Beware the “Design Test”

Before I landed my current position I spent some significant time interviewing for various senior design positions at a variety of companies. Overall these processes were similar. They started with a vet from a recruiter, then a conversation with a hiring manager, a portfolio review and then often an in person interview as a final step. Yet I found the real variable in this process to be the take home “design test” and after a while I found these tests showed me a lot about the company that was administering them.

The “design test” is a task administered by companies to design position candidates, ideally in order to discern the candidates process and work ability in a controlled scenario. In general I am not a fan of design tests. Firstly, I know few other industries that ask candidates to do the work — that they will eventually be hired to do — for free before they have an employment offer. A lawyer friend of mine recently accepted a job at a new firm, they didn’t ask him to do a mock trial beforehand to “better understand his process”. Why are designers different? If a designer has a decent resume, real work experience and a portfolio that can be reviewed in depth, it should be enough information to tell a hiring manager what he/she needs to know about this designer’s track record.

Secondly, these tests are not indicative of how a designer will actually work on a real…