Navigating the Design Recruiter Phone Screening
How to get the most out of your first step in the product design interview process — the recruiter screening call.
Hey there! I’m Nicole, and I’m a product designer. I write this newsletter to share my experiences and lessons learned through my work as a product designer.
You’ve applied for a product design role (or a few) and you hear back from the recruiter a little while after. “Hello from [company name]!” the subject line reads. You open the email and read it – they’ve reviewed your resume and portfolio and want to invite you for a chat to discuss your professional background, interest in the company, and the role in more detail.
When you reach this point: you’ve officially started the interview process, so congrats! 🙌 However, you might be wondering what this first step entails – and how you can prepare, so you can easily move forward to the next stage in the process.
To start, let’s go through what the product design recruiter phone screening typically looks like.
Purpose of the phone screening
After you submit your application for a product design role, your resume will get sorted through an applicant tracking system and, afterwards, end up in front of a hiring manager.
The hiring manager reviews your resume and portfolio to determine if they’re interested in getting you started with the interview process. That typically means that if you’re receiving an email from the design recruiter, the team is interested in speaking with you further about your experience and background.
(Note that this is the conventional scenario. However, you might also end up in a scenario where only the recruiter has reviewed your resume/work, not the hiring manager, in which case will happen after the phone screening. You can usually tell which scenario you’re in when the recruiter describes the interview process to you.)
That being said, before the company moves you forward in their process, the recruiter will need to do the following:
Clarify the role that you’ve applied for by explaining the team, responsibilities, and job description
Learn about you and understand why you’re interested in the role and/or company
Gather some preliminary background information about you to inform the rest of the interview process
Let’s go through each of these points in depth, to understand what they involve and how you can prepare.
Step 1: Clarify the role
Your phone screenings will usually start with some small talk before the recruiter dives into briefing you on the role.
Their description of the role should adhere pretty closely to what’s outlined in the job description. This portion of the call allows the recruiter to add more color and details to help you understand exactly what you are interviewing for.
They will likely cover details including:
The role’s responsibilities. This part is typically kept higher-level, with the responsibilities primarily being focused on collaboration and processes. Depending on the company and their interviewing process, your recruiter may or may not be able to answer specific questions about responsibilities in detail, just due to knowledge or familiarity. However, you can always ask anyway; if they can’t answer, you can direct those questions to the hiring manager later on, or the recruiter can help you with that.
The team that the role resides within. Many of the specific responsibilities for product design roles depend primarily on what kind of team the role is placed in – such as if it’s on a mature product or a growth team, how many designers are on the team, who the role reports to, etc. Understanding the team and how it operates is crucial to understanding the role, so you should definitely make note of this when it’s described during the call.
The product(s) and users that the role will be focused on. This is often tied into the above and below points, as the recruiter should also explain what kind of product experience(s) you’d be working on. This is also an important point to take note of and do follow-up research on, as the specific product you’re designing for will be a frequent theme of the full interview process.
The company and industry overall. Especially for smaller companies, the recruiter will spend time explaining details like the size of the company and nuances of the industry the company is in. As product designers, it’s important to understand the larger picture in this way. As such, I’ve found it helpful to pay attention to any specific phrasing or terminology that’s mentioned at this point – you’ll likely hear it repeated throughout the process as well, and it can give you an indication of what’s important to the company when describing their product, culture, or team.
How the role operates. Product design looks different depending on the company, so the recruiter should give you a general sense of how this role functions. That can include who the role frequently collaborates with (i.e. if there’s a concept of a “triad” or squad composed of a product manager, engineer, and designer), what the design process at the company looks like, how the role interfaces with research (for example, if you’d be expected to do all the research, or if you can collaborate with a researcher for high-impact research work), and so on. If any of these details aren’t covered by the recruiter, be sure to ask!
Their interview process and expectations. Each company may have a unique interviewing process – and though hopefully that becomes more standardized in the future, in the meantime, your recruiter should take time to explain each step of the interview process in detail. This should include who you’ll be speaking to at each step and how long the process overall is expected to take. I recommend using this as an opportunity to clarify what the expectations at each stage are, such as what each interview will be focused on or what each interviewer might be looking for. The information you glean from this portion can inform your preparation strategy throughout the rest of the process. (Note that especially for larger companies, recruiters will usually send a follow-up email with the interview process in writing. This is something you can ask for during the call, especially if you’re worried about forgetting a detail or missing something.)
That might seem like a lot, but your recruiter will usually have a spiel that touches on each of those points in a concise way. If you feel like they missed anything outlined above, or you need additional clarification on any aspect of the role, don’t be afraid to ask! Your recruiter is there to help you feel ready to move forward.
After the description of the role, they’ll segue into asking you a few questions to better understand your background.
Step 2: Learn about you
At this point, you should have an understanding of the role, team, product, and company. Now that you have the opportunity to introduce yourself and your experiences, you can frame them accordingly.
(Note: I’ve been in some scenarios where the recruiter will start with this section. I recommend asking if they can cover the role/team/product/company first, prior to your full introduction, so that you’ll be more successful when introducing yourself. That will also take the pressure off you to start the conversation.)
Your recruiter will usually start by asking you to “tell me a little about yourself.” This is where you can give your elevator pitch – a concise but descriptive picture of your professional background and where you’re looking to go next.
I’ll be covering the details of a successful elevator pitch in another post, but at a high-level, here are some points you should hit:
Your name, career, and location. For example: “I’m Nicole, and I’m a product designer based in the San Francisco Bay Area.”
Your current role and background. This should match what’s most recent on your resume, as your recruiter will be referencing that.
Your specific product experience, like if you’ve worked with B2C or B2B products. I recommend keeping this somewhat high-level to start, but to provide enough detail so that the recruiter can see a connection between your experience and the role you’re applying for. Your recruiter will likely have more questions about this point after your introduction.
What you’re looking for next. This can also be somewhat high-level to start, but it’s another opportunity to help the recruiter see the connection between your past experience and this role.
After your introduction, the recruiter will likely have a few follow-up questions about specific parts of your experience. The questions they ask can indicate more about the nature of the role and team, so it’s helpful to take note – you’ll likely be asked similar questions later in the process as well.
Some examples of questions the recruiter might ask at this point are:
How do you collaborate with others, and who do you frequently collaborate with? Because product designer roles can vary depending on the company, your recruiter will want to understand if and how you work with product managers, engineers, researchers, and others.
What does the design process at your company look like? To the same point as above, your recruiter will want to understand your approach and methodology around product design, since that can depend on the company and team. There’s no right or wrong answer here per se, and design processes are sometimes dictated by forces outside of your control, which your recruiter will be sensitive to. However, demonstrating an awareness of different processes and a willingness to be flexible is key.
Do you have specific experience with [this product domain, industry, type of user, etc.]? Especially if your experience isn’t outwardly related to the role, your recruiter might ask for additional details about how your experience can be transferable. I recommend finding common ground between your experience and the role and utilizing that.
Overall, the questions from your recruiter should be pretty high-level; you won’t be getting into the weeds about your experiences, strengths, or skills until you speak to the hiring manager or others on the team. Therefore, finding ways to tie your background to the role through your answers to their questions is a great approach with this step.
After asking those specific questions, your recruiter will likely also need to ask a few other preliminary questions.
Step 3: Gather remaining information
At this point, there’s a few other, standard HR-like questions that your recruiter might ask at this point, such as:
If you’re eligible to work in the United States (for roles based in the US) without sponsorship
If you need any accommodations (i.e. for accessibility purposes) during the interview process
What compensation range you’re looking for
While the first two are more straightforward, the compensation question might make you a bit more nervous. You should do research in advance of the call to figure out what range seems appropriate given the role, company, your background, and your geographic location.
Some resources I’d recommend for addressing compensation include:
In my own experience, I’ve had more success in providing a specific range (with usually $20k between the higher and lower figures) based on those factors listed above, rather than asking the company to share their number first.
The reason being that many product design salaries depend on a myriad of factors, most of which revolve around your level of experience as determined by the interviewing process. Put more simply, companies might often wait until they have a better understanding of your skills and background before taking a closer look at what level or compensation range you might fall within.
By presenting your range upfront, it can set more of an expectation for what you’re looking for, so that both you and the company can determine early on if it’s a good match. (That being said, if you’re not able to land on a range you feel comfortable and confident with, or the company is smaller and you aren’t sure what range is appropriate – don’t be afraid to ask! I recommend taking the question on a case-by-case basis.)
How to prepare for the phone screening
In summary, the phone screening is an opportunity for you to learn about the role and for the recruiter to learn about you. Doing your research and preparation in advance can set both you and your recruiter up for a more successful and productive conversation.
From the process described above, here are some steps to consider taking in advance of your phone screening:
Read through the job description thoroughly; research the team, product, company, and industry
Make note of any questions you have based on the job description and your research (your recruiter will love to hear any thoughtful questions you have)
Prepare your introduction (or “elevator pitch”) and your answers to common interview questions about collaboration, design process, and your experience
Research and think through your desired compensation range, and practice what you’ll say
Have a method of taking notes; ideally, somewhere you can easily refer back to, as you’ll be revisiting these notes throughout the interview process to follow (I recommend checking out the FigJam template I put together and shared in my other post on organizing your product design job hunting process)
If you have a phone screening coming up, good luck! 💪 If you’re just starting the application process and are curious about what happens next, hopefully this provides you with a solid understanding of how to start off with a strong first step during the interview process.
Additional resources
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