I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Varsity Tutors (Seattle, WA)
Interview
First there was a recruiter phone screen to see how I met the items in the job description. Then I met with a would-be peer and discussed the ins and outs of past experiences and the current position. It sounded like an opportunity worth finding out more about. She seemed very positive and pleasant.
I then I had another interview after about a week. This interviewer was 10 minutes late and hadn't looked at my resume so she asked me to go over my work history for her. She asked me where I went to school, which I thought was a little strange since especially in this profession, but didn't discuss my answer. When I said I had a former degree in science, she said that was weird but didn't ask me about it. She didn't ask follow up questions to any of my answers. She asked for me to explain what I did on a project, which was a little vague so I asked how in-depth or what she was most interested in because client work varies in approach so much, but she said to just talk. I had expected a two-way conversation to really understand each others thinking, but I could tell she didn't want to be there and didn't care to ask me to elaborate on any particular subject. She was looking out the window while I answered her questions. She tried to tell me I didn't have experience in this or that before I had ever described the projects where I actually did perform those things. She tried to convince me I wasn't as good as the other amazing designer, which made me not want to work with a company who treats people like this, even if she had no plans on moving forward. At the end of our time she said she had to leave so she quickly stood up and left without confirming anything about what we were there for in the first place.
Overall, it was very unpleasant. I tried to be very open and polite but it was the most shallow discussion I've ever had with a UX professional, especially in a profession where you engage in conversation to uncover the meaning and ideas other people have in their experiences. If she had read my resume she would have known to not waste her time, because she gave off the impression that I wasn't worth being polite to. Definitely a disconnect. Or maybe she had a bad day.
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Varsity Tutors (Seattle, WA) in Mar 2018
Interview
Initially I was contacted by their recruiter letting me know they wanted to start the hiring process for a slightly different role that I had actually submitted the application for. It wasn’t until I had my first interview with the hiring manager that I found out what they were considering me for (a different role), so that was a bit odd. But the hiring manager was honest and transparent so that was good. Second interview was with a senior role on the design team. That was short and pleasant, but there wasn’t much time for me to ask questions. I squeezed in a couple at the very end of a 30 minute hard stop.
I don’t know yet if the interview process will continue at this point, so I indicated in this review that I had not received an offer. Hopefully I can update this submission when I have more information.
Interview questions [4]
Question 1
How would you explain UX design to someone who didn’t know what it was?
It was frankly a joke, never in all of my career have I had an interview start out with "this will be a casual conversation". Then the only feedback you receive is "We are waiting for budgets....blah blah blah."