While hunting opportunities in the UI / UX design space, I’ve become familiar with the screening questions during the application process. The application process is completely streamlined with services such as LinkedIn. The convenience is welcome. And yet it is apparent that fewer steps can result in the untimely death of an otherwise good connection for both the hiring organization and the candidate. This happens when the questions asked are too specific or too few.
For example, a question I’ve encountered in the “Easy Apply” feature from LinkedIn goes as follows (screenshot below): “How many years of work experience do you have using Figma (Software)?”
Screenshot: example screening questions from LinkedIn “Easy Apply”
Arguably Figma is fast becoming the weapon of choice for UI designers, especially when collaborating. Note that Figma launched in late 2016. For the year prior Figma was available on an invitation-only basis. That said, few designers could respond to this question (at the time of this writing) with a number higher than 4.
Clearly the question is meant to gage proficiency with Figma. And while Figma is, deservedly so, becoming the industry sweetheart, it isn’t entirely unique. Figma has a few key killer features, but in the end it is a layout tool. There are other cars on the lot. If you know how to drive, you can get from point A to B whether behind the wheel in Figma or another layout tool.
Prior to Figma’s launch, Sketch was the UI design weapon of choice. Sketch launched in 2010. Prior to Sketch, designers used the tools available, such as Adobe Illustrator or even Photoshop. To my earlier point, if you have logged hours (or in some cases years) in one of these other layout tools, the barrier to entry into Figma is low.
It’s important to reason through why designers may not be using Figma. In the workplace, employees don’t generally have autonomy over the technology used to perform work. The larger the company the more bureaucracy. An individual contributor is left to use the hardware and software issued to them.
If the above screening question about Figma is the only question, it doesn’t tell enough of the story. It’s unfortunate if this is the only filter. A better approach is when this question of proficiency is housed with a few other questions, such as the example below.
Screenshot: example screening questions from LinkedIn “Easy Apply”
As in my case, the answer for the Figma question is the same but the additional 2 questions paint a different, more complete picture.
