A recruiter’s take on the traits that get a UX designer hired

After recently being invited to speak to a group of UX professionals in Waterloo, I paused to reflect on how this role has evolved over the past 10 years and what makes for a great one today.

I really only started to see UX emerge as a proper function in a software company about five years ago.  Before that, we would see demand for user interface developers who could perform double duty in UX design. We looked for the rare candidates who really understood the user, but who would spend the bulk of their time coding. These roles typically rolled up to engineering.

Now we see almost every progressive tech company hiring UX professionals and leaders of UX at the start-up stage, and into roles where they have significant influence across both products and services. At every point of customer interaction, the experience is considered. UX is still very close to development, but a top professional doesn’t typically double as an engineer. In fact, the evolving UX professional often looks more like a product manager, absorbing the needs and wants of users and then distilling this insight into practical blueprints for product development and service delivery.

So if you’re building a career in UX, or looking to hire a UX professional, what can you expect? As in any interview, a hiring manager looks for great questions and great listening. Candidates need to have samples of their work and lots of great stories of accomplishments, challenges and successes.  A history of great work is important, but values, soft skills and an overall passion for the work are key.

Some of the key traits of a great UX professional today include:

• Customer facing skills – professionalism and communication
• Personality, values and attitude that align with the company
• Insightfulness – the ability to listen well, empathize and pick up subtext
• Technical savvy & the ability to translate the needs and behaviour of users into practical terms
• Business savvy and the understanding of how and why user experience impacts bottom line results
• Influence – the ability to understand the objectives of others in the organization and add value across functions

And of course, the final characteristic that any employer will look for is passion – about UX, about the company mission and about the job.