Product design interview process in 2024

Companies’ hiring processes differ, of course, but most follow the same general structure:

Candidate search

Companies receive job applications for their open positions (recruiters call such a process “inbound”), or reach out to potential candidates directly via email/LinkedIn/social based on their portfolio/CV (an “outbound” approach).

Application review

Depending on the company size, recruiters or hiring managers review job applications, mainly focusing on CVs and portfolios.

Screening call (optional)

If the company reaches out first, or once the candidate passes the application review, the next step is often a chat with a recruiter. The goal of the chat is for the company and the candidate to learn more about each other. The recruiter or hiring manager will be interested to know where in your career you are now, how you see your next role, and what got you interested in applying. It’s a chance for both sides to figure out if there’s an early match and interest to proceed further.
In my research for this book, I talked to Akshan Ish, former design manager at Spotify, about his approach for getting a job. Akshan said he would use the screening call to learn as much as possible about the role and the company—especially if the job description didn’t shine enough light on the details. If he felt passionate about the opportunity, he’d then use this information to tweak his portfolio presentation accordingly.

Background interview

More in-depth than the screening call, a background interview involves talking with the hiring manager about your experience, skills, and goals to understand how you can fit in and help the business. It’s another opportunity to learn more about the company, its expectations for the role, design and team setup, and career growth opportunities. This call can also inform your choices for the later portfolio presentation stage.

Portfolio review

Here, you’ll walk interviewers through some of your past work. Usually, companies want to hear about two projects, for 20 minutes each (we’ll talk more about how to prepare and present in chapter 10). This is the last stage when you’ll need your portfolio during the interviewing process. Sometimes, this step can be combined with the previous one.

Product/design critique (optional)

To evaluate your product thinking and curiosity, you might be asked to critique a certain popular product. Julie Zhuo, former product design VP at Facebook, came up with a short guide for this type of interview exercise.

Design exercise (optional)

You may also be asked to solve a design challenge to show your problem-solving skills. Artiom Dashinsky wrote a book that helps designers go through this stage more effectively.

Offer and negotiation

You did it! Hopefully, the whole interviewing process paid off and you have an offer on your hands. The last step involves discussions about salary, benefits, and work arrangements. Once an agreement is reached, accepting the offer marks the beginning of your journey with the company.

This article is an excerpt from Product Design Portfolio Final Final, a book about how to make a product design portfolios to land dream jobs.