On the Hunt: How to Hire a UX Designer with Working Not Working
WORKING NOT WORKING
If you’re on the hunt to hire a user experience designer, you’re not alone. UX design is one of the most highly sought-after creative positions to fill. Only creatives who work in product design are in higher demand, according to data from Onward Search.
Filtering down to great candidates, posting job descriptions, scheduling and conducting interview after interview...it’s all time-consuming, especially when you're competing for talent with so many other strong companies.
We can sympathize with your struggle. As a hiring manager, all you want is to fill that UX design opening...fast. The sooner you can do that, the sooner you can get back to knocking the next project out of the ballpark.
At Working Not Working, more than 2,000 talented UX designers are a part of our creative community. Many of them are behind multimillion-dollar campaigns and have worked with billion-dollar brands. And you can see each designer’s availability right in the search results.
Want to know what it’s like to tap into our talent pool? Read on to see the exact, step-by-step process you can take to...
Search through our database using granular filters like work history and technical skills to identify your favorite designers.
Connect with and follow UX designers whose work you love.
Create and share a short job post (click to skip to this section) to attract UX designers who are actively searching for their next role.
Note: If you’re new to our site and don’t know what we do, check out our founding story. We talk about why we think hiring in creative industries is broken — and what we’re doing to fix it.
How to Find UX Designers Using Working Not Working Search Filters
If you prefer to seek out and build connections with a handful of elite candidates, start your search on our creative directory. The algorithm that powers our search takes into account a few factors to ensure the best results.
Factors that impact your search results include:
Recent Status Update: You always see the most up-to-date UX designer profiles first.
Completeness of Profile: UX designers who've provided the most details rank at the top.
Completeness of Portfolio: You only see UX designers who have at least 3 sample projects in their profile.
Connections: A UX designer with a loose tie to you will rank ahead of one that doesn't.
Configuring Your Search
To find a great UX designer for you, you'll need to adjust your search criteria.
Begin by clicking on the search box at the top of your homepage dashboard. A drop-down menu will appear. Tap on the button labeled “All Creatives”.
After clicking, a new page will load that lets you choose specific filters for your search. From your menu of options, there are two choices in particular that you'll need to select.
First, tap on the filter labeled “Titles” and select “UX/IA Designer”. After that, hit “Apply” and the page will refresh to show you only UX designers.
A word of the wise to any novice hirers out there: don't include user interface designers in your search. There's a big difference between UI designers and UX designers that you can learn about here (along with some great tips on identifying good UX designers by their portfolio items). Some of our creatives have skills in both, and so identify themselves as UI/UX Designers. It’s worth confirming that their skill set matches your needs if that’s the case.
Next, tap the button labeled Status. Choose the filters “AVAILABLE” and “AVAILABLE SOON”. By doing this, you'll only see UX designers looking for new work or on their way to having more room for new projects.
Need someone based nearby? Or, want to hire UX designers with a specific skill set? You can narrow your results down further with any of the following search filters:
Location
Skills
Mediums
Companies
Industries
Experience
Rate
Vetted status
Viewing Profiles
The first thing you see on someone's profile is their availability. Below that is a short blurb written by a UX designer about themselves and their expertise.
Grouped under their profile pictures are a variety of details on each UX designer. You see their primary disciplines, pay rate, and years of experience. You can also learn how long it takes for them to respond to messages. Links to a UX designer’s outside profile are here, too.
You might notice that some UX designers have a small badge below their profile pictures. This badge denotes their standing within the Working Not Working community. We categorize members into three different groups:
Membership Board: Only 300 of our top members have this designation. Veteran creative talent we've personally screened ourselves comprise this select group.
Vetted: Someone with this distinction has been audited by our membership board. A member becomes vetted through a plurality, rather than consensus, vote.
Non-Vetted: Oftentimes, creatives are still new to the community. Their lack of a badge doesn't mean they aren't quality UX designers. But you may want to do some further screening if you choose to connect with them.
The caliber of our talent pool is part of what makes Working Not Working unlike any other platform. Our founders, Adam Tompkins and Justin Gignac, worked hard to make it a place where you truly can find the best of the best.
As for creatives’ profiles, you can also see details on their experience, skills, mediums, and the industries they serve.
Followers, Favorites, and Vouches
On the right-hand column of a profile, you'll notice a familiar feature: followers. If you come across a UX designer with a good number of these, it means they're active within our community. A creative with a healthy following is well-respected and someone to watch.
When you follow UX designers, their activity will show up on your dashboard. Keep in mind that your activity will appear on their notification feed, too. If you’d rather not follow someone, you can favorite them, instead. When you do, you’ll receive emails whenever they change their work status.
Another social measure of a UX designer’s clout is the number of vouches they have. A vouch is a stamp of approval from one WNW member to another. They’re only given by creatives who’ve worked with each other on previous projects.
Checking Samples
At the bottom of UX designers' profiles are their portfolios, where you can see specific samples of their work.
When assessing a UX designer, a strong body of projects is crucial. But for example, screenshots of mobile apps or landing pages can only tell so much of a story. Pay close attention to candidates who go deeper into the how and why behind their work.
We make it easy for creatives to share as many details as they can about their experience. Every UX designer can include the following information:
A brief description of the project.
Their role and what they did.
The company the project was for.
The skills they used in the process.
Any media where their project appeared.
The industry that this UX design was for.
Samples sometimes also include links to external pages. Click on them to find out more project info.
Reaching Out to UX Designers
Found someone you like? While browsing someone's profile, hit the button labeled “Send a Message”. A new text box will appear in the center of your screen.
Compose a brief introduction in the box or invite them to apply to your job (more on creating those below). To do the latter, simply select your job posting from the drop-down menu.
When you’re ready, hit the button labeled “Send Message” to push your inquiry into their inbox.
How to Post a UX Designer Job on Working Not Working
To begin, start at your dashboard and tap on “My Jobs” on the menu at the top right of the page.
A new page will load, displaying all your open roles at your company. To build your job posting, hit the “Create New Job” button.
The Basic Elements of a New Job Posting
Your next step is to choose whether your job is full-time, for freelancers, or for an internship. You do this at the very top of your new job posting.
Once you’ve done that, a handful of required open fields follow. They include:
Name of Role: This is visible only to you. The short description you write here is to help keep you organized with your hiring process.
Position Title: This is what candidates see. You would input the kind of UX designer you’re looking to hire here.
Company: The name of your business will autofill as an option when you type it in this field.
Location: Write here where your home office is. There’s a box below that allows you to signal whether you require on-site work.
Annual Salary Range: In this field, enter your desired rates for the candidates you’d like to attract.
When you’re finished entering the above information, you'll have two options. You can post the job as is by hitting the “Create Job” button. Or, you can offer more information by tapping the “Add More Details” button.
Create the job if you already have candidates in mind you'd like to invite. But if you don't, you'll want to do the latter. You'll have to provide more details, but doing so allows you to share your opening on our UnJobBoard.
Posting to the UnJobBoard
To broadcast your UX design job opening to our community, you'll need to offer a few more details. It won't take long — you can choose to skip some sections as you get closer to the bottom of the page.
Targeted Roles
You'll need to set up targeting for your role. Since you're hiring a UX Designer, select UX/IA Designer from the menu of options.
You can also choose whether to reach only vetted members or all members, too. If you find that you receive only a few applicants, you might want to consider unchecking this box.
Create Your Headline
Your headline is one of the most important features of your job posting. It's the first thing that potential candidates see when your job is live on the UnJobBoard.
We know not everyone has a way with words, which is why we made this part fun. At your disposal are 14 different templates you can customize yourself.
Explain What You Want
In the following section, you’ll choose between completing at least six out of 10 statements about the job and your company (only 140 characters per answer) or writing the job description yourself.
The statements are:
Three words to describe this job are…
Our motto is…
This is a great opportunity because…
The ideal personality for this role is…
You need to be well-equipped to handle…
You’d be working on…
The best way to describe our culture is…
You’ll love our office because…
The best part about living here is…
You’ll definitely hate this job if…
If you’d like to write something more detailed, hit the button labeled “Longer Job Description”. This field lets you give applicants more specifics about what you need from them in your own words. You can share information about what your company is and does here, too.
The description doesn't have to be long. Its maximum length is only 2,000 characters — around 350 to 400 words.
Get Specific About Qualifications and Perks
The next thing to do is to include a few desired skills that fulfill your business goals. Start typing some ideas into the box, and recommendations will generate. Some commonly requested skills for the best UX designers include:
Human-Centered Design
Learning Experience Design
User Behavior Research
User Research
Usability Testing
Low / High Fidelity Prototyping
Content Writing
Adobe InDesign
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
After entering some skills, you can show UX designers why they should work for you. Choose up to 6 perks to encourage them to join your company. There are 20 default options to choose from.
Showcase your culture or shine a spotlight on your amazing office with any images you have. You can upload a total of 6 pictures to your job posting.
Include any legal or professional disclaimers in the fine print field. You can share any business needs you couldn't fit into a longer job description, too.
Finally, share any links about your business in this section. You can send applicants to your website, Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook pages.
Finalizing Your Job Post
Before pushing it live, you can preview your job post. You can hit the “Save Job” button if you're not ready to share. But if you’re happy, hit the green button labeled “Post Job” to send it out to the community.
When you've published your job, you can track its status in the “My Jobs” page on your user dashboard. Click the job you created to sort through applications of people who apply.
You can set up email notifications for your job posting, too. From your dashboard, you can do this by going to “Settings & Billing” then “Preferences”. From there, you can choose from the following options for email alerts:
No emails.
As soon as someone applies.
Once a day digest.
Once a week digest.
Your job posting integrates right onto your company page on Working Not Working. It stays active until you decide to take it down.
When Hiring Your Next UX Designer, Here’s What Counts
Recruiting the right UX designer for your company is hard work. But when hiring, there are a few key qualities to pay attention to.
Tobias van Schneider is a long-time UX designer in our Working Not Working community. He recommends looking for someone…
Who can execute high-quality graphic design.
Able to explain the design process behind their deliverables, like wireframe mockups.
Able to write and express ideas clearly.
"You wouldn’t believe the number of poorly written, typo-filled emails companies receive daily in response to job postings," Tobias said. "These emails typically go straight in the 'no' pile. Why? Because if you can’t be bothered with those details when a job is on the line, you likely won’t be great with details when it comes to your designs either — and UX design is, by nature, detailed work."
Anton Sten, another great UX designer in our community, emphasized this other key quality: empathy. Find out if your candidates see experiences through the eyes of the end-user. A healthy understanding of others is necessary for good UX designers to shine.
“The value of your product isn’t measured in its function and design, but in how your customers value the experience of using it,” Anton said.
The same can be said about your search for a UX designer. The value of your next employee is in part a result of how much you invest in the hiring process.