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What to expect from technical UX research interview questions
Earlier this week, I shared part 1 and part 2 of what to expect when interviewing for UX research positions at tech companies. A big part of how interviewers and hiring committees make hiring decisions is based on their confidence in the candidate’s core competencies in research. Can the candidate plan and execute research to answer the research questions at stake? And can they do so within the constraints of product development? To assess a candidate’s research competencies, interviewers will ask technical questions around research design and methods. Here are four common types of technical interview questions that qualitative UXR candidates are likely to see (there are different expectations for quantitative UXR roles so those candidates will see different types of questions):
The Research Plan
As an interviewer, these are my favorite types of technical UXR questions to ask. I usually budget 10–15 minutes out of a 45-minute interview for a candidate to answer one of these questions. 10 minutes is a long time to answer one question but that should give you a sense of how much I value these questions and the depth expected of a good response. In this type of question, you’re presented with a situation (perhaps it’s a new product that’s being developed) and you’re asked to put together a research plan. I have one particular research problem that I came up with when I first started at Google and have been using ever since then for nearly 8 years and over 180 interviews. I’ve decided that it is due time that I retire my beloved question and share it with you for educational purposes (cue the bagpipes):
Imagine that Google wants to build it’s own grocery store franchise. Design a research plan to help Google decide the type of store it should build.
I love this question for a lot of reasons. Everyone has been in a grocery store and has experienced shopping in one so every candidate should be on equal footing answering this question (granted someone who’s worked in e-commerce or retail will have a leg-up). And though it might seem far-fetched (remember I came up with this question before Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods) for a company like Google to…
