How We Hire Designers at Urban Company
By — Rohan Verma (Director, Design)
We believe good design results in good business. To know more about our design team, the work we do, and our culture, see our design blogs. In this blogpost, we will go over everything you need to know about our design hiring. Let’s jump straight into the key stages of the process.
1. First Contact 💬
Whether you reach out to us or the other way round, we want to get to know you better. We try our best to ensure diversity and balance in our team. It would be helpful to have three things from you:
- Resume / CV / LinkedIn Profile
We want a glimpse into your past. We want to understand what your journey has been so far? This helps us in figuring out what you can add to the company and how we can help you grow. - Portfolio / Case Studies / Recent Works
As hard as they are to maintain, your documented work is a window to your mind. It helps us look at the world the way you see it. - Why Urban Company?
We don’t expect a cover letter. We appreciate brevity. Tell us briefly how your addition to the UC Design team will be a mutually rewarding experience.
Tip: If you don’t have a portfolio ready it’s okay. We can assess your skills with the design challenge as well. We have all been there.
2. Introductory Call 📱
You look good, let’s have a chat. One of our teammates will call you and get to know you better. The chat will be about three things in particular:
- About Us
A short introduction to who we are, what we do, and why you should care about working with us. - About You
This is where you tell us about your journey so far. Your motivations, actions, and pivoting moments. We would also like to know how you see the next part of your journey. - Questions and Next Steps
Now that we know each other, you can ask us any questions that you may have. After that, we will brief you on the next steps of the process.
Tip: If you want to take time and have a follow-up call, just ask. Sometimes it takes a while to process all the information and ask the relevant questions.
3. Design Challenge 🏋🏽♂️
This is where things get interesting. We will share a design challenge with you and you will have to come back with a proposed solution. The challenge will always be a neutral use-case and will not be related to our business. The following are some important things to keep in mind during this phase:
- If you have doubts please reach out to us. There are no stupid questions.
- Use your effort judiciously to cover the most important parts of the puzzle. We don’t expect you to spend countless hours doing this assignment but we will scrutinise you on your priorities.
- Help us understand your thought process. The objective of this exercise is not building and shipping of a product but focussing on your approach, process, and decisions.
Tip: If you are sure you should go beyond the scope and do something that we may not have asked for, just go for it. It helps us understand your drive.
4. In-person Interview 🎬
This is the moment we have been waiting for. It is time for your face-to-face interviews. Throughout the process, we will be assessing your strengths and weaknesses. Weaknesses that we can tolerate and strengths that make us stronger. Following is a list of the interview rounds you can expect:
- Portfolio and Assignment walkthrough (90 mins)
This round will have a small panel of designers that will be involved throughout your interview process. It helps all of them to get up to speed with your profile in one go. It is structured as:
- Introduction (15 mins)
- Portfolio walkthrough (30 mins)
- Assignment walkthrough (30 mins)
- QnA (15 mins) - Whiteboard session (90 mins)
You will be taking a design challenge collaboratively with a couple of our design peers. In this round, we are looking at how you approach, process, and conclude your design decisions. - Product Round (60 mins)
Get to know our product teammates and get your hands dirty with a business problem. Put your skills and knowledge to use. - Design Round (60mins)
Dive deep into a past problem, that could be from your portfolio/assignment or a tandem thought exercise aimed at understanding your strengths and weaknesses. - Leadership round (60mins)
No one knows the company as well as the leaders. They are the ushers of our culture. This round focuses on how well you fit in our company’s culture.
Tip: We don’t hire people for a lack of weaknesses. We hire them for their strengths knowing we can tolerate their weaknesses.
5. Welcome to Urban Company 🎉
You have what it takes to be part of our tribe. Let’s build value and deliver it in compelling experiences across the world. Let’s put our dent in the world.
About the author —
Rohan is the Director of Design at Urban Company. He’s building the dream-team, setting the right culture and pushing for quality and delight throughout the service journey for customers and partners. If you want to talk about design, Urban Company or freshly brewed beverages, he’s only a ping away.
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You can read up more about us on our publications —
https://medium.com/uc-design
https://medium.com/uc-engineering
https://medium.com/uc-culture
https://www.urbancompany.com/blog/humans-of-urban-company/
If you are interested in finding out about opportunities, visit us at http://careers.urbancompany.com
