#180 The state of job hunting in 2026

Speaker A: The market today says that you have to be generalist, right? But generalist can get you really far. It could get you to the very end. But then when it's like a comparison between you and another one, very often it's this final straw. That nugget of direct experience could get you actually to the finish line and get you an offer. And so the generalist is very important. The skill set we have today is very important. We have to work on all those skills, we have to always improve them. But there has to be this final unfair advantage some something that will stand you out from the crowd and make people want to actually hire you for this particular skill. Hello. Hello and welcome back to Honest UX Talks. My name is Anfissa and today I'm not going to be joined by Ioana because today we have quite an unusual episode. And it is unusual because I'm actually going to streamline the recording or a session we had in the community with the members of the community discussing the current state of job hunting in 2026. So a little bit of the context. We did the session with the uh, people who recently landed job mostly in Europe and how this whole experience felt, what process they went through, what questions they have been asked from the hiring managers, when did they felt like they're actually landing this job and also nuances on the mindset, application tracking systems and what not really the details on how people are landing jobs today in 2026, what stands out, how portfolios work and so on. So hopefully this kind of intro to our community sessions will give you a good idea about what to expect from the hiring process today and how to actually land job from people who just did that. Thank you everybody who participated in the roundtable and hope that their insights will be helpful to you, dear listener too. Without any further ado, let's go and check out the intros from the community members and then discuss the questions. Hey everyone. Hey, good to have you. Let's talk about job hunting stages and process and all the messy middle in between. Great. So for those of you who is not familiar or who missed the description, the plan for today is to host a quick like roundtable where with people who recently land the job we will reflect on what stages people went through, what questions, uh, hire managers ask them what was working, what was harder, et cetera. It will go into ups and downs of the whole process in 2026. I mean most of the people who land the job in this roundtable will be from basically end of 2025. Alessia she just landed job like last week. Slightly more fresh perspective but I don't think it changed dramatically in the last month or two. But that's the plan for today. So let's start very high level. Maybe each one of you girls could basically just quickly mention where they land jobs. Like what type of a company it is, maybe what size, what level it is, like junior, middle, senior, etc. And just two words about the company that you landed the role in. So we know approximately like the weight of your experiences that you went through. So I'm gonna just kick it off. I don't know. Let's start with Yaroslava. Maybe just a couple of words about the company.

Speaker B: Okay, so just I landed uh in the end of 2025 and the company is basically like a travel agency if you know what Kiwi does. So it's kind of similar but they are popular mostly like in Spain market. And I landed as a mid product designer. Regarding the company I think uh, they're not startup anymore. They've been like on the market um 12 years maybe. So it's kind of like uh, B2C business like to customer. Currently I'm working um, more with uh, like travel.

Speaker A: Perfect, thank you. So we have middleweight role, B2C and definitely scale up. Not corporate yet. Nice. How about you Angeli?

Speaker C: My role, it's again a uh, mid level role. It's again called a product designer. So not a senior level role. Yeah, it's a publicly traded company and it is again a B2B solution in the sports betting industry.

Speaker A: Amazing. Thank you for sharing.

Speaker D: Hi everyone. I started my new job just one week ago. It's um, not very small. Original Czech company, product company. They produce ah, software since 1990. It seems like it's quite known company here in Czech Republic but uh, there was no UX designer before and I'm the only one and the first one jumping on the very legacy project.

Speaker A: And the role is midweight or junior because I remember you could kind of be somewhere in the middle as well.

Speaker D: Hard to say being the only one designer in a team could be lead if you will.

Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.

Speaker D: Ah yeah, yeah. But actually I have some help over there. There is an external designer, very senior and uh, he gives me a lot of help.

Speaker A: Yeah, amazing. Thanks a lot. I think it gives a good idea around like different UX maturities, organization as well as sizes and nature of business. B2B or B2C.

Speaker D: Great.

Speaker E: Okay. So um, I ended up working in enterprise and right now uh, I'm working at EY I don't know if you guys have heard of it. We are kind of a corporate, you know, enterprise. But there are technicalities that made me unable to call us like you know, official big corporate. But we have about 80,000 people hired around the world. So this is pretty big organization. Right. But you know, in terms of like legalities, there is some stuff, I don't know, let's not dwell, you know, into that. But in general, this is an enterprise model. Like the department that I work in is called consulting. And this works a little bit like a software house. You know, like a software house inside enterprise. Right. So we're having this design department in this consulting department that consists of 22 people in uh, Poland. Because I'm located in Poland. I didn't, I didn't say that before. Each and every one of us of those 25 design people, uh, we are fetched and uh, we can say borrowed, you know, into different projects.

Speaker D: Right.

Speaker E: We are like assigned to different projects and we work on them separately. And the teams we're working with on our projects, the teams are very much international. So we're working a lot with Europe, but also with India, with United States. So this is very like international type of work. Yeah. So this is the general bit.

Speaker A: Amazing. Thanks a lot.

Speaker D: Yeah.

Speaker A: And your role is uh, middleweight, right? Not senior?

Speaker E: Yes, my title says senior. I uh, was employed as a senior. But this is due to like salary ranges, uh, that are incorporated in this company because simply they do not have like anyone between junior and senior. Like this is junior. You know, you can be junior and then you can be senior. There is no like midweight role.

Speaker A: Wow. Okay.

Speaker E: So because, yeah, it's a bit weird, but this is how they, they have it, you know, around there. So, you know, I wasn't a junior much, but you know, I'm also not a very much experienced senior. So I am a senior. But like a, you know, um, young one. That's how I can call it.

Speaker A: Also have this levels like level one, two, three, four.

Speaker E: Yes, yes.

Speaker A: Okay. So you should be having level three. No.

Speaker E: Or four. No. It's like you can be junior one, two, three and you can be senior one to three.

Speaker A: Got it, got it. Yeah. It's still different. Mhm.

Speaker E: Senior 1. So this is the, the lowest possible, um, grade for senior. This is mine. And this is basically translated as a midweight designer. Right. I wanted to clarify it.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker A: Okay. Interesting. Very interesting. I haven't heard about, uh, skipping the sort of role.

Speaker E: It is weird, right? I guess this is due to this consultancy Nature. You know that you can have junior slash staff assistants, and you can have those seniors and no midway in between. This is my wild guess, you know, that this is due to this, like, nature of the company.

Speaker A: And it's also great. They also have juniors if there is a project relevant for that.

Speaker B: That's great.

Speaker E: Yeah, yeah, yeah, they have juniors. A lot of juniors.

Speaker A: Actually. Going to actually kick it off with a little icebreaker question. If you had to describe your job search in three words, what would they be? Just three words.

Speaker B: Um, chaotic. Like hopeful and, um, anxious. Because I had, like, lots of anxiety, especially between all of the stages.

Speaker A: Thank you. Thank you a lot for sharing this. I think it's, uh, many people feel this way. Anyways, how about you, Anjali?

Speaker C: Yeah, I think I really agree with what Yaroslava said. So again, it was bittersweet and, uh, initially a lot of anxiety, but initially it was frustrating. But towards end, I would say a lot of excitement as well, so.

Speaker A: Oh, that's amazing. That's good to hear at least. How about you, Alicia?

Speaker D: It's going to be one sentence, but more words. I guess after overcoming my imposter syndrome, it was easy and fast.

Speaker A: So climbing the wall of the imposter syndrome. That's the word keyword. Okay, great.

Speaker E: Three words. I would say it was long, so definitely long one. And it required a lot of persistence. This would be the second word, and the third one would be filled with new insights, like, about who we as, uh, designers really are. This is pretty broad answer, but I hope it.

Speaker A: It matches. No, it's great. It's great. Perfect. Thank you. It's very interesting. Like, you see how we all perceive these processes and what it teaches us. Thanks a lot for sharing. Now let's actually talk a little bit more about, like, reality that you went through. And maybe we'll start with, like, again, statistical question. So if you did statistics, great. If you don't, roughly how do you feel? How many companies did you apply in maybe the last round? Because I know some of you have been going through multiple rounds. For example, Yaroslava had like a roulette of applications. Landing, moving on. Landing, moving on. But, like, in a last job hunt application process, how many companies did you apply to?

Speaker B: Uh, actually, I wasn't, like, looking actively, as I said, like, um, to you and fisa, because I was thinking, okay, maybe, like, I'll apply and I'll finish my portfolio. You know, I'll start, like, working on my portfolio. And every time when I saw, like, some nice job, I was Thinking, okay, maybe it's like this last job, which I apply, and, like, I stopped doing this and I will, like, end up with my portfolio. But honestly, I did not apply, like, that many vacancies. Maybe, um, 15, like 20, you know, because I was, like, interested only, like, in some specific just fields like travel. You know, like, whenever I saw, like, some interesting, like, vacancy, I was, like, trying to give it a go, you know, just like, to see what happens.

Speaker A: That's the spirit. I had the same experience also. Sometimes I'll throw also a couple of nuggets of my experience because I also started the job last week, so maybe I'm also a part of this panel. Didn't think about it. But also, I wasn't looking for a job. I was at my company previously for four years. I started having certain frustrations which made me start thinking, but I wasn't prepared at all. And then suddenly I also saw this, like, you know, jungle. Um, I think that's like a job board that matchmates you for your experience with similar companies. So I kind of receive those, uh, like, suggestions every, I think, week. And there was one which was, like, very direct to my personal experience. And I was like, oh, okay, let's just see what happens. And also wasn't very intentional application and just went straightforward. All right, moving on. Uh, how about you, Anjali?

Speaker C: Yeah, I think I do actually have a statistics, because I have this whole notion document in which I was writing down each and every job role that I was applying for. So the last round, I had about 75 applications.

Speaker A: Yeah, that's a reality of junior and middleweight roles these days. Got it. Thanks all for sharing. How about you, Alicia?

Speaker D: As I have small kids, I'm not looking for a job like every day that I would, uh, send my applications and so on. Just from time to time, ah, when I saw something interesting, I would send some application or it's interesting that some recruiters contacted me. I would say the statistics were like, um, about five applications during the last half of the year. I had, um, one more interview in a company and, uh, a couple interviews with, um, recruiters. And most of the recruiters, they answered me like, we were thinking that you have, uh, a higher level. Like, you are not a junior. You are already like a middle or senior. After seeing my portfolio, my, uh, profile, all of them were thinking that I'm like a more experienced designer.

Speaker A: Amazing. I mean, that's what. We also had this discussion, right? That when you already have transferable experience and then you sort of lift that portfolio level. Craft A bit higher. Suddenly you're perceived also as an like next level, basically, which is also a good, good sign because for Alessia, practically you didn't have like in house experience, but you had projects here and there with clients and some outcome experiences.

Speaker D: Yeah.

Speaker E: Okay. So I went through quite a lot processes before I landed this job. Like I got to about five or six of the second stages right when I applied and then I got an answer, you know, to be on an interview and to for example, sometimes do the take home challenge or the life challenge, this like five, six situations. For me it was like I applied 40 times and I got about six like replies and invitations for interviews. The job that I finally landed. What you have to know is that the process in this enterprise is a little bit weird because first they have to accept you as a designer in general. Right. To become a part of this design team. These 25 people that I said that are based in Poland. But then what has to happen is that you have to successfully go through recruitment process for a specific project that you will work on inside this enterprise. Right. So this is what happened to me. I had this first round of interviews for the company itself and I passed it. And when I passed it, then I had uh, two rounds of interviews with clients in order to get a project. Does that make sense?

Speaker A: Absolutely. Actually, interestingly enough, I know that Meta, I don't know how it is right now, but used to be during the COVID times, they actually for some reason have the same process, even though Meta is a product, but because they have so many products or so many departments, they also first just filter you as like, can you fit in to here in the company? And then can you fit into the particular product? And you sometimes can go through multiple rounds of interviews with different products until you find your product. So yeah, it's not only in the consultancy, sometimes it's also in the product.

Speaker E: Yeah, so this is exactly what happened in my case. Right. And when I landed the project then I was eventually, you know, um, I got an offer. But just, you know, for me it happened after I secured the project itself,

Speaker A: you know, got it. Did you had already an experience or some sort of green light that we want you, we just now will start looking for the right project for you. Was it something like this?

Speaker E: Yes, yes, it was something like this. I knew that they liked me there, I knew that they wanted to hire me, but what they needed to do first is find a project for me. And I think it was also due to the seniority, you know, that I Wasn't a junior. I was supposed to be employed as a senior. And seniors cannot sit on bench, you know, for so long.

Speaker A: Of course.

Speaker E: Right, yeah. It doesn't add up, you know, for them financially. Right. So they had to find me a project to utilize me and my, you know, workforces at the very beginning. Right. And from the very start.

Speaker A: Makes sense. Great. The last point here was actually how many stages you went through in your last application process.

Speaker E: Right. So first was sending the portfolio and the cv. Then I got an answer that they want to talk to me, you know, like the recruiter first HR type of thing. So it was that. Then I had a talk with, um, design lead for this Polish design team.

Speaker B: Ah.

Speaker E: And after that I knew that they wanted me. So those were those stages. Uh, and after I had those stages concerning projects for that I had two, so five.

Speaker D: Right.

Speaker E: We could say, we could sum it up and.

Speaker A: No. No home takes. Right? No sort of home take.

Speaker E: No.

Speaker A: Okay, great.

Speaker E: This time I didn't have home take, but for different applications I did have two hometakes and one life challenge.

Speaker A: Uh, okay, great. Out of those six interviewing processes you went through.

Speaker E: Yes, exactly.

Speaker A: I'm going to also quickly reflect on my process because also, like, interestingly, I also went through the home take challenge. It seems to be the most dominant, the most like popular pattern today because I don't think it was the case during the COVID times. It's not like something that was always happening. But in my process, since it was only one application and it went straightforward to the end, I went through also about five stages. One was recruiter, one was design manager. Plus they invited a newly hired designer there. But this wasn't enough because I had a lot of questions. And this one hour they interviewed me the whole hour and I still had so many questions to ask them. So they said, like, book a time with us, ask us the questions, interview us. So I actually asked for another round of interviews where I interviewed them. So that would be third. Then they sent me home take brief from the very beginning. They mentioned there will be a home tech challenge in a specific sector. So I kind of knew what's coming. I was very surprised about how big of the home take it was. It was very, very broad. I was not expecting so much work to be done. It was basically do the whole process in a couple of days and um, there you go, go for it. Everything needs to be there. So very big hometic challenge, then presentation to the VP with a very, very small interview at the end. And then I think there Was also interview with the um ctpo. So product lead in a way. So now as you think about it, it was coming from the um, design management, then to vp, then to ctpo and then there was a final sort of not interview but like a catch up with the recruiter to align on the salary expectations. Five stages in my regard as well. Thank you everyone for sharing. Now let's get into nitty gritty details in the company that you eventually landed an offer and started working at. How many stages did you get through? So any think about like the whole process from the first like recruiter call when they just got to know who you are and why you're applying all ah the way to maybe when you received the offer, how many stages specifically like I don't know, rounds of calls if you will, you had with the team, with people in that company. And also if you remember how many months it took in general for me

Speaker B: it was kind of like four steps in fisa. Uh so the first uh was uh, like interview with the recruiter, like about like 30 minutes. So she asked me like some basic questions but I believe she asked me like some like product uh based company questions, you know, so because she was asking me okay, like do you have any experience with like a B testing like do you have any experience like with the uh usability test and do you have like any experience with user testing and so on. So I think like uh, the main goal like for her was like to collect like as much as possible information and like to go with my portfolio and like information like to leads or like to managers and like to present this. So we had like this step then like the next step was like your portfolio review. And I uh was like waiting for like another steps which took me about like three weeks. Mostly like ah three weeks. And then I just had like the uh, like technical like presentation interview where I had like to uh pick up one case study from my um, portfolio and present it. And also just like they provided me like what they expecting from me. I mean they just provided me like as a product designer like, like uh, like which problems like did you, you were trying like to solve. So actually the like the structure was really well because I knew like what to like what to do right? So it wasn't like chaotic for me. And like the last step was uh to present my home test tasks. So we also had like about like one hour, one hour and a half where I had like to present like, like uh, all just like work which I did. And uh, there was a couple of like technical questions, I would say they asked me like most um, just like the presentation, like some like doubts or questions where they have. So I wouldn't say it was like technical technical like for the juniors, like theory or something like this, you know, but it was kind of like tricky questions sometimes, like through the process.

Speaker A: Yeah, got it. Interesting. So four stages here, right?

Speaker B: Yeah, four stages. And um, it took me about like three months. Yeah. But I believe it's also a Spain, which is might be a little bit slower.

Speaker E: So.

Speaker A: No, it's actually three months. Sounds really good to me today, this market.

Speaker B: Yeah. But uh, maybe, maybe it's a good pace. Yeah.

Speaker A: Okay, let's see, let's see. Actually, maybe Anjali, if you could reflect on your latest job application, but also if you feel like there are some discrepancies throughout, you know, the, the companies you've talked to.

Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.

Speaker B: Wow.

Speaker C: Three months is a lot. I don't think I have been through such a long process, so. But mine, uh, I would say it was about one, one and a half months. And again four different rounds. The first round was with the recruiter, so it was more or less about like a half an hour session trying to confirm all the details and so on before passing on to the hiring manager. And the second round I had two different design, uh, managers interviewing me and uh, it was about a one hour interview and it was more or less like a mix of both behavioral and technical questions. By then I was quite comfortable with all the questions so far because I think in this particular round, uh, most of the companies that I have talked to, they ask more or less the same questions. So if you prepare with the Star method, it's very quite easy to go through it once you know what you have worked on and what are the stories that you want to highlight. And the third one was again the take home exercise. They sent me an exercise. I had about like two, three days to work on it and uh, then I had to go into their office and then present it to the team. And so yeah, that round was more about uh, the particular project that I did and just like any design uh, critique that you might have with a team. So uh, yeah, that, and then I had uh, like some 10 minutes towards the end to ask some questions that I had.

Speaker A: Now what about you, Alessia?

Speaker D: There were two to three stages and actually it was very quick. It took like uh, two weeks. The first, uh, I was contacted by a recruiter after, I don't know, we talked maybe 15 minutes. He told me I definitely Going to introduce you even I have uh, some more senior designers. The next day they sent me take home challenge without talking to anyone in the company. Then like I was thinking okay, let's see, let's try. I don't have uh, too much job to do right now so I would like to try him um, some take home challenge what it is about and uh, started to observe it and uh, what I liked in the two home challenge. It was uh, quite good structured. Somebody who created it knows about the ux. What was interesting for me. We talked to this uh, Ankissa about that later on like when I was preparing. She helped me a lot when I went there. They told me like can you present us uh, your take home challenge? I didn't know that I'm going to present it.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker D: Ah, they sent as they told me, just like send us a uh, presentation. That's it. I presented it from the point after that on this interview there were like three people in the room and one external UX designer on the phone. He was listening and uh, watching my presentation. After this presentation I knew that it's like 90% done because this UX designer, he told me like that's the best what we had here. Probably first time in my life. But I don't have any questions.

Speaker B: Wow.

Speaker D: Because everything felt like perfect. Yeah, it was cool and it was exciting. And after that when they asked me like the salary range, I told like the highest one. The thing is uh, that it was really match. Yeah. Because over there on that interview I understood that uh, that's the company uh, that I can work for. I have experience very similar to that. And uh, what they needed, they needed somebody who is interested in uh, complex systems. They told me like everyone who came here and we told him about our complexity, they got afraid and my presentation was about this, about this complexity. So like it was a match. Definitely.

Speaker A: Amazing. So you actually didn't even have any interviews with recruit with design managers, with business owners or anyone.

Speaker D: There was um, one hr, one marketing and uh one guy from engineers. Then this, this UX designer on the phone. That uh, external UX designer.

Speaker A: Actually. No, no. What uh, what I mean is like you, you had the recruiter call, then you had a presentation based on your hometake and then you also had, did you had any final interviews like who did you talk to so that they could ask you questions or anything? Oh, this was non existent.

Speaker D: Like during this presentation they asked me a couple of questions, uh, about the, my take home challenge, about my experience, but not too much, no Official interview.

Speaker A: Interesting.

Speaker D: No, no, no.

Speaker A: That's the first time I'm hearing. So very short process, actually.

Speaker D: Very short. And the third interview was with my, um, is the head of, uh, Department of Engineers, uh, because I belong to this department over there now. That interview happened just because he couldn't, uh, attend that, um, previous presentation. That's it. It took, like, 15 minutes. He just wanted to know me better and.

Speaker A: Okay, very interesting. Nice. Very short one. Um, I'm always curious to hear, like, what people are right now going through in terms of stages and also how UX maturity of the company matches the process that designers have been presented. Now, moving on, let's talk more in details. So I'm actually going to reflect a little bit here. So I'm now curious that now knowing all the stages you went through, I want to know, did you guys felt like at some point you knew you land the offer? What was this momentum turning point for you when you started feeling like it's all good done, like, I. I'm definitely getting an offer. What was this moment if you had it, and if you didn't have it, also tell us about your experience.

Speaker B: For me, it was just like, I have. I had, like, some gut feeling maybe, you know, that maybe it's going to be, like, nice, because when I had, like, the first stage, when I had to present my case study, actually, it went, uh, really well because I think, like, we got along, like, nice with a design lead because she asked me, like, tons of questions. She was challenging me a lot, but I thought, like, it's a good sign because she was interested maybe, so she wanted, like, to understand. But m. Still I had, like, some doubts because, like, when she asked me some questions about, like, yay, but why didn't, like, you do, like, this way? So she started my challenge, like, a little bit, like, pushy. And at some point I started thinking maybe it's not that. It's not that, right? But some gut feeling. I felt that, you know, sometimes when you're like, um, just go like two interviews, you're, like, feeling it and you can, like, describe it. You just, like, literally know it's not, like, 100% not. But in this case, I was thinking, okay, maybe it's yes, then not. But, uh, still, I was, like, waiting, like, for a long time after each stage. And I was thinking, okay, I remember after, like, last stage, they, like, told me, we are gonna come back to you, like, next week. And they didn't. And I was thinking, okay, but if not, they would, like, tell me at Once. Right. Because what's the point, like to wait. And I was thinking maybe they are just like interviewing other people, like understanding like, just like what's going on, like understanding the priorities. So. But yeah, I still had a hope that um, maybe I'll end it.

Speaker A: Nice. So the chemistry with the lead or manager, that was important sort of turning point for you?

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Great. How about you, Anjali?

Speaker C: Yeah, I think I also got a similar instinct towards the end of, I think it was after the third round, after the design exercise that it's going to go well because it was more or less like a conversation. Like I'm already working there and we are having a day to day design criticism critique. So I kind of felt like I belonged there. And uh, another thing that I have started doing after a few interviews that did not go the way that I thought it might go is to ask a question towards the end. So there are two questions that I often ask. One is about like is there anything that you wish I had brought up but I haven't throughout our uh, conversation till now. Uh, that helps me fill the gaps if there are uh, they have any doubts in their mind. And second is if do you, do you have any concerns regarding my fit for the role by the end of the interview? Either I make it or not, but I know it. Right then I got a positive uh, overview and feedback towards the end of the meeting and yeah, I was basically looking forward to hear back from them after that.

Speaker A: Amazing. I love this like very, very taking in charge, your own feedback. Like no matter what you guys think, I need to get my feedback and I'm going to ask you this question. It's very great. And also I think it not only helps you to fill the gaps but also also understand them.

Speaker C: Yeah, exactly.

Speaker A: Giving them also some sort of clarity. How is it going?

Speaker C: Uh, used to get feedback about my presentation and even understand more about what are the challenges that they're looking into. So yeah, I think it was a two way street.

Speaker A: So perfect. Thank you. Thank you for sharing. What about you, Ula?

Speaker E: In general during my interviews I was doing this thing right? That is a portfolio like walkthrough. When I didn't have this no take home challenge or uh, this life challenge, I was doing this portfolio walkthrough because imagine this is what they would like to see. If they are not challenging me in any other way then I would do the walkthroughs because you know, in general my experience during those interviews was that very often when I got to the point where I Was speaking with the manager. They were like, the floor is yours. Like you. Do you. What do you want to show us? Show us. And I got this feeling that, okay, if this is my time to shine, then m. Shine away. You know, I was also listening to this YouTube videos of Ines Mir. Maybe some of you also know the girl, she's super cool. Um, and she once mentioned this method that when you do portfolio walkthroughs, do the mind map, uh, in figjam or in any other whiteboard instead of scrolling through the portfolio. If you have a website, for example, and this was my case, I had a website, but I additionally prepared this, this whiteboard with the steps that I took, you know, during those, those case studies that I was, you know, um, describing in my portfolio. But I had them all on this whiteboard. And this honestly told the show every time. This was when I saw the, you know, Ice Spark. And they were always like, oh, wow, it's super cool. You've prepared something like extra for us, even though it wasn't extra for them. Right? Because I had this, you know, board prepared for every interview, like the same. But it really stole the show. And I saw that this was something that won this interview for me. I definitely saw the change, you know, in, in the attitude when I opened the whiteboard and started to walk through the hiring manager. What I did there, and this is, this would be my advice. Like this, um, note.

Speaker A: Beautiful. When we talked about your portfolio, you also mentioned that the hire managers were like, very informed of your portfolio and like, oh, how did you build it? So I think that's also like an extra biggest boost for your application process. First strong impress and then killing it when you're given the floor to speak. Amazing. And I think it also reminded me. But at one point we had Anetta, who usually speaks about portfolios, and she was also given a presentation about how she designed her portfolio. It was also just a mirror board, or maybe it was figjam where she just, uh, dropped a bunch of screenshots. But she was walking, uh, us through her experience from the beginning. Towards the end, you didn't need to have a fancy website. It was just very interactive storytelling, visualizing way of walking through your experience, which I also found very engaging. And also, you didn't come unprepared. It was really great. Now I'm very curious about the questions you've been asked by your hiring manager. Design manager. For me personally, also, when I was going through the interviewing process, it was also interview the very first round when I was talking to design manager and the designer they invited. Wipe, check. So literally like when you see there is an interest, there is spark in their eyes, they're asking you lots of questions where you see they're eager to learn more. That's a good sign. And I felt like there was this live conversation. We were all engaged and excited. It wasn't dry, it wasn't like, uh, for sake of checkboxes, we're going to go through this round of questions. That they are actually eager and learning and asking follow up questions. It was all very like positive in terms of the tone of the conversation. So if you feel like you vibe with the design manager, it's usually, you know, when you're a leader in your company for a certain department, you want to attract people who think like you. So if you feel like there is a match, it's going to be easier for you to get towards the end. And that's what I personally felt. However, in the past companies, I remember what was getting me jobs was mostly case study presentations. But interestingly I don't hear this signal anymore that case study presentations don't often, very often these days. But in the past 2022 case study presentations was always like final decision. This was great. From now on we are basically preparing for the offer. Even if you have some more conversations with leads moving on to questions that you have discussed with the hiring manager.

Speaker B: Yeah, for me it was like a bunch of questions. This um, like design lead, she asked me like very hypothetical questions, you know, like behavioral, okay, can I imagine like this situation? And like what would you do if you have like this data? Okay, like let's imagine I'm your product manager. We have this problem and I came to you and I want like to hear like your steps, what we are going to do like next days. So she was like checking my way of thinking maybe you know. And uh, she was like trying to challenge me because I remember like was um, answering and she was like, but what if you like missing this information, what would you do? Right? What if like it's asap, you know, or something like this. So she was like trying maybe just like to check this vibe if I'm not giving up, um, or something. And also when I was presenting the case study presentation, she just asked me, okay, but uh, why you didn't like do the deeper user research? Right. And I wasn't expected to have this question, you know, because I was like working in an enterprise company so we don't have like lots of, of budget like for user research. I think like this question got me stuck a little bit, you know, because I was like, um, yeah, but I think like we have, we had like the budget and uh, we had like different priorities and actually I wanted like to have it, but unfortunately we couldn't, you know, like afford it. That's why I felt like frustrating or something as, uh, I was presenting the case studies. So I was asked like many questions about the case study and why I like, like, did like some solutions. And also she asked me about ui. Okay, like your ui, like looks a little bit flat. Like did you use like design system or it's like, was like defined style, you know. So she wanted like to understand what was like the purpose of my decisions that behind when it was like last stage when I had to present the um, test task. So she asked me like many questions about next stages as well. She asked me about like success. How would I measure success? Okay, what's considered like, successful design for me, which metrics I would measure, you know, like, in the case, if I want like to understand like whether it works or not. Also she uh, asked me like some challenging questions because I remember it was like the test task and you know, I defined the audience, I defined the problem. And she asked me, but why did you decide that it's like this audience. Maybe you have like, you had to do something for the, like another audience. And maybe it's not that shared trips for the friends, maybe it's for strangers. Why did you come up with this idea? You know, and honestly these questions got me m stuck a little bit because, uh, I remember I was like thinking a lot of my test tasks and she asked me like something like, very different. Okay, but why did you decide it's like it's going to be like this audience. Maybe it's like different one, you know. And also based on ui, they also asked me like some questions. Okay, why I put these things here? Why just like this text is here. Okay, what should be like if I click here? And also they asked me some questions about AI. Why I didn't like do any AI. I was trying to keep the focus on the main problem and that's it. And you know, when they hired me and after like I was talking to design manager, she told me that it was like a kind of sign, good for them because the company is big and like, lots of like projects going on and the main just idea, like to stay focused on your task and like to be like focused on your problem.

Speaker A: Interesting. This is how you do the matchmaking. Like you Guessed what they were looking and probing for sustained focus was actually an interesting, I guess, match point for him.

Speaker B: Yeah. In terms of the overall summarize, there was many hypothetical questions like imagine m the situation or how would you act like this, and so on.

Speaker A: Nice. So what I'm hearing from you is that they were asking you on behavioral questions philosophy, which was very interesting for me. Like impact. How would you measure impact? What about, like, how do you define success? How do you define this? So, like, these are your current point of views, which is important, especially the more senior you go, the more you have to have the stronger opinion. Interesting. You mentioned multiple times critical thinking, which is representative also to their culture. You can have a preview on how they usually go through the problem statements. And interesting also that you mentioned they were challenging your UI. Given that it's a B2C context, it's very important that UI is very polished. Like, at least in my experience, I've never heard that in B2B context they challenge your UI. Not often. least not in the interviews during the process, of course, but during the interviewing process, it's usually the secondary point. And I personally also did this mistake in the past when in the B2C application process, I wasn't focused so much on the UI and they didn't like it and it was kind of a red flag. So always remembering B2C craft, one of the strategic pillars for the company, craft should be very top level, otherwise it's very hard for them to lend new B2C customers. Basically for B2B, it's a different process with different incentives. But for B2C it's very critical.

Speaker B: Yeah. And also they asked me a couple of questions about my experience. But also I think, like, which helped me as well, that I had experience in travel already. So basically I think it helped me because I was working. Exactly. Not the same things, but they had some travel experience because I had set up travel experience in a big company. So I think basically it just helped me a lot.

Speaker A: Amazing. Yeah, same for me. I think the reason why they decided to hire me was exactly because I have a very transferable experience, very similar problem spaces. And obviously for the company it reduced risks because you already went through similar problem spaces and you could contribute with some problems you already solved in the same way. Great. Um, moving on. Anjali, how about your interviewing process? What questions stuck with you? Which stood out, which made you stop a little bit, think scratch your head?

Speaker C: Yeah, I think for me, uh, some of the questions that I do remember quite well are some really Open ended questions, something in which there is no like right or wrong answer. They're just trying to really understand your point of view. So it was about like, what is the, what do you think is a role of design in a company? So yeah, I was quite a bit stuck when I heard that for the first time because I was really not getting any idea about any signal that they are kind of looking. It really depends on what design means for me personally. So yeah, during that interview I did not really have an answer for it. But then after that I've been thinking a lot about it. So after that a, uh, couple of months later another company asked me the same question and I had a good answer for that and then another one. Yeah, it was basically a 30 minute interview with a hiring manager and I was expecting mostly behavioral or technical questions, but it ended up with a uh, product critique. So he was basically asking me, uh, tell me about a product that you used recently that you really loved, loved and why and also another product that you hated and why. So again I had to really think at that moment because I was not really prepared for a product critique at that point. Yeah, these are the two questions that really stood out for me.

Speaker A: Nice. Yeah, I think that when they're asking you about like your favorite product or least favorite product, it actually goes to show a lot about your philosophy, what you appreciate in products. How do you define good product? It also implicitly means, um, or speaks to your philosophy in design. Like what do you prioritize?

Speaker C: Yeah, I think uh, about AI tools in general. And uh, again sometimes the conversations have often been also about hypothesizing together, uh, about how do you think the role of designers are going to change in the next couple of years. Those were also some really interesting conversations.

Speaker A: What I like about hearing those questions were let's hypothesize, let's like challenge you. What's your philosophy? Basically, what's your favorite product? What I like about it is that you really have to have your strong opinion. Like you can go and expect safe answers. Yeah, this is how it is, find success. This is what design process looks like. It's not anymore about it. You really have to think before, reflect and come prepared with like I thought about it and this is what's important for me. And um, this is what I'm going to lead with. Right. So you have to have your sort of not just the answer, it's ready, but you have to know why.

Speaker C: Exactly. And I think those are also the kind of interviews that I have also personally Enjoyed interviewing because there was something really strong for me to take away

Speaker A: after that conversation and reflecting on my previous hiring manager, design manager in my past company. I remember they were looking for designers who would surprise them with the answers. So not something that seems predictable, kind of flat like AI isn't going to steal our job. You know, it's the designer who's using the AI tools who's going to uh, all the very classic design quotes. If you are actually going to come with maybe even sometimes controversial opinion, but you can back it up and explain why that's what a lot of the times hiring managers are looking for. They're looking for um, being surprised, like tell me something I haven't thought about or haven't heard and explain why that's where they're getting excited and kind of intrigued by you in a way. Okay, we also, I don't think we have heard ULA yet, right?

Speaker E: Yeah, yeah. I didn't speak about the questions that I remember still from the interviewing process. One is the uh, design time traveling device interface. It wasn't, you know, a question per se, but it was a challenge. Right. During one of those interviews that I had. But this was definitely a crazy one. Very, very, you know, broad and abstract thinking checking type of exercise. But it was super cool, it was super fun. And during this exercise they asked me, there was this case of designing for users in order to make them feel safe. It is a peace of mind connected to the safety, something like that. It was pretty abstract value that they wanted me to design for and they were asking me these questions of how would you design this time and space traveling device for feeling of safety for the users. So it was pretty interesting one. Yeah, this was the interview that I didn't, you know, get further after this exercise they just cut me and I didn't go, you know, to the next stage. This was pretty mature company design wise, UX wise. But the question from the interview process that got me the job was during the portfolio deep dive when I was walking the hiring manager through my board, right this, this whiteboard that I have spoken about already and I had there some metrics but I already also established at the beginning that I don't have any like user data. Um, but now I am um, you know, presenting you some, some metric like how this solution performed. And he asked me like, how did you measure that if you didn't, you know, even speak to the users, how did you do it? So I said I am aware that we don't always, you know, have the budget and have the time to run, run full tests. And this is very clear to me that this is very often not the, the comfort that we're having in our job. So I just run some gorilla tests and I then compared the data to the general rules that I found, you know, on NG or some other like UX led, uh, knowledge basis. And that's how I just, you know, compared them and I counted that. That's how I did that. Because I know that sometimes in order to get the buy in, for example, you know, from a client or from stakeholders inside your company, you have to present something that you don't. I don't really have. And this was the one question and answer that really also, you know, bought me, bought me the job, I believe. Because after I answered that, I, I told him, you know, point blank was the truth. He said, right. You know, I can tell you right now that you're having the right mindset, you know, to work with us, uh, because this is what we very often have to do. This is not ideal, this is not perfect and we're not proud of it sometimes, but this is what sometimes needs to be done.

Speaker A: Done.

Speaker E: And this is, I think, pretty like a good tip once again. Right. For, for interviewing process that sometimes not the perfect answer, but the real one.

Speaker A: Yeah. And I also think it shows your resourcefulness, like how are you willing to creatively solve the problem when you don't have the perfect scenario, when you don't have the perfect resources or time or access to data or whatever. Finding your way and still convincing them m like, hey, this is. Could be like this or we could actually achieve something. Right? So finding creative ways to show that. Yeah, it doesn't like, no, data doesn't stop me.

Speaker E: Yeah, that was basically my point. And this was a good approach as it turned out after.

Speaker A: Yeah, amazing. Good. Thank you. Thank you everyone for sharing this. This is already super, super intense and very cool to hear. I guess what we didn't speak about yet is what was the hardest moment in your process that you were not expecting or that nobody's speaking about? What was it for you?

Speaker B: For me, it was kind of like, uh, waiting after each, you know, stage because it was kind of like emotional coaster because like after each stage you have to wait, you still have doubts. And uh, I remember like clearly it was the end of the year and also in my company, like there was like cutoffs as well. So I was be like, should I proceed or not? Also for me, like the most difficult moment was, uh, in the last stage when I was Presenting the test task because, um, there were a couple of questions which I wasn't prepared for about audience. Why did you select this audience? And like, she like, literally decided like to challenge me a lot. I didn't expect this question, but I basically said based on the brief analysis, based on like, problem, which I understood my gut feeling or something. I just like understood it like this. But I open like to discuss it.

Speaker A: Yeah. And I'm pretty sure many people feel the same way when they're waiting and waiting and waiting and there is no clarity what's going to happen next. It's brutal, I would say for people. Anybody else wants to add.

Speaker C: Yeah, I think I agree in terms of the long wait, that's quite frustrating. And there are also times when things don't go the way that you expect it to be, no matter how, how much you think you did the right things. Like there might be a hiring freeze after all the interview rounds or I think it really hits you hard, the rejections, the more final stages you are in. It's just, uh, important to just let go sometimes times and take breaks and show up every day. I think, uh, showing up every day no matter what, really helps at the end of the day. Yeah. I think there was also one of the moments in which, uh, during the final part of the interview. Right. That's when you kind of sometimes get this instinct that it's things are not going well and you might feel like giving up, but there might still be hope. So there was this one instance in one of the interviews that I did like a few years ago. The hiring manager basically told me that, okay, but we are looking for someone who is a little bit more stronger on the UI side. Yeah. It seemed like he was openly thinking twice about whether to hire me or not. And then I was like, let me just say what I have in mind. Whether I get it or not. I was like, yeah, it's okay if my UI is not strong enough, but, uh, I think I can learn fast and given a chance, I'll definitely do my hundred percent. And I heard back from them. Yeah, I think that's one of the takeaways that I had after that as well. Uh, not to give up hope until the last moment of the interview.

Speaker A: Amazing. Yeah. And it's also very helpful that you're asking those questions like, where do you have the doubts? So you also learn and you also can convince them, like you have the right mindset to overcome those challenges. You motivation sometimes beats the experience. If you're in the right mindset. Because there are a lot of people who are basically tired and don't even want to work on those skills because. Because it's been a while or overwhelming. So it's the mindset that often gets people really sold. And I think also when you were speaking about, like, don't give up, don't worry, Uh, I don't. I mean, it's easy to say, right? But the thing that many people don't speak about is that when you are very eager to land a job, it could sometimes be perceived as desperate. And that signal is very, like, it could be very not efficient for designers. And very often what I'm hearing, designers landing jobs, when you're not even looking for a job job, when you are less prepared for jobs, suddenly you don't have that nerve and you're perceived as a little bit more yourself because the nerves are not coming in your way. Um, and very often when you don't want a job, that's when they want you. And suddenly you have to think, oh, do I actually need a job? Like, basically my point here is that very often it helps when you don't really need a job. And, um, that mindset is helping you personally to overcome those fears or those nerves. Easy to say, of course, but, um, that's what I've learned. Many people experience this. But Ula, you also maybe had some thoughts.

Speaker E: Yeah, I agree with, with the girls, like, the waiting is really hard. But also what Alessia just said, you know, the. The, um, the sureness, you know, that whatever happens, happens. Just you, you really. I would say this is, you know, hard to say, but it really is like that. Like, try to accept what is happening to you right now and just move forward. What helped me the most, like, personally, was finding like, uh, a, you know, plan B job for the time being. When I was, you know, looking for my, you know, dream job, UX job, I just, you know, did some marketing freelancing a bit. And it helped me, you know, to stand on my feet because I also was so long, you know, without the job. The whole last year was, like, really hard in terms of work, right? And. And I became so, like, at some point, I might even say that I got depressed, you know, a bit because all of those processes, they were going nowhere. I was having. I was running out of money, you know, and it was very hard at one point. And then I decided, you know, okay, what the hell, I'm going to do some marketing. You know, this is what I do. This is what I come from also, you know, from graphic. I come from graphic design in general. So, so this comes easy to me. I will do that. It doesn't need any, no mental charge, you know, on my side. So I will do this job, this, you know, day, day to day job, and I will look for, for my dream job, like, you know, after hours. And that's what I did. And this is when things got, you know, easy, when things got straight. Because I had this, you know, uh, the safety in my mind, you know, that whatever happens, I have some source of money, some source of, you know, funds to live. And this helped me a lot. And I recommend this type of approach. It will make the whole journey that is stressful and you will not avoid, you know, the stress during, uh, finding the job. This is just what happens. Finding a job, looking for a job is stressful. But to make it, you know, the easiest and the most stressless for you as possible, find some backup and look for the job meantime.

Speaker A: That's what I, I think it goes to the same point, like, it doesn't. It will help you not being so stressed and also it will become less. Like, you're not so desperate to get a job. You're actually here on you. You are, you're looking to upgrade, like get something better, but you don't need. You're not dependent on it.

Speaker E: Exactly, exactly. And I wanted also to add that, you know, many times after interviews, I had this feeling that for some reason I, I couldn't, uh, very much, you know, put a pin on that. Why was that? But I had this feeling that I didn't sell my best self, you know, that as the, the interview ended and I was like, why, like, why did that say why did I say this or that? Like, why? I had so many better answers, you know, in my mind. But for some reason, I don't know, I said something stupid, you know, and it happened many times. And then finally at the end, it didn't happen. And then I landed the job. Right, because just energy flew in, you know, right way and it all just, just, you know, went right at the end.

Speaker A: Absolutely. Um, I think we're all such an overthinkers and yeah, it's a, it's a, it's a blessing and a curse because sometimes it helps us to understand where we didn't good, do the good job. For example, you could receive those signals. You could see where their mood is switching and you notice this inevitably. But then it sometimes makes you go back and rethink, oh my God, I could have done this better. And that Better. And it's just like it's never ending threat. It's really overwhelming and I hate this as well. Like it's just. Yeah, it's horrible. I think many people experience this. I don't have the remedy. I'm just saying this is like turning the table to people here who are maybe still in the job hunting process but and reflecting on the conversation we all had so far today, if somebody here is three months into their job hunt right now or is about to start job hunting, what's the thing that they need to hear? What's the kind of advice that you would give them? What do they need to hear now to keep going?

Speaker B: Basically I would say that uh, you know if you're being rejected it doesn't mean that you are. I don't have like your value and it doesn't give anything about you as a, ah, even like as a designer because you might be rejected like for any reasons and you never like know why because like the budget or like some skills. After being rejected a couple of times you start like doubting sometimes about your value, you know and about your, I don't know, just uh, okay, maybe I'm wrong or something like this. And I would say that uh, if like couple of companies like reject you, I think if you go on like you will find that one like which will see your value and you don't have like to prove it, you know like you're like being yourself and people like will notice it. I think like especially right now we just faced with many rejections like in the job market because I've heard like many stories like from different designers like where just they were given like some test task and like recruiter didn't come back to them. I think like it's kind of like

Speaker A: very frustrating but yeah, that's ugly actually given how much time you spent these days on those home tech challenges. It's a matchmaking process. Like it's not really always about your skill. Sometimes there is a person who already has experience in this industry and for them it's a no brainer that they overcome some certain challenges that they would be a better fit or somebody. For example, recently another community member was going through the process and in the company that I just landed the job at, she went to the final stage. Unfortunately it's her curse because she went through multiple rounds of interviews and always went to the final stage and didn't get the job offer. And it happened again to her and she was very frustrated because of this. That and I feel her it's very, very frustrating to be again in the same shoes. But then as I started working in the company, I, uh, found the hiring manager posted how many CVs they received for this role. It was 4,000 applications for this role. And this person went to the final stage. And the person who won was just direct experience. They already got experience in this particular domain. And just because she was more of a generalist, but not specifically experienced in this particular area, she didn't get the role right. So sometimes it's like a final straw that is missing. So it's really not about your skills. 4000 people applied for the role and you went to the final. It's not really a representation of your skills that you're not good enough. There is something implicit, something very invisible that you cannot grasp. It's just a matchmaking process. And sometimes it's very soul crushing that

Speaker C: you don't know what it is adding on to this, that small, uh, wins, no matter in whatever way you find, it's very important because it really helps you to keep going. And uh, another thing that I feel that you have, uh, a lot of valuable time in your hand when you're job hunting. And this is actually quite useful, especially today in the age of AI. I mean the amount of upskilling that you can do is a lot. And also, uh, to create warm connections because even if it's not referrals, it will definitely help, uh, in the future.

Speaker B: Future for sure.

Speaker A: Absolutely. I sometimes felt this like working in my last job, especially with the kiddo on my hands, uh, who was always sick, I felt like I could never ever catch up with the market if I were between the jobs or if I were out of the job. It would be so much easier to finally catch up with AI tools. And I feel like a lot of the people don't realize that while they do have time, maybe many of you of us working through this imposter syndrome, thinking we're not good enough. Actually you have a solid asset that many people who are grinding at your job job, where expectations are raising and the amount of job is really increasing, they don't have that time, they don't have that luxury. And you sometimes might make it a competitive advantage if you embrace this mindset. And what I'm also realizing from all of you guys sharing your experiences also with you, Alessia, because I remember we had a conversation more than a year ago when you, I think you were just out of this freelance project, um, and you were not sure how to land the job. We were Talking about the strategy. And in this last year, you upskilled a lot. You were improving your UI skills, you were improving your design thinking skills. And in general, like, this time is a great opportunity for many of, uh, us to really improve the gaps we might have. And you don't realize that when you're getting into this interview, yes, you need to have tactics, you need to go through this unfair market, but it's really your skills and your thinking that lands the job. Very often you don't realize it is. And just don't forget to work on those skills. It's really important because it's the quality of your thinking, your mindset and almost your hard skills that will eventually

Speaker D: blow

Speaker A: m somebody's mind and want to hire you, basically. Right? So don't just focus on the grind of like, funnel, funnel, funnel, apply and apply. Focus on your skills. That's the time you will not have. Once you start joining the company, what do you think was your unfair advantage among others? It's a very good question. Um, when you don't see this pool of, I don't know, 4,000 applicants, sense. But then once it clicks, you said, you said some of you mentioned in which stages you felt like it's clicking. But what do you feel was your unfair advantage that eventually landed you job? And I think I already mentioned the story of like, it's just sometimes direct experience that is lower risk for companies. What, was there something for you guys, girls, uh, that you felt was your advantage?

Speaker E: Yeah, um, I had one thing was the portfolio and I really felt that, because I've heard it many times, right, that the portfolio that I put so much effort into in this, you know, last year in this community with you and fisa, it really was my advantage. It was. And I saw the very drastic change, you know, in the, um, in response, uh, to my applying, you know, to when I had my portfolio ready, like, I had the answers and it was like immediately it. But when the. I was just, you know, applying with cv, for example, like, uh, you know, it, it wasn't the case for me. So this was important in, in my, in my case and I think in general, right. The portfolio is important today you need to have that, you know, covered. You need to have that, you know, done really well. And the other one was that I, I identified m that my like, strong advantage is my communication skill and my like, presentation skill in general. And those are like, you know, called soft skills. But today I think they're growing in importance, right? The, the ability to, to express yourself, the Ability also to convey your message to others and, you know, to persuade, you know, people to your rights. You know what I mean? And, um, I. Once I identified that those are my strong, you know, how strong points, my advantages, I decided, you know, to also go for it and try to sell it during the interviews. And I, uh, saw that this is also important. And this was also the. One of the moments during those interviews when I saw that, you know, the hiring managers, they were like, okay, this is good, this is good. So this, I think, would be my unfair advantage. Yeah. So the, the type of thing. Yeah.

Speaker A: It's also again, shows that you did reflection and you. You've noticed what works and what to kind of go and double down on.

Speaker E: Yeah, yeah, and I did that thanks to the, to the exercises here in the community. I did this, you know, uh, job preparation, uh, figma. I don't remember. It's is in the course. Right. It's in the define file. Right? M. Yeah. And I did this like, you know, uh, from the beginning to end to end. And it really helped me at the very beginning of the process doing this, this bit, uh, in the community discourse really helped me to understand where even I am, you know, where I'm at, you know, at this whole landscape of. Of job possibilities and skills. It helped to. It helped me to narrow down, you know, what I'm good at and what I would like to pursue. Third, further.

Speaker A: Amazing. Nice. Anybody else?

Speaker C: Uh, I think, yeah, again, it points back to reflection. And I think something that I did was also understanding my own strengths and weaknesses. And then by addressing it head on in my pitch, like, I tried to convert my stories that might be highlighted as a weakness or a point of doubt for them. And then I started telling it as a story of, uh, in a positive light so that I could avoid further questions that might come up from that. And also like, yeah, again, trying to steer the conversation by leaving bits of signals here and there so that they point more towards those topics that you think would work in your favor.

Speaker A: Yeah. I remember our coaching session where we were discussing your story. It was just very great because you have so many like those transformational moments. It was just great to hear you could uncover them. Basically. I had actually, very interestingly, I aligned with all of you. I had exactly the same experience in my last job hunt. Same. It was match. It was direct experience that they were looking for. Um, and it's kind of interesting because you know that the market today says that you have to be generalist. Right. But generalist can get you really far. It could get you to the very end. But then when it's like a comparison between you and another one, very often it's this final straw that, like that nugget of direct experience could get you actually to the finish line and get you an offer. And so the generalist is very important. The skill set we have today is very important. We have to work on all those skills, we have to always improve them. But there has to be this final unfair advantage, something that will stand you out from the crowd and make people want to actually hire you for this particular skill.

Speaker E: I just wanted to quickly add to that that in the beginning of the process, when you're just trying to get in, the general approach is very important. But I would say this is more about, you know, showing that you can think broadly. This is not the general. In a way, you have to have, you know, an experience in every single, like sector. No, this is not about that. This is about broad thinking. But the last straw that you're speaking also about. I would say that you can also turn the conversation into your advantage, into addressing the concerns that they might have that you don't have this exact experience. For example, for me, it was like that when I was having one of those interviews that actually got me the job. It was really the last stage in this enterprise, long process that they said, yeah, well, it's all good, but you weren't speaking so much about the, uh, MVPs, for example, that you didn't work so much on MVP. And here we would not need a person who would be, you know, eager to build things quickly and to destroy them quickly and then rebuild them. Then I just pitched in, I just interrupted them and said, uh, yeah, but, you know, it's fine because I also did that, you know, during my work in those different sectors. I also managed to work a little bit on mdps. And then, you know, I told them a little bit about it. I believe it was also very important for them to hear this story, you know, that I, in the very end, uh, I conveyed to my advantage. So I would say being very alert during those interviews. Look for those signals. What are they looking, you know, right now? This is also very helpful and it can eventually win you the conversation, even if you don't have the needed experience in the sector.

Speaker A: Do you have any practical tips to prepare for interviews?

Speaker C: So for me, I used to do these ADP list. Okay, now it's a bit controversial, but then I, I used to actively seek people who are in the community and looking forward to help Others and that really helped me to do mock interviews. Yeah, the community really helped in here. I think it was also from the community itself that I remember there was this figjam board that you shared, anfisa. So basically I worked further on that building on top of that adding my own personal stories into it under each question. So I basically have a figjam board now with all of the questions and my personal stories right next to it. So before every interview I could just go through the board and then I would be done with the preparation that I need for that. And another thing that I used to do in the interviews is that this is a general signal which does not usually work in your favor. That is if they prob and ask follow up questions after they ask you a question, it's usually a signal that they have not not got an answer that they are looking for. So that is uh, usually a reason why they ask you follow up questions. So try to avoid that. But if they ask it then it's a good signal to come clear to the point and be on point for the answer.

Speaker A: Beautiful. Great.

Speaker B: Uh, yeah, from my side I was trying to just like to drop some uh, scenarios in ChatGPT and it was like, okay, can you imagine like blah blah, blah and could you please provide me a list of the questions? But honestly like none of these questions like haven't uh, been asked me, you know, and it was kind of stupid because I have like bunch of questions and I was prepared like to each of them, you know. But I've been asked like totally different questions, you know, which was kind of like frustrating because I was trying you know, to follow up on Those questions which ChatGPT like dropped for me. But in terms of the presentation, I always like try to follow the structure just like to write down for myself. Okay. I will have seven steps. I'll have to clearly define the problem. Okay. What I was doing before, how I ended up here, right. And like to show the results. So I'm like trying to keep it like very just uh, direct and like not going like in details because it's only like high level presentation. And you know this always thing when you want like to talk more m but you have only like 20 minutes and you have to be like really precise. So I'm trying not to go deeper in details because I understand people just won't understand me because I was working on this during the week and I had the process but trying to keep the high structure on the high level on the bird view.

Speaker A: Amazing. Thank you for sharing. All right, thank you everyone for joining today and just going through your reflections, your understanding of the process, what worked, what didn't work, how would you improve it? What tips would you give to people? People going through this process again, I think it was very insightful for everyone. It was for me. I have a lot of notes and I loved hearing how sometimes we coincided in certain points and how the market have kind of certain dynamic that we could be using all to our advantage. Thank you girls. You were all amazing.

Speaker B: Thank you.

Speaker D: Thank you. Anfis. Uh, thank you. That was a nice talk and they hear all of the stories from everyone. Thank you very much.

Speaker B: Thank you and wish you luck, guys

Speaker D: who are looking for a job.

Speaker A: Oh yeah.

Speaker E: Crossed fingers.

Speaker D: Crossed fingers crossed. Absolutely.

Speaker A: You need some luck. Yes. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye guys.

Speaker E: Bye.