To recruit top UX designer keep the following points in minds:
1. He must be good at explaining what he does and how something works.
Ask a simple question like “What does your company do?” and see how he structures the answer. In my experience, a great UX designer knows how to transfer information in the most efficient way, no matter if the medium is a website, an app or spoken language. So, he should structure his answer applying a certain hierarchy: first the macro, then the middle level and at the end the details.
2. Sketch files: they tell a lot about his attitude.
Although those things might seem too specific, I never met a great UX designer that is not obsessed with that kind of details. The reason is that they show a clear attitude to execute tasks in clear, scalable, and rigorous way.
3. He must be curious about your company’s product.
The thing is: as a UX designer you basically work every day on the product. And it is not just about the product, in my experience a good UX designer should understand the whole context in which the company is operating to deliver the best solutions. That means that his questions should also regard your target clients, the business model, the main KPIs and many other aspects.
4. Portfolio: tell me what you did
It happens many times to see impressive portfolios. For sure this is a good sign that reveals aesthetic taste. For a UX designer I prefer to go deeper into the “reality” of the projects shown in the portfolio.
5. Tools and workflow
This point is obvious, but it is better to ask which tools the candidate is using and what is his workflow.
6. An outstanding interaction he found in a digital product
Here the key is to go super specific. The question should be something like “Can you tell me a great interaction you found in a digital product?”.
7. A product that has an overall beautiful experience (even not digital)
Asking to talk about the experience of an entire product will unveil if he knows what makes a product great starting from the high level.
8. Hobbies and passions: tell me what you love
Asking about hobbies and passions might sound trivial but in my opinion it is not. In some cases, passions and hobbies are good predictors of the candidate’s attitude. In my experience a great UX designer is belonging to the “maker” type of persons. He loves to create amazing experiences and products and want to go deep into it.
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath