Interview: Amy Jackson, UX Design Recruiter
I spoke with Amy Jackson, from AmyJacksonTalent, about her 25+ years of experience recruiting for design. After quickly discovering our mutual connections to Massachusetts and Montana, where she and I are from, respectively, we dove into the wild world of design hiring. Amy is based in Boston and works exclusively with companies in the Bay Area. What became apparent to me immediately was Amy’s genuine love for designers and our sense of community and support–something I’ve witnessed personally both in and out of a job.
Read on for her insights about what challenges companies face when hiring designers, how you as a designer can put your best foot forward, and what industries are weathering the COVID storm. If you’d like to get in touch with Amy on LinkedIn to learn more about design in the Bay area, in particular, you can find her at amy [at] amyjacksontalent [dot] com.
How did you get into recruiting for UX Design?
I started out in software engineering, then moved into recruiting. I was arguably the first UX recruiter in the country. I live on the East Coast, but about 10 years ago I decided to focus solely on the SF Bay Area.
It’s been wonderful, wild, and crazy. Overall though, the job search process hasn’t changed much. Yes, we have better tools to communicate, find roles, and each other, but there’s still that basic element of how to interview and what to consider for your career. Digital Design is really not that old of a profession and is still changing as we uncover new technologies and ways to create experiences for people.
Who do you work with?
I generally work with startups, from Seed Round to Series B, usually before they have a recruiter on the inside or when it is a critical hire for them. They solicit my help because I specialize and have a large network.
For both companies and designers, I am more of a partner and collaborator than a role-filler. I will talk to either to give them guidance even if they are not actively looking to change roles, or fill a position.
What are some of the most common design roles you work on?
Titles of roles change. Early on, designers were called UI Engineers, Graphic Designers, and the like. When the term UX was coined in the mid 90’s roles were broken into specializations like visual, interaction, information architecture, research. While those specializations still exist today, the companies I work with usually need designers who can understand the product holistically, even if they’re going to work on just one part of the product. Generally speaking, they are referred to as Product Designers. In addition to Product Design roles, I hire for design team leads. And with startups, leadership is going to be hands-on.
What are some of your clients’ biggest concerns or challenges when it comes to hiring designers?
A big challenge we all face is that companies are looking for everything in one person, and it just doesn’t exist. Sometimes they don’t understand what design can do for their product and users, making hiring even more difficult.
They’re trying to figure out what the person has done in their past that shows that they can solve the problem that the company is having, but design is not a black and white field. In programming, it either works or it doesn’t. In design, you can have a beautiful, intuitive solution but another designer can also come up with a ‘correct’ solution as well. There is not an easy way to say “that’s the right one.” Because of that, it can be scary for some hiring managers and companies to know that they’ve found the right person. It’s really one of the hardest positions to hire for a company.
What about design challenges to help evaluate candidates?
It has become a standard. There is the design exercise, where you are given an assignment to complete and present, but there’s also the whiteboard exercise. I like to recommend the whiteboard exercise, as an effective way to evaluate a candidate. I think it is more valuable because you are doing the work with someone else. They get to see how you work, and you get to see how they work. There’s a discussion that can happen when you’re working together instead of just presenting something you did at home.
What would you say are the top three “soft skills” designers need?
For one I’d say it’s flexibility. The ability to work on a team that hasn’t done what you do, you need to be able to help them understand the design decisions and understand their concerns as well.
Second, there’s collaboration and cooperation. People can be unsure of what choices you have made, and it can be hard to prove the design’s value. By partnering–rather than acting the authority–you can ease some of that concern and work more as a team.
Finally, being able to give and accept feedback. Design can be emotional. When a designer feels they have done the research and built the right solution, but other stakeholders come back and appear to not believe in it, or even “like” what has been done, emotions can kick in. It is important to remember it’s nothing personal and the team has to come together and work things through.
How has the balance between job seekers and available roles shifted over the last six months? The last month?
Companies directly impacted by the crisis are having layoffs. There are other companies chasing after those who have been laid off. And then others are waiting to see what happens before making any hiring moves. Overall, hiring has dramatically dropped off. Six months ago designers had far more choices to consider for their next roles, but now it’s slowed down. A lot.
That said, summer tends to be slower anyway, especially in August. I would be surprised if at the beginning of September it doesn’t pick up again, since September can be one of the busiest months of the year for hiring. Meanwhile, people are getting used to working and hiring from home. I think things will start to open up again as we get more settled into this new reality. I also think we’re going to see a hybrid model whenever offices open up again where some days are mandatory office days, but otherwise, people will have much more flexibility to work from home.
What advice would you give to people looking for their first job in design?
First, remember it is really hard right now because of what’s going on. You can approach your search in a few ways. There are of course job postings, but these tend to be the least successful in terms of getting an interview. There are also virtual meetups and even lists popping up to support people who have been let go due to COVID. But hands down, your best option is to leverage your network.
One of my favorite go-to’s is alumni networks: look around companies you want to work for to see who went to your school. People love to have something in common–like you and I joyfully discovering our geographical connections to Massachusetts and Montana! So I would recommend you make those connections–they might not lead to something immediately, but they’ll pay off eventually.
Another good thing to do is continue to practice your craft. Side projects, freelance work, find something out there that sucks and redesign it! This work can be valuable assets to showing what you can do and how you think about design. Then you can share it in your portfolio, it doesn’t have to only be paid work there. I like to think of it like painting: if you paint two oil paintings, sell one and hang the other in your home, that one on the wall at home is still yours and showing off your skill.
Do you have a sense of which industries will be most in need of designers this year and into 2021?
Industries that invest in technology are hiring, like Fintech, and IT. Products involving things like machine learning, AI, security, and anything to do with the cloud are some of the technology areas companies continue to invest in. Healthcare is getting a lot of buzz because of the pandemic, but it’s always been a finicky industry for design. I would be cautious with companies that are thriving right now because of the pandemic as they will face challenges in the future when things shift back to normal.