Product Design

The entire hiring process is all about matchmaking. We want to understand your skills and experience, and to understand if you’re a fit for the role and for Clio; you want to understand if this is the right team and role to fit your specific needs and how you want to grow in your career. The interview process is our opportunity to get to know each other and see if we’re a good match.

We know interviews can be stressful, so we want to give some transparency into the process and what to expect. These are the steps you can expect to go through.

1. Online portfolio and resume review
   A Hiring Manager (one of the Product Designer Managers on the team) will review your online portfolio and resume to get an understanding of who you are and what you care about. We wrote a blog post to help you when crafting your portfolio including several common pitfalls we see in many portfolios.
2. Chat with a Talent Acquisition Specialist
   This conversation will cover your background and experience, what you’re looking for, and what motivates you. We also cover some of the logistics here like pay and level expectations. You’ll get the chance to ask any questions you have about the company and the role.
3. Chat with Hiring Manager
   This is your first chance to talk with a Product Design Manager at Clio. During the conversation we’ll dig into your experience as a designer, how you work with others, and how you approach growth. Our managers are both designers and people leaders and can answer almost any questions you may have about the design team, how we work, and our interactions with our customers and other parts of Clio.
4. Case study review
   During this presentation you’ll show a compelling example of your work and its impact to the business and customer. We’re an inquisitive group, so expect a lot of questions throughout as we seek to understand your craft skills as well as your mindset and how you approach design problems. We published a checklist to help you understand what we’re looking for when reviewing case studies so you can prepare effectively (the checklist applies to online case studies as well).
5. Collaboration interview
   In this conversational interview we’re looking to understand your team collaboration and cross-functional leadership skills, as well as your ability to work in partnership with your triad (Product Management & Engineering). We also want to understand how you navigate ambiguous problems while helping the team move forward.
6. Culture add interview
   This non-technical interview is intended to help us get to know who you are as a human outside of the workplace. We’re looking at values and mission alignment as well as seeking to understand the ways you might add new/different perspectives, world views, interests, passions, learning styles, etc. to the team.

How to prepare

Aside from the two blog posts mentioned above, we also want to offer some guidance to help you prepare and show off the amazing product designer you are.

• Do some thinking on past examples ahead of time that will help us understand who you are as a designer and teammate. There are several “common” interview questions we’ll ask you like what your design process is and how you handle conflict. Avoid having to come up with something on the spot.
• Do your research so you know a bit about Clio and the design team. 
• Come ready with specific questions (doing some research will help). Curiosity is part of the job description, so why not take the opportunity to show it off?
• Practice your case study presentation, talking about your decision-making process and how you’ve applied it in different projects. 
• Practice with someone you trust to give you honest and critical feedback.
• Time your case study presentation. You should aim for about 30 minutes of content and expect 15 minutes of questions from us, and then 15 minutes for you to ask us questions.