How to Pass UX/UI Design Pre-Employment Assessment Test

You will inevitably get in touch with many professional UX/UI design agencies with their unique business processes when looking for a job. Some hire only based on your CV or job interview, while others find it necessary to conduct a pre-employment assessment test.

Whether you agree or not to pass a test is a controversial topic. This post will discuss when it is okay to decide and give tips on how to succeed in your pre-employment assessment.

1. When It’s Okay to Agree on a Pre-Employment Assessment Test
2. Succeeding at Pre-Employment Assessment Step by Step
3. Pay Attention to the Cover
4. Demonstrate Your Unique Approach
5. Show That You Understand the Goals of Your Design
6. Provide UX/UI Tools and Logic
7. Clearly Show the Results of Your Work

When It’s Okay to Agree on a Pre-Employment Assessment Test

In what cases is it worth it to take the test task?

• If you have almost no experience and an empty portfolio, or you are new in this area of design. In this case, the doubts of the employer can be understood. However, if the task is oversized or requires more than eight hours of your time, don’t agree to do that unless you want to work in this company.
• The task is paid. After all, this is essentially the same as doing your job. Therefore, you can estimate the labor costs and send a bill to the company.
• The task is incredibly exciting and unique, and you have much free time.

Succeeding at Pre-Employment Assessment Step by Step

Now let’s imagine that you have decided that doing the test task is worth it. Here’s a typical problem that you can be asked to solve.

Design a component for an ad editor that would allow users to upload multiple images simultaneously and set various headings, ad texts, and links simultaneously. The user should be able to create one or more ads by combining images, headlines, readers, and links.

All other ad parameters can be omitted; focus only on the appearance of the ad. The result of the task is a wireframe with comments on use; rendering the interface itself is unnecessary.

Feel free to ask clarifying questions.

This task sounds reasonable since it will not take too much of your free time. Also, even if you are not hired, you can use the results in your portfolio. However, how would you approach this?

Pay Attention to the Cover

This means that the task you’re solving and how you present your results is crucial. Think of it as a mini-portfolio where every element is essential and highlights your skills.

Demonstrate Your Unique Approach

The employer needs to see your logic and approach to development. Present your way of thinking and motivation toward the project. This part is crucial because it shows whether you’re on the same page with the agency and have the same approach to design processes.

Show That You Understand the Goals of Your Design

The most common mistake that beginner designers make is designing just for the sake of design. While having excellent skills and solid knowledge of the main tools is vital, you must also understand why.

You design a product that helps users solve their problems and helps a particular business to grow and develop. So, demonstrate that you understand users’ questions before using your solution and how it can revolutionize their lives.

Provide UX/UI Tools and Logic

Finally, mention the programs you used and how you applied common UX/UI knowledge to solve users’ problems.

It is undoubtedly a plus when an aspiring designer is aware of different trends and problem-solving techniques. However, this can be taught, while customer development comes from inside every professional.

Clearly Show the Results of Your Work

Please make it so that your case study tells a story. Let all of your sketches be beautiful and organized.

Conclusion

It is the choice of every UX/UI designer whether they agree to complete pre-employment assessment tasks or not. UX/UI designers can work in graphic design, Illustration, web design, SMM design, motion design, and game design.

This process is sometimes beneficial for both the employer and the candidate, as it allows them to understand each other’s logic better and add a compelling case to the designer’s portfolio. This is also the way for a company to select only the most motivated ones if they have a lot of candidates.

However, if you need a job as soon as possible and don’t have much free time to do unpaid tasks, do not work on test tasks. Invest this time into improving your portfolio; it might pay off even more!

Established design agencies like Clay Global incorporate this in their selection process to find the most motivated and talented candidates from a vast pool of aspirants.