Design Task How to crack and be prepared Success Tips

If you're someone who is getting rejections after rejections in design interview and then you're doing task after task and endlessly you're repeating the cycle for number of months and number of years. This podcast is exactly for you. So I'm going to be discussing the three mistakes. What people do when a design task is given, when they go for interview for design role selection or internship selection or even professional design roles, whatever. The initial task is a pre analysis. So what common mistakes, three mistakes, what they do. And I'm going to be telling you the five steps how you can approach that and there are three ways you can handle the objection also. Okay, so this podcast is going to give you clear answer for you to take up the challenges in the coming forward career. Okay, so let's dive deep into this topic guys. Welcome, welcome. This is Jagdish from this Design for Change podcast. So thank you for staying tuning with me and also adjusting my mistakes here and there while I'm talking because it's relatively a new habit which I'm also forming. So thank you for staying tuned in. But the information what I'm going to be giving you is definitely tested and proved and it's very old enough. Maybe I'll new for podcast, but I'm I have guided personally hundreds of students attending this interview tasks, not just one or two students. Okay. So I have gathered lot much of patterns and experience and mistakes and techniques how students can really approach this. Even even if you are experienced designer of 5 years, 10 years, this is particularly going to give you a strategy to do. Okay, first things we'll have to understand the mistakes what we are doing. You know what the very first mistake when a design task is taken. Okay, let me give you short understanding what is design task. When you apply for any interviews or if you upload Your Profile In LinkedIn, people tend to give you an interview call. Right? See, unlike a field like engineering and arts, unlike a field like engineering and other clerical and administrative job design and creativity fields, check for your talent upfront. They wanted to see live what you got. They don't just believe your portfolio, they don't just believe your resume and other things. They wanted to really see how you're going to solve the problem in shorter span of time. Either they give you a live problem, it is not whiteboard challenge what they give you or they give you tasks for one or two days timeline you have to submit or even three to four hours. Personally I did a task for four hours. Three to four hours I was completing it. There's another task, what I attended for one day. So in that particular short span of time, how you're able to come up with an idea. Okay, this is called design task. I'll tell you the three mistakes, what students do. Okay, everybody, it's not just students, everybody directly jumping into the solution, very big blunder. Without understanding the reality of the problem, reality of the company, reality of the recruiter or anything. Directly jumping into the problem, how you can tackle it, we'll see it in the five steps next. Okay, this is a very first mistake. Second mistake. What they do is they avoid asking any details about the job. The job description, the nature of the job, the location of the job, what is the timings of the job, what is the holidays and what is the morning to evening time and how much amount of benefits and all these things are given. What is my compensation and pay scale and is it role really fitting your requirements and long term goals? You will not check all these details without that when a task is given, somebody will directly jump into the solution, right? It's the second big mistake. I tell you guys, we as a humans has a tend of answering things spontaneously. If some of you are not aware. I'll tell you one reality about human evolutionary. Okay, Evolutionary wise, we've been programmed to answer for questions if somebody asks. Unless until you develop a very different attitude, like if you are that kind of a guy who doesn't want to answer for anybody, maybe that stubbornness will be there. That's a unit, that's a character wise thing you developed. But majority we are dominated by answering response. So we use that same evolutionary trait as a recurring habit to just go and jump and do the solution. Not even understanding that. The third big mistake, what people do is not contacting the right person when it comes to the attending interview task. See, you need to ask about the company, you need to ask about the job description, everything, right? I told you already. Whom do you ask for? Students do very big mistake. They ask to a wrong person. Sometimes HRS will be decision makers, sometimes HR head, which is a senior HR who's a decision maker. You need to first ask that in the call, in the phone call or in the email or whatever the first interview call you're getting. Right? So. So I'll be recording a separate podcast, how to handle the interview selection and how to get into the next rounds.

Okay.

This particular podcast is going to only focus on task. Since a lot of students have requested me for giving a clarity in this. That's why I'm doing it. Okay? So just follow that and take a lot of notes. Because I'm giving you points. Three mistakes, five steps and three different objection handling. So you can write it down.

Okay?

So we are in the point of not jumping into solution. Second is avoiding asking details of job description, salary, location, etc. Third mistake is not contacting the right person. See, there will be an intern in HR also, right? There'll be a fresher in HR also. There won't be people who are in the decision making ability. If you ask them, they'll tell you not correct information. They'll give you something else. Or they'll tell you simply no. Without these details, you cannot take forward the task. Guys, don't be like a fool. Keep on doing again and again. You're doing some project as a social service for somebody else. That's okay, you can do it. But you need to get results also, right? End of the day you need to get hired. Or you need to just deliver your projects and get a compensation for it. So you need to remember that mindlessly. Don't do this activity. This is a very big mistake which every people does it. Okay? So not contacting the right person and mindlessly entering into the task. See whether if that person you don't know, ask who is your decision making authority. Ask whether he's a designer or ask whether he's a hr. There is a different strategy which you can create for hr. There is a different strategy which you can create for design head or somebody else is coming. Make sure to go to that LinkedIn page and check about them. Make sure to check about the website. Make sure to check about the job description. Whether the call is coming from a design consultancy directly or a job consultancy. Something else is somebody third party is calling or if it's a fake call. You need to be very mindful of that. People miss it out. Lot of people in the name of getting job, they have also paid lot of money. And that's a scam. It has happened. There are a lot of things happened in the past history. I can see in my last 10 years. Lot of things I've heard about it. Everything has happened. And cyber crimes. All this complaint I've given even I've seen in lnt. There are lot many companies but they are also putting in their websites. Be aware of whom you're contacting with. But still people get to fall in that trap. Okay? So be mindful and aware of that particular thing. Okay? These are three mistakes. What people do. Now we'll go into the five steps. How you can Approach a task. See, even if you qualify all these three steps, that's good. Now you can go for the task. Do not keep repeating the task. If any feasibility check is not happening, please cut off now and go for the next interview. See, it is same like matchmaking, right? When a marriage happens, girl side family and boy side family, they check the all feasibility, right? If something is bad, they'll stop the marriage. Simple. We narrate marriage, right? So a lot of what do you call? They have astrological matching. They have some psychological matching. They have some family. What do you call some status? This. That. So if some matching is not happening then they'll cut it. So you need to first keep a match. Whether that salary is matching you, the job description is matching you, the location is matching, your timing is matching you make sure everything fits. And then you can go into the particular five different steps of it. Okay. So first step is you have to prepare research. You have to understand the problem what they've given. Go and read that particular job description and read your task and correlate it. What are the skill expected what you have to deliver in this task? Okay, There'll be some set of tasks. They'll be give you as a PDF or they'll give you as a email. Read once or twice or even five times to understand it more deeply. Do a primary research about what is the task about. Do some secondary research about collecting some stats and information and gathering. And then create a process for it quickly.

Okay.

This is step one. Second step is getting more clarity. If you wanted to ask in the HR side, in the design side, feel free to ask it. Not of people. Stop this step. If you're doing it then you're not qualified enough. You will not get that interview selected. Please ask more time. If the process requires more time, be feel free to honestly tell them. Hey, what you've given task is a very difficult task. It requires two days but you're giving me one day. Should I give you one day's output or should I give you two days best output? What do you say? Sometimes they'll say no, no Jagdish you we have only one day do it. So you tell them clearly that in one day whatever is possible, you do it simple. And you also mentioned that in your all your works. So you should be very clear. Guys, you should. You should be smarter than any of the people whom we are interviewing you.

Okay?

You need to understand the reality grounds. When you make the process, only you will come to know what is details is missing. Ask them. Hey I still want more details about the task. I still want more details about some stats, some facts, some information. Feel free to ask. Let me tell you one thing guys. If you're asking more information, people will be more than happy to give you and they will really get happy because you are really taking this seriously. And then you are collaborating. Nature you are showcasing. And then your team building, nature you're showcasing. And communication skills you're showcasing. And openness to learn and get feedback. Skills you're showcasing. See four different things the HRS are observing, even the designers. So feel free to ask that and then negotiate with them for more time if required. Okay, they're saying four hours, you have to complete do it. That's okay, fine. Now let's go for the third step. Okay, so first step is researching and adding clarity. Second is asking for more questions and clarifying and getting more time. Third is time management. If they give eight hours, make a time plan reverse for eight hours. If they wanted to give a. If you. If they expect to give you a case study, make that case study reverse. Last two hours, I'll do documentation. Another two hours, I'll do some research and ideation. Another two hours, I'll understand the problem. Another two hours, I'll read this material. So make sure you split that in reverse way.

Okay?

Feel free to use software like Chat GPT. It will suggest you a lot of materials and substances. It will go and search all the places and give you proper materials that is like very faster. 50x100x. You can become fast to respond to this kind of interview tasks.

Okay.

And make sure you manage that time properly and whatever you did proper. Please submit on time, do not delay. Submit half an hour before or one hour before. Do not submit at exactly 6pm if they ask you to. That is not correct. So if you have not completed, tell it's work in progress, but I've delivered maximum thing. Please feel free to record the timing and put it in your document. Put it in your document. Do not tell I have completed the task. This is my final Figma screen and Adobe XT screen. Or this is my final prototype. Show the process, show the exploration, show the journey, show the mistakes. People are not worried about outcome, guys. So don't get pressurized by time and anything. People are checking your skills, your process, how you are as a person, their mindset. Right? That's important. And after you complete and then submit it on time, make sure you have documented all these things. Showing your process, your journey, your timeline. Again, I'm repeating nobody's worried about your outcome. People are worried about your process and the skill what you have simple and the fifth most most most important thing can any guesses. People will not expect this as a major, major, major important point follow up. Let me tell you guys, if you are not following up, nothing will happen. If it is really good I'm selected, they will itself call me. Nothing will happen like that. If that happens, that good. But majority of the times you will have to follow it up with them to respond either through emails or through phone calls or through LinkedIn message, whatever and you have contacted them. Please remember this guys. Biggest wealth creators in the world and biggest successful person in the world are biggest people in good following up with people. They are good team managers, they are good players, they are most successful person. Even the biggest entrepreneurs have the skill. They know whom to follow up, how to follow up, get the work done properly. My, my. My mentor used to say okay money lies in follow up. Jim Rohn, he's a personality development trainer. I've seen his trainings and all. So yes, he used to always say money lies in follow up. Whatever field and everything you're working, you should follow up. If something you're given design concept follow up. If you're asking for some feedback, follow up with them. So follow up is one of the major major important skill nobody cares of. But if you follow it up, three things will happen guys. Good thing is you will get selected. Second thing is you will definitely get a feedback. If you're following it up, they'll tell you hey, for this this reason we have rejected you. You should accept. Thank you. See third is you will build a network with them. They will be really liking you or if they don't like you also you just put them in your network and just send them messages like let's say occasional message, any festival message, a new year message. Build a rapport with them. That company is not going to die. And this HR or maybe designer goes into some other company you can approach there in the future. Have a network of them. See, you're not losing anything by doing this task. So make sure you follow it up and do these three activities. Super. Okay, these are five steps. Let me repeat research about the interview task properly asking for more clarity and buying more time. Managing the time effectively, submitting and showing the journey properly and follow it up. Most important skill. The last part of this podcast is handling objection. See if any kind of a rejection you're facing.

Okay.

People will ask you hey, you're a fresher. We will not take you let me tell you guys. You can easily tackle these kind of things. I'll record a separate podcast, but I'll give you a small snippet. Hey hr, I'm a fresher. I understand. See, I've been attending more than 100 interviews. Okay. Everybody is not even giving me chance to even attend interview. Give me few minutes of your time with your design team. Let me interact and then let them decide. Is it fine? Please do not mistake me. Because I wanted to tell you directly. I don't want to waste your time also. HR and my time also. So I feel I have did three projects. I know a very good design process. I'm really excellent compared to an experienced guy. Because I can demonstrate all the ui, UX and product design process and solution. Why don't you give me a chance? You asked for an internship. You asked for a fresher. Why don't I try? Nothing is problem. Definitely they'll give you a chance. Because they also want good people to recruit, right? Definitely they will see. You need to know to ask. It's the biggest skill you have to develop. You have to boldly ask that. If you're not able to boldly ask, they'll reject you. This is how you can handle. Okay, There is next kind of rejection. They are saying directly. No, you need to ask for the feedback. Hey, what exactly went wrong? Can you tell me? Document it. Ajagdish, your communication is bad. A Jagdish, you're not understood the task properly here. Hey, Jagdish, your presentation is bad. Hey, your UX research is bad. Hey, your product design prototype type is bad. Hey, you're something is. Please take that very very consciously and thank them two, three times. Thank you sir for giving me feedback. Hundreds of people are attending interview, but you've taken time to give me feedback. Thank you so much. Two things will happen. One is you can improve with that points. Second is they'll become your best friends. It's a very very important thing to build your network, right? Third is if you're. If they are rejecting you, you can keep that template for your next task. See, you have. I've given you a very good template once. If you're doing one or two tasks with this template. No, your template will be pretty much ready from next interview task. You can quickly copy paste it. And you can use some AI video tools also to train your interview process and approaches interviews. And you can also use chat GPT for doing some research. So all this format will be very much ready for you. See, this is how you also handle the objection properly and keep a follow up and then make sure you keep that template for next interviews. See, you can use some lot of materials which is like AI templates for creating this. You can use some application called App Yoodly AI. I'll post you in the description. So this is a very powerful app actually. You can install it and you can do some video trials, you can use some interview trials and tasks that will give you corrections and feedback. You can use Gamma app. It will generate lot of information of text into ppts. So in very quick span of time you can able to submit a task, you can able to submit a understanding of that particular concept in a very easier way. See, this is how you approach that. This is how you just follow it up and make it to your advantage. So expanding upon this podcast, three mistakes. I've told you five steps. I've told you how you can approach the interview task by getting clarity and asking for clarity. And what do you call managing the time effectively and submitting and follow it up and also handling the objection if you are a fresher. Because every time when you keep getting rejections, don't get over or don't get depressed, follow this template. You will definitely crack best interview with best salary. Okay, Technical details could be learned also guys, no problem. But if you don't learn the approach, if you don't learn the soft skill, then you will lose miserably. I've seen hundreds of interviews, people have failed. Single guy, 250, 300 interviews people have failed not knowing proper template for this. And then they come and ask me and they give them, I give them help and they crack interviews in two days. I've helped a student who got interview selected in three days. I've helped a guy who got interview selected in 15 days. I've helped a guy who got interview selected in 25 days. It's all because of how you approach and tackle the situation. And then you will go for the next round which is interview and all these things.

Okay?

So take. If you have taken the notes, definitely you would have understood the major template in it. Go and apply it. Guys, just listen to this podcast will not change. Take action. Take action. If you want to change your life, take action now. Okay? Not later. Thank you so much guys for staying tuned with me in Design for Change podcast. Thank you so much. Take care. Bye bye. See you.

Sam.