While telling your UX story during an interview, you will be asked questions. Most of these may be “no correct answer” type questions. Not necessarily brain teasers or puzzles, but very open-ended. Why do UX Managers (and other interviewers for UX roles) ask overly broad, hyper-detailed or just seemingly random questions? What are some strategies for answering them?
Why Hiring Managers Ask Open Ended Questions
Just like any reviewer in any interview process, hiring managers are trying to see how you think. Not just how you approach a task, but how you REALLY think. In the case of User Experience, this also means how well you can think like others.
Every company has their own unique approach to interviewing, especially in the tech industry. One of the most common approaches is an emphasis on open-ended “No Correct Answer” Questions. There are a number of reasons why; from determining how well you think on the spot to verifying your abilities match your resume.
In most cases, though, hiring managers are looking for “the right fit.” Sometimes this is the right project at the right time. In other cases, a manager may want someone to fill a particular consistent gap in the team’s skillset. Any way you describe it, the next person joining the team must meet the needs of the project, product and organization going forward.
10 Sample UX Interview Questions
Here are some very open ended questions that Patrick Neeman and I pulled together for our UX Careers presentation. If you are looking for stock answers, you are missing the point. Think about how you would uniquely answer these questions.