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How to Ace The First Interview Stage: Tips for Junior Designers 👌
Master your first design interview with confidence: tips, strategies, and answers to the most common questions
Florian Bölter
January 22, 2025
In partnership with
Hey and welcome back to a new week! 👋
Just two things before we go into this weeks issue:
First I’d like to remind you that I launched the premium subscription for this newsletter last week which gives you the ability to support Open Doors, get access to an exclusive Q&A section and permanent 30% off on my services. All for $7/month. Join the first people who already subscribed and get going!
And finally you have the chance to catch me live on Wednesday the 22nd 4:30pm CET (10:30am EST / 8:30am PST). I’ll go live on LinkedIn together with Chris Nguyen and talk about “How To Break Into Design in 2025” covering a lot of topics and giving room for questions as well. Make sure to sign up!
In this issue:
First Interview Troubles?: Learn how to ace the first stage of the interview process
Clayton’s Portfolio: See a great example of (visual) storytelling you can use for inspiration!
Today’s Question: Do I Need To Worry About ATS With My Resume?
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✨ Top Jobs This Week
How to Ace The First Interview Stage: Tips for Junior Designers 👌
The first interview is a milestone—your foot in the door. It’s easy to underestimate its importance, but nailing it is essential to moving forward in the hiring process. Whether you're speaking with a recruiter, hiring manager, or even the CEO, this stage is your opportunity to confirm the good impression your application made and prove you’re a great fit for the role.
Having mentored many juniors preparing for this very moment, I’ve noticed common pitfalls and questions that trip people up. Let’s walk through everything you need to know to confidently tackle that first interview.
What to Expect in the First Interview
Who Will You Be Speaking With?
In most cases, the first interview is with a recruiter. Their goal is to assess your basic fit for the role and create a shortlist for the hiring manager. They’ve already seen promise in your application—your job now is to confirm that impression.
However, in startups or smaller agencies, you might speak directly with the hiring manager, or even the CEO. This combines the first and second interview stages, so you may also need to prepare for portfolio walk-throughs or deeper questions about your work.
Before the interview, research the person you’re speaking with. Is the recruiter specialized in design hiring? Does the hiring manager have a design background? These insights can help you tailor your responses.
How to Prepare for Success
1. Research Thoroughly
The Person: Look up your interviewer on LinkedIn or the company website. Understand their role in the hiring process.
The Company: Study their product, industry, size, and competitors. Familiarize yourself with their design style and any recent news.
The Role: Revisit the job description. Know the required skills and how your experience aligns with their needs.
2. Practice Your Answers
Prepare for common questions (we’ll cover these in detail below). If you’re new to interviews, consider practicing with a mentor or a tool like my custom GPT interview coach. Internalize your key points so you can respond naturally.
3. Write Down Questions
Always prepare 2–3 thoughtful questions about the role, team, or company trajectory. This shows genuine interest and ensures you leave a strong impression.
Common First-Interview Questions and How to Answer Them
1. "Can you walk me through your background?"
This is almost guaranteed to come up, and it’s crucial to get it right. Think of this as a high-level overview of your experience:
What They Want: A concise summary of your design-related experience, key achievements, and why you’re interested in this role.
Pitfalls: Avoid diving too deep or talking about irrelevant roles. Stick to highlights that align with the job description.
Example: “I’m a UX designer with a background in marketing. My recent work includes designing a SaaS platform that improved user retention by 15%. I’m excited about this role because it focuses on end-to-end product design, which aligns with my skills and goals.”
2. "Have you got experience with X? If not, how would you adapt?"
This question tests your ability to work with unfamiliar tools, industries, or platforms.
Best Case: Highlight direct experience. If X is iOS apps, mention adhering to Apple’s HIGs in a project, even if it wasn’t shipped.
Next Best: Reference adjacent experience. For example, having worked on Android apps or cross-platform designs can demonstrate transferable skills.
If You Lack Experience: Focus on how you’d catch up. Mention resources you’d use, like guidelines or tools, and share examples of learning quickly on past projects.
3. "Have you worked cross-functionally before?"
Collaboration is key in design. This question probes your ability to work with developers, PMs, and other teams.
What They Want: Specific examples of working with cross-functional teams.
If You Haven’t: Reference collaborative experiences from other roles (e.g., working with finance in marketing). Focus on how you made the collaboration successful.
4. "What kind of work environment do you thrive in?"
Tailor your answer to the company culture:
For startups, emphasize adaptability, fast-paced environments, and wearing multiple hats.
For corporates, highlight your appreciation for structure, defined processes, and cross-departmental collaboration.
Example: “I thrive in fast-paced environments where I can take ownership of projects and collaborate closely with cross-functional teams. I enjoy the challenge of ambiguity and finding creative solutions quickly.”
5. "What are your salary expectations?"
This often catches candidates off guard, so be prepared:
If a range is listed, stay within it. Frame your response confidently, e.g., “I’m interviewing for roles around $X.”
Avoid stating your current salary—it limits your negotiation power. Instead, focus on the value you bring to the role.
Your Questions Matter Too
At the end of the interview, you’ll likely have the chance to ask questions. Use this opportunity to show your curiosity and engagement. Examples include:
“What are the team’s goals for the next 6–12 months?”
“How does the design team collaborate with engineering?”
Avoid questions that could’ve been answered with basic research—they can make you appear unprepared. You can reference my newsletter issue from last year where I went through some good examples of questions to ask too.
Tips for Success
Stay Consistent: Ensure your answers align with your resume and portfolio.
Be Honest: If you don’t know something, admit it—but emphasize your willingness to learn.
Focus on Fit: Tailor your responses to the company culture and role requirements.
Summary
The first interview is your chance to prove you’re more than just a strong application—you’re the right person for the job. By preparing thoroughly, answering questions thoughtfully, and asking insightful ones yourself, you’ll leave a lasting impression.
And remember, this is just one step on the journey. Every interview, whether successful or not, is a learning experience. Keep refining your approach, and you’ll get closer to your goals. Good luck!
💼 More Jobs
⁉️ Q&A
Today’s Question
Do I Need To Worry About ATS With My Resume?
👀 Portfolio Showcase
Today: Clayton Harding
Today we’ve got Toronto-based designer Clayton and his portfolio that recently landed him a role at Intuit after interning at McAfee. His portfolio is highly curated and despite sporting a sleek minimal look, it is full of playful and carefully placed interactions.
Clayton’s portfolio is also another great example of powerful storytelling and how is less is often more. But let’s discuss this more in-depth.
The Good:
Visual Storytelling: The McAfee case study is a the gem in Clayton’s portfolio really. He worked on a VPN mobile app during his internship there and first of all it’s a little miracle that he is able to detail his work this much as many internships like that are under an NDA so it’s great to see him being able to share this work with the world. This is obviously not the best about it—that’s how he tells the story of this project. First you will notice that scrolling the case study text and visuals are extremely balanced. If you visually block each section you can see that it’s often a 50/50 ratio of text and visual with the visual always being relevant to the text. Paired with well-done typography this makes an easy to scan case study that never feels overwhelming. While Clayton doesn’t use videos / GIFs or similar to display key screens or moments his visuals still never feel overloaded or too much. On top of that Clayton used very subtle visual cues to insert thoughts, summaries and other bits that otherwise would have just resulted in “more text” likely to be skipped. If you need inspiration how to lay out your case study, this is it.
Effective Introduction: Reading Clayton’s intro I knew that his portfolio would probably make it into this section. Aside from the well-done typography it’s contents managed to tell me so much about him and his work in one sentence. “Breaking down tech’s growing complexity with engaging stories & a playful touch”—this is EXACTLY what he is doing in his case study about his internship at McAfee. This is also a way of storytelling and this story is about yourself and who you are as a designer. A good story stays in the head longer than a bland one so do it like Clayton and paint a clear picture that you can back up with your work.
Hands down, Clayton’s portfolio is missing at least one if not two vital things. Still I decided to show it here because what is there is just too good to gate keep it. Let’s see what it is that bears so much potential for Clayton’s portfolio.
The Potential:
Effectively One Case Study: As an avid Open Doors reader you will know that I tell people to aim for three to four well-polished case studies. Now if you are generous you find two case studies here and if you are strict you actually only find one. The AMBER concept sadly doesn’t link anywhere which might be a mistake but assuming it would be there still brings us to two case studies and The Arc, which is Clayton’s really cool passion project. However that’s particularly where I see more potential. A case study about how this project came together and a description of the problem solved + maybe some metrics he was going for could have made this project even more interesting and would have resulted in 3 case studies of different kinds.
No Impact (Shown): Clayton’s primary case study has it all—nearly! There is one thing missing that I would have loved to see which is impact or results. I understand that the McAfee project potentially wasn’t implemented since it says that the status is ‘Deprioritized’. However there might have been metrics they were working towards during the project as this is often defined earlier. There might have also been certain things they were measuring during testing. All of that would have been interesting to hear about but they found no mention.
Clayton’s portfolio is an excellent example when it comes to (visual) storytelling and laying your case studies out in an easy but super effective way. Definitely check it out and let it be an example in these regards!
That’s it for this week—thanks so much for the support! ♥️
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Keep kicking doors open and see you next week!
- Florian