In a standard one hour interview I think it is pretty easy to get to the heart of deliverables such as use cases, process flows, wireframes and even taxonomies and nav structures. A 30 minute white board session with some well thought out problem statements or project briefs help. Complex interactions aren't much help in static form anyway. I know I am in the minority here... but regardless of whether you are interviewing visual designers, interactive designers or information architects, if your are interviewing for user experience, I think you cane learn much more from conversation than viewing a picture book or web site (or resume for that matter).
None of this, however, helps the sometimes clueless (to IA IX UI and UX) recruiter. That being said... there are some very sharp recruiters that specialize in our field and subscribe to this list. Mark On Thu, Jan 15, 2009 at 1:35 PM, Will Evans <[email protected]> wrote: > Along these lines, this discussion came up a lot this morning on Twitter - > > Imagine a world in which you work full time creating a lot of deliverables, > sketches, wireframes, sitemaps, task flows, user stories, but because of > the > NDA and various work product ownership things signed - you can never show > any work - none of your portfolio. Technically, having done this for 14 > years now, ever single deliverable I have ever done is locked up behind > some > legal contract, and I am pretty sure that is true for most IxDers out > there. > So how do you walk into an interview - legally - when we can't show > anything > we've ever done. There is no "you can't show any of this proprietary work > unless you are applying for another job," - clause - and we are all guilty > of this because sitting on the other side of the table - we all expect > candidates to show a portfolio (even though we know they legally can't - so > we are asking them to break a contract to get a job), and then before we > give them a job, we say "We know we wanted to see your portfolio to get > this > job - but if you ever leave here, you can't show any work done here to > anyone else - ever" It seems insane, hyprocritical, legally precarious if > not bordering on pathalogical. Yet we all perpetuate this little "don't ask > don't tell" policy as if everything is hunky dorey. > > > ~ will > > "Where you innovate, how you innovate, > and what you innovate are design problems" > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Will Evans | User Experience Architect > tel: +1.617.281.1281 | [email protected] > aim: semanticwill > gtalk: semanticwill > twitter: semanticwill > skype: semanticwill > > --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > On Thu, Jan 15, 2009 at 1:21 PM, Jen Randolph <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Scott: > > Thanks for your detailed reply! I too feel much better about the > > interview when the interviewer has me design something on the spot. I > > can talk about my work until I'm blue in the face, but I feel like I > > can really *show* the interviewer my strengths if I'm sketching > > something out for them. > > > > As an interviewer, though, I'd like to ask you this question: when a > > candidate for a job has come to your office for the interview, how do > > you like to see them present their work samples to you? Maybe a > > sketchbook, maybe a nice binder full of work, or something along my > > method - loose pages that can be spread out? Or maybe has there been > > any in-person presentation of work that has stood out to you in the > > past, and that you wish more candidates did? > > > > I'm sort of trying to find out if there happens to be any sort of > > "standard" for this when it comes to the IxD field. Many of my > > graphic design friends bring a book to their interviews, and leave > > some samples and a business card behind; my motion graphics friends > > bring a demo reel. I want to know if something like this exists for > > IxD interviews. > > > > > > . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . > > Posted from the new ixda.org > > http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=37179 > > > > > > ________________________________________________________________ > > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > > To post to this list ....... [email protected] > > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > > > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [email protected] > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
