The successful UX Content Strategy interview
This article is Part 3 of 3 on finding great UX Content Strategists for your team!
In my 3+ years managing UX Content Strategists, I’ve had the privilege of giving several people their first jobs as UX Content Strategists (also called UX Writers or Content Designers). I’ve successfully hired with internal recruiters, talent agencies, and sourcing candidates directly.
The qualities I look for include an interest in people and communication, experience as a writer, and an ability to work with designers and researchers to create impactful user experiences.
I start with resumes and have considered candidates with a variety of backgrounds including marketing, SEO, conversion optimization, community management, and customer service. See article 1 of 3 in this series.
The portfolio review and phone screen let me dig deeper into whether candidates have the right mindset and experience, which determine whether I’ll bring them in to meet the team. Read article 2 of 3 in this series.
Finally, I bring candidates in to meet with a multidisciplinary group of designers, researchers, product managers and/or product marketing managers. This article is about how those interviews are generally conducted and what I look for.
The “onsite” interview
The interview process usually lasts about a half day. The goal is to get input from teammates and partners on strengths and weaknesses they perceive in the candidate — to help determine whether they’ll succeed in the position.
The interview typically consists of:
- A presentation by the candidate
- One-on-one interviews
- An onsite exercise
All of these involve some prep work, both for the candidate and the interviewers. I’m a big believer in prepping candidates for what will happen onsite and making them comfortable, and prepping interviewers to see what the candidates have to offer.
I see no benefit in watching people fail because they were nervous, unprepared, or our expectations were not aligned. I much prefer giving people a chance to shine.
The candidate’s presentation
This is potentially the most difficult and nerve-wracking part of the interview for me. In the course of our work as writers, we’re often trying to build trust and win people over so the better we are at it, the better we are in our jobs.
It’s important that candidates present well and connect with people in the room through their work.
Unless instructed otherwise, presentations are expected to be a case study of 1-2 projects that show a range of skills with projects that are most relevant to the job, and within the last 3 years. I ask candidates to look for projects with parallels to the size of company/team, industry, user, or type of projects—to make it easy for the team to imagine them working there. I also like when candidates include a slide or two about themselves in the beginning to show what they, personally, bring to a role.
In the presentation, I’m looking for:
- An ability to present clearly, concisely, and convincingly. Presentation counts so spend time making it look good, practice, and get feedback.
- A demonstration of the problem to be solved, use of data, and rationale for the solution. It’s also nice to see results if you have them!
- Thorough content and copy considerations, explorations, and choices. Be prepared to talk about your process and who you worked with.
More established writing teams might rely entirely on other writers to assess candidates, but I’ve asked researchers, designers, and product managers to interview as well. It helps to have an understanding of these roles and what they’re looking for, so candidates can anticipate their questions.
One-on-one interviews
A few days before the interview, I send an email to my interviewers to prep them. They’re busy so I try to keep it brief. My email goes something like this:
Hi [name],
Thank you for agreeing to help me interview UX Content Strategy candidates! You’re interviewing [candidate name] on [day, date].
Because it’s a fairly new field, my candidates may have limited direct experience even though they are experienced writers. I’ve already assessed their writing and determined that they have the writing qualifications.
What I’m looking for from you is an assessment of their ability to:
- Ask questions to determine what’s best for the user
- Collaborate with designers
- Give and receive feedback
- Create copy tests and incorporate research findings in their work
- Articulate and advocate for their point of view
[Candidate’s name] has a background in [brief description of where they’re coming from and how I see it relating to what we’re looking for]. Their resume is attached for your review. Let me know if you have any questions!
Thank you,
Writing exercise
I like doing this as the last part of the interview process. After the presentation and the interviews, it should feel easy. I’ve already spoken to the candidate a few times and I intend for this exercise to be a casual conversation. But it is a risk because you’ve already spent people’s time interviewing.
Many companies send out a writing exercise in advance and ask candidates to complete it on their own, then have existing staff evaluate, sometimes blind. I myself have completed these exercises a half a dozen times and have “passed” and have “failed.” I’ve also graded them. Though we try to be scientific, different writers will evaluate the exercise differently.
If you have a lot of qualified candidates, it’s an effective hurdle. But for people new to the field, I prefer the onsite exercise for a few reasons:
- I get to see the way my candidate thinks. What kind of things might they come up with that I have not have thought of?
- I get to see how quickly they can assess a situation. Anyone, given several days or a week might be able to come up with good copy, but what can they do on the fly? What questions do they ask?
- I get to see how they solve problems and how collaborative they might be. What do they notice, what do they miss? How do they deal with a lack of information? What would they try?
If I see that writers have a sense of curiosity, know what questions to ask, and can come up with ideas, I’m confident they can learn the mechanics needed, on the job.
In my hiring, I’ve skewed towards candidates who can lead strategic content thinking from concept to execution as well as execute copy but it’s worth nothing that larger teams might have different needs. Some products require rigorous process, adherence to guidelines, and detailed copy systems. That type of writer may not do well in this on-the-fly exercise.
For the exercise itself, I usually show a live product that has not had a writer on it and ask how they would improve it. I’m looking for a rapid fire assessment. What do you see? What do you want to know? What stands out as a bad experience? What opportunities for a good experience have been missed? I’m not expecting candidates to write copy, I just want to know what they notice and what they don’t, what’s important to them.
This part of the process excites me the most. I’m always amazed at how similarly—in some ways—people drawn to this role think, and yet how creatively different we can be in how we approach things. This is where I start to see what kind of impact this person can make on my team.
The final decision
How the candidate expresses themselves in their presentation and in the exercise is critical, as is how easy they are to converse with. I’ve found this to be important with other interviewers as well.
These are some of the reasons I’ve had to pass on a candidate, despite their work experience:
- Inarticulate or too long winded
- Took too long in the setup, not enough time on their work
- Doesn’t listen or stop to ask for questions
- Didn’t answer direct questions
- Can’t describe their process
- Made assumptions about the job that may not be true
- Doesn’t have experience with other writers or designers
On the other hand, there are so many factors that go in to a hiring decision. A candidate can make a great impression and still not get the offer. All anyone can do is present ourselves, our experience, and our expectations in the best and most relevant way and hope that when it’s a match, everyone will know it. My goal is to create transparency so candidates and employers can do just that!
