The Value of Paying Attention

Contrary to what many people think, a hiring process demands your full attention. It's not just about being a certain type of UX/UI Designer looking for a certain type of role — it's about not treating every opportunity that comes along as something to apply to carelessly. It's far better to select a handful of roles where there's a genuine match with your profile and invest real time, dedication, and specific preparation in each one.

I remember a day in school when a teacher gave us a surprise test. On a random Tuesday, she told the class: "Today we're doing something different — and it counts toward your grade." The room froze. Dead silence. She walked from desk to desk handing out a sheet that looked very much like an exam. Before anyone started, she gave exactly two instructions: "Read all 10 questions before answering any of them. The first ones to finish are excused from the rest of class."

The excitement was such that almost no one listened to the first instruction. Everyone rushed straight to answering, eager to get out early. A few minutes later, one student stood up, handed in her nearly blank sheet, and walked out. The rest of the class exchanged glances: "She gave up? But why did the teacher let her leave?" Nearly half an hour later, others started getting up and turning in their sheets in silence — every single one of them wearing a look of pure frustration. That's when I reached the tenth and final question, which read: "Answer only question 10. All others are unnecessary — but if you've already answered them, stand up quietly and hand in your sheet."

This story illustrates two things: you need to be ready to be evaluated at any moment, and you need to give the evaluation the attention it actually deserves. The rush to finish — the eagerness for the reward — led the vast majority of students to fail. Only one came out ahead.

Apply the same mindset to hiring processes. Every role has an origin, an imagined ideal profile, a specific need to be filled. And because we're talking specifically about the UX/UI Design world, the way evaluation processes are conducted here is not the same as in other fields. UX/UI Designers should treat a hiring process like a UX/UI Design project: before anything else, you need to understand who your user is, what they expect, what they actually want (as opposed to what they say they want) — and then help them reach their goal, or simply convince them to choose your product. These things need to be clear in your mind before you apply. And when they are, evaluators will notice. Every recruiter will lean toward choosing — beyond the basic criteria — the candidate who genuinely comes across as the most interested, motivated, informed about the company, and prepared for that specific evaluation, especially when conditions are unexpected.

How to Get Rejected in 6 Steps

Yeah! I want to work as a UX/UI Designer right now! Hold on. There are factors you need to pay close attention to if you want to capture the attention of hiring teams. That you can do UX/UI Design is the minimum baseline — it's already expected. But there's much more that gets evaluated. Below are 6 classic mistakes. Commit any one of them and a red flag goes up immediately. Commit two or more in combination, and you've written yourself a recipe for rejection.

1. Apply Without Reading the Job Description

Ah, the classic spray-and-pray approach: applying to every appealing-looking role without checking whether the requirements match your level or profile. Some job descriptions — like the teacher's test — already contain specific instructions for candidates to follow. If you don't read the description fully and carefully, even if your profile is a genuine fit, you may be automatically disqualified with no real way to recover the recruiter's attention.

2. Be Impossible to Reach

Once a company is interested in a profile, some professionals make connecting with them surprisingly difficult: no phone number or email visible in their links — the very information that would be used to get in touch. Occasionally a recruiter manages to track down an email address buried somewhere, only to send a message that gets completely ignored. Accessibility is part of your professional presentation. If people can't reach you, they'll move on.

3. Make a Poor First Impression

Giving the wrong impression of yourself is easier than it sounds. In that first contact: candidates don't introduce who they are, send heavy file attachments instead of links, fail to detail their previous experience, request salaries and benefits that are inconsistent with their actual seniority level, and sometimes address the email to the wrong person entirely — making it obvious they're using the exact same template for every application without even checking the recipient's name.

4. Send an Outdated Portfolio

This is the most common problem of all: sending a portfolio that's outdated or misaligned with the role, with the justification that there hasn't been time to work on it. Some professionals genuinely believe the evaluator will conclude they're so busy and focused on their work that there's nothing left over for personal upkeep. What evaluators actually conclude is that these candidates don't value their professional image, don't set priorities, and manage their time poorly. Your portfolio is always being evaluated — treat it accordingly.

5. Show Up Late to the Interview

Failing to anticipate foreseeable problems is a dangerous habit. For in-person interviews: candidates get stuck in traffic, can't find the right address, or get held up in long queues in commercial building lobbies. For video interviews: they don't check their internet connection beforehand, forget to charge their laptop or phone, and don't let others in the household know they need privacy at that specific time. Unexpected things do happen — but most of these problems can be anticipated or have a backup plan. Showing up ready is part of the job.

6. Drop Out Right After Getting In

This is arguably the most damaging mistake in the entire process, precisely because it happens after the candidate has already cleared every hurdle. By this point, the company has built real confidence and made concrete plans for the start date — and then, suddenly, the candidate pulls out for whatever reason. From the company's perspective, this wastes an enormous amount of time and completely disrupts the planning that was already underway. The professional impact on your reputation in a market that's still relatively small shouldn't be underestimated either.

Conclusion

To stay well clear of all these mistakes, pay close attention to every action you take — and be very clear about your actual intention before applying to any role. When that intention is genuine, everything that follows (which is ultimately what's being evaluated) will be more assertive, more respectful, and far more effective throughout the process.

Good luck!