want to switch companies in the next six months and next year. What does that actually mean for us? And I think that's a burning question. So what I think is a super important thing to understand that also there will be some kind of like a human AI

some kind of like symbiosis, you know, where the future really belongs to those who tandem with AI, not just as a tool, but as some kind of a co-worker and also someone who's communicating about it, be really open about it, right?

The same in portfolios. Unfortunately, I'm not seeing that at the moment that much, but really being open about what kind of tools will be used when in the design process, in your case studies, in the portfolio creation, integrating AI in these kinds of projects. Not only if it's an AI tool that you are designing, like an AI feature, for example, but also using AI tools is super important and will really make you stand out in the whole application process.

Same with hiring exercises.

And the focus is shifting from the what to the how and why you proceeded a solution, especially how you manage AI tools in the process. So what you can already practice, what will become very important is to really focus on the why, explaining why and also how you chose to integrate AI tools. You know, TechGPT is a great example.

framing what kind of prompts and what was your reason or what was your goal to use this kind of prompt for a certain problem. So before we wrap up, let's talk about some actionable tips for both your ex-professionals but also hiring managers. So for your ex-professionals, I would recommend you to be very transparent. So honesty is key. If you used AI tools, say so and explain how you used them.

We are beyond the point where AI tools will be seen as cheated. It's much more important to understand how you can use them and integrate them. Then really show your process that it's like a go-to solution for every case study. I'm preaching that for years.

Don't just really show the final product, explain how you got there, especially how you use AI to enhance your design. And then of course, adapt and learn. The AI landscape is ever changing. So really keep up your risk of becoming a dinosaur, of really being left behind because everyone else is learning, learning, learning, trying things out, doing courses, reading books.

and you say, I don't really need that. I'm just like sticking with my own workflows and I'm not going to change that. This is definitely not a good thing. Overall, you can, you know, if you feel a little bit overwhelmed where to begin or how to use AI, I would say some things that are really helpful from my perspective is to think about where AI actually excels. And I would say it's overall generating lots of very different ideas very, very quickly.

summarizing large amounts of qualitative data. If you have some kind of like an interview, you need to go through that interview, insert that to chatGPT and then ask certain questions. Also creating any kind of images through mid-journey, for example, that can be for presentations, that can be mock-ups for via frames, any kind of thing that really help you also to articulate your design decision much, much better to your stakeholders.

And then as well really crafting well-written copy at any desired length, readability level, you know, going from very like mainstream readers to like much more, I would say like professional content. You really choose what kind of level you want. But also producing initial drafts of really complex documents such as, you know, research plans, questionnaires, consent forms,

survey data, you know, copy for website, anything like that. And I think it's super important to just like try these things out and make sure that you use them correctly. And now I just want to switch and talk a little bit about hiring managers.

So when you are someone who is working for a big company who is responsible for hiring or if you are a manager who's looking for a new X designer in their team I want to share with you what I think you should look for if you are hiring someone. So the first thing is look for symbionts. So you really want to hire people who can work with AI

And not just use it. So people who are able to experiment, who are open, but also who are questioning the process, the old process and the new process and are really open minded about that and trying a lot of things out.

The second thing that I would recommend is to really change the exercises that you give to your applicants. So the traditional hiring exercises really won't cut it anymore. Focus much more on how candidates use AI in their process. I would integrate that as an essential part of my hiring process.

And then number three is really embracing the future. If you're not hiring staff who can use AI, you are hiring dinosaurs. So definitely make sure that people know what they're doing or give them certain tasks that they can solve with any kind of AI tools and also ask them why and how they chose these kind of tools.

Okay friends, I hope that was helpful to you. I hope you find some insights for your own hiring or your own application process if you're hiring or if you want to get hired somewhere. Again, if the AI course for designers is something for you, make sure to sign up for the waiting list.

And besides that, I hope you got some insights from that third episode. I would say for me, the key takeaway is definitely embrace AI or become a dinosaur. And the choice in the end is yours. There is no way back. AI isn't going anywhere. It will stay and it will become even more important in the design process. And we need to get used to it and really embrace it.

So friends, thank you so much for tuning in. I really enjoyed that episode with you. And I would say, hear you in the next episode, my friends. Bye bye.