When in an interview it is always important no matter the question, you paint yourself in a positive light. To do this, even if it isn’t obvious what the question is asking, the safest bet is to always refer back to answering something which relates to:
Your Values
Prior Experience
Your Understanding
Use examples of how you understand the role such as the design process and refer back to how you used it in your own project work
Enthusiasm
Willingness To Learn
Examples could be any past mistakes you made or problems which arose and the steps you took to resolve them
Your Aspirations
User Centred Approach
How you work as a person, your motivations and demonstrating your priorities.
An interview tip we spoke about in class but I also implemented recently when being interviewed for a part time job is prepare talking points such as short stories, the situation and their outcomes instead of a learnt off script. This prevents you sounding like a robot and allows you interview conversation to flow a lot better.
When you deliver this, a technique I like to use is S.T.A.R as it allows me to address the situation I was met with, the task at hand to resolve it, the actions I took to help resolve it and the result as well as reflecting on what I did but Daniel also supplied us with the following that is along the same lines:
When it comes to personality, sell yourself with your strengths, show enthusiasm and use portfolio projects and experiences to back up your claims.
Some application processes for placement have a design task element as it is a good way for companies to see you demonstrate your abilities and honest approach to your work.
As I don’t really know much about the design tasks, I decided to read a blog on Medium to get a better understanding on what it involves and what will be asked of me.
How to ace the design task to get an interview.
<aside> 💭 Reflection
This article really helped me understand things I could do to help me be successful in completing the design task. It is really important to understand the task, its requirements and objectives before I start researching and creating the process I have used for all my previous projects to create a solution. Something it recommended which I do not have my design related practice in is usability testing as the most I have ever done is receive peer and lecture feedback. I learnt that the presentation and storytelling of your process during the design task is important as it allows them to clearly see how your mind works as well as seeing my attention to detail and management skills. This article has really helped calm my nerves about design tasks as now I know it is exactly what I have been doing while working on my projects in class but in a more shorter scaled down version. Hopefully this will help me improve my chances on excelling in these tasks now I have a more clear understanding.
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