Design Hiring in 2022

Elevating culture
to attract the
right talent
Design Hiring in 2022
Introduction Hiring Landscape Improving Hiring Key Signals Finding Designers Interview Process DESIGN HIRING IN 2022
It’s not just you.  

Hiring is hard.
(even harder if you’re new to it.)
“I want to know I’m not the

only one having a tough
time trying to hire. I always
feel guilty that I'm spending We care about design  
that much time looking for and designers and we
wanted to help.
new hires and new people.” We thought it might make
design better for everyone.
Design Manager
B2B software company

What
we did 10 Interviews with hiring  
managers and recruiters
316 Survey responses from

hiring managers
across four countries
1000+ employee companies, excluding agencies or consultancies
US, UK, France, and Germany
Fielded from May 5th -June 16th 2022
Survey administered by NewtonX

Design hiring managers spend

more than one third of their time
Estimated time spent
on hiring
~14 hrs
->
-> Hiring managers estimated that  Per
Perweek
week
35% of their time is spent on
recruiting/hiring
Estimated time spent
->
-> Hiring managers were sometimes
intentionally choosing to focus on
hiring over other parts of their role 35%
Assuming
Assuming40
40hr/work
hr/workweek
week
->
-> Newer managers especially  
struggle to find balance
Hiring feels critical —

Networking
teams are often blocked ~1.5 hours
when it’s going too slow

Debriefing/
Debriefing/
feedback
feedback
Multiple interviewees spent half of their ~1.5 hours

~1.5 hours
time on hiring and recruiting activities
because they felt they needed to get the
Extending offers/
team staffed and working.
Extending offers/
persuading
persuading
~1.5 hours
~1.5 hours
We found hiring managers were
Speaking with
Speaking with
constantly balancing recruiting and hiring recruiting
recruiting
1.5 hours+
1.5 hours+
and often intentionally choosing to leave
some other part of the job not done to
their satisfaction.
Estimates based on averages per week

Interviewing
~2.5 hours
Reviewing
Reviewing “I’m not actively coaching and
portfolios
portfoliosand
and managing the team as much as I
applications
applications
1.5
1.5hours+
hours+ should. I’m not having career growth
discussions. I’m allowing some of
Finding those things to be sacrificed to get
Findingand
and
sourcing
sourcing
the right people in.”
~2
~2hours
hours
Preparing for
interviews
~1.5 hours Hiring Manager
B2C software company
Estimates based on averages per week

“To form a large pipeline of

candidates, you’re reaching out to
many people and managing a lot
of relationships. All the details
about people and what might
compel them to move are critical.
The process requires a lot of time,
focus, and resources.”
Product Design Manager

Newer hiring managers face a steep

learning curve
“I’m a relatively new manager (2-3 years in), and I’ve
learned how to be more successful at hiring. For
example, I’ve done back-to-back-to-back interviews to
be flexible, but my learning: it’s important to be a good
interviewer. If I'm drained and I'm not able to probe
effectively, I might miss someone who doesn't represent
themselves well, because I can't ask probing questions.
I’ve also allowed interviews to pop up throughout my

schedule, and that was challenging. But when I blocked Design Manager
time from 11-1, I gave up my lunch hour every day.

I learned I shouldn’t do that either.”

The current design

hiring landscape
(pandemic, pre-recession, post-layoffs)

2019-2022:
2X
Design ratios Open roles
Demand increased
dramatically
43%
hiring
hiringmanagers  
managers  
increase
increaseinincompanies  
companies   with
withatatleast  
least  
with
with1:10
1:10ororbetter   6-10
6-10open
openroles
“More and more leaders care designer
better  
designertotodeveloper  
developer  
roles
about design and feel that there’s ratios
ratiossince
since2017
2017
something about design that’s
+31%
Design Team growth
going to be important to the increased importance
84%
success of their business. There’s
a running faucet of opportunities
at every level. In my 25 years, I’ve say
saydesign
designhas  
has  
since
since2019
2019atat1000+
employee
1000+
employeecompanies
companies
never seen it like this before.” increased
increasedininimportance  
importance  
since
since2019
2019
Judy Wert
Wert & Co
It’s not just tech, every industry is hiring designers. 
Types of companies growing their design teams:
Retail Co Healthcare co Media co
75 -> 250 60 -> 200 1000 -> 1200

2019 2022 2019 2022 2019 2022
Advertising co Manufacturing Co Financial services co
1500 -> 2500 50 -> 250 250 -> 500

2019 2022 2019 2022 2019 2022
How will the 54%

economy of surveyed hiring managers in
affect design
May/June expected it to be
harder to hire designers in late
2022 and 2023
hiring?
15%
predicted it would get easier
Since then...
!! We’ve seen layoffs at some Companies continue to improve their
companies and hiring freezes products and services, work to
at others. differentiate from competitors, try to
take advantage of new technologies
++ But many companies also and pursue transformation projects.
continue to hire designers. All of these efforts require design
(and designers), and make continued
All signs point to continued hiring likely.
demand for design, despite the
economic slowdown.
What might make

design hiring more
effective?

Creating signals 1
1 Strong  
design culture
Hiring managers and interviewing
A company known for its design culture
designers are both looking for signals
is 4.3x more likely to have success hiring
— about what the company is like to
work for and about a candidate’s 2 Support

2
capabilities.
personal growth
The search for personal growth
drives most job searches
3
3 Evidence of good
design in action
Identify and create signals
throughout the process

The
Sweet Design culture
What  
designers   Personal
Spot
want growth
“There are signals designers

look for and try to avoid …
they fear they’ll have to
explain the value of design
and fight for design to get a
seat at the table.”

“Our company is known for its design culture”
From the survey

Agree
Strongly
agree
Its much easier to hire if

your company is known
for it’s design culture
Hiring managers at companies
known for design culture are 
4.3x more likely to say they were
very successful or successful at
hiring designers.
Very successful and Slightly successful and
successful at hiring not successful at hiring
designers designers
From the interviews

“Some designers want remote flexibility, others
want to work in a new domain or a specific

The search for
domain like crypto or electric vehicles, some
personal growth
want to grow their career or manage more
drives job searches
people. Some leaders want to become a
general executive. Others want to set culture
and values, but the thing people want most is
to work with others they can learn from and
grow with. The most common catalyst for a
search is personal growth.”
Daniel Wert
Wert & Co
How can you send  

the right signals?

The strongest 1
1 Design Ops
signals Quality of life improvements for
designers and the presence of
designops
Our research showed some
programs and tactics are
more associated with hiring

2
2 Design Philosophy
success. Writing/speaking about the company’s
commitment to design and the team’s
philosophy
3
3 Mentorship
Demonstrated commitment to
elevating junior talent

When companies make these changes,

they’re more likely to have success hiring...
...make quality of life improvements for
designers (evaluate tools regularly, streamline

2x more likely
resourcing, improve design crits)
...have a robust designops function 2x more likely
...create a well-structured internship program

3x more likely
“Our design team speaks regularly at industry events.”
From the survey “Our leadership team has a recognized thought

leadership presence”
Sharing the team’s Agree
Strongly
perspective agree
Public-facing thoughts from

Leadership
leaders matter, but team Team
involvement with speaking is

even more correlated with
hiring success. Leadership
Team
Very Successful and Slightly successful and

Successful at hiring not successful at hiring
designers
designers
Tactics
What are some ways to send the right
signals? During our research, a few
methods stood out.   
Have others?  
Send them our way on  
Twitter or Linkedin.
What to talk about
Putting what you’ve

learned out there
“Publishing is the new networking.”
Bob Baxley
SVP Experience Design, Thoughtspot
Re:considering podcast co-host

Introduction Hiring Landscape mproving Hiring
I Key Signals Finding Designers v w Process
Inter ie DESIGN HIRING IN 2022
What to talk about
1
Design team Design system
1 4
4
Answer the big culture and rituals
What’s the process to maintain
the design system? Is the

questions How do crits and standups
design system used?
work?
When sharing what
you’ve learned, focus on Management style

5
Relationship with
2
2 5
top questions asked by How do 1:1s and coaching development
work?
What’s the relationship with
interviewees during the
development like?
recruiting/hiring process
3
Toolkit
3
What design and collaboration
tools does the company use?

Celebrate the team
Go beyond work
It doesn’t have to be all about

work. Many design teams now
bring in their hobbies, families
and what they value — outside
the job.
These approaches can humanize

the team and give candidates
another signal about the Amazon Prime Video shared a ~5 minute video  
of the teams’ kids describing their parents’ work.
company.
Link to source
Job ads vs job descriptions
Jared Spool suggests creating job ads:
New approaches needed
“The system is broken. Job descriptions are
cut and pasted from one another. They’re
very watered down or excessively full with
a lot of things.”
He says a job ad should answer these questions:
How interesting and challenging will the projects be?
Anonymous Who will my manager be and what will I learn from them?
How is design valued in the organization?
Job seeking hiring manager

How much do my future co-workers enjoy working at the company?
Will I get a decent compensation and benefit package?
Is the work conveniently easy to get to?

Job ads
These job ad examples

demonstrate what the company
values, give a window into the
culture, outline what the job
entails and explain the benefits.
Link to source
Link to source
Job ad approaches Thinking about the past few years, have you made any of
the following changes to the way you describe the job to
seem to work designers? Please select all that apply
When companies used the “job More successful Less successful

ad” philosophy they tended to at hiring
at hiring
find more hiring success.
However, general company

culture and design team
information were less
differentiating.
Made job Made job Add more Added more Added

descriptions descriptions about about design transparent
more more specific company team in job compensation
inspirational
about culture in job descriptions
responsibilities
descriptions
Compensation goes up but it’s just one factor Raised base

compensation  
Companies that increased designer salaries 21% or more by 21% or more
over the last 3 years found more success. However, pay

didn’t seem to be the only factor as other companies
hired with smaller increases.
43%
“I think many companies are overpaying. Compensation

is going up. iIt’s not at engineering level, but
22%
approaching it. We’re trying to compete with absurd
amounts. One candidate got a $600k fully remote offer.
Good for them, but we’re not one to set the market.”
More Less
successful at successful at
hiring
hiring
Design Hiring Manager

Tablestakes
57% 83%
hybrid vs remote Hybrid vs remote
Common changes in the
last few years
These changes are important, but Let
Letdesigners
designerswork
remote
workfully
remote
fully Let
Letdesigners
designerswork
hybrid
workininaa
hybridarrangement
arrangement
were not especially correlated
with successful hiring.
66% 60%
Compensation Diversity and inclusion
There are many potential
explanations, including how
companies executed on the Raised
Referenced
Referenceddiversity,
diversity,equity
equity
changes. Raisedcompensation
compensation and
andinclusion
inclusioninitiatives
initiatives
(DE&I)
(DE&I)ininrecruiting
recruiting
Now that you know the

signals, where can you
find designers?

Finding the right 11 Outreach drives

designers recruiting
Reach out to candidates with a tailored
It’s not just about posting message, and don’t forget to stay in touch
jobs, there’s a whole
process to locating and 22 Community power
bringing the right designers Build relationships with “coffee chats”
into the interview process. and mentorship
33 Candidate diversity
Make big changes to increase
candidate diversity
Experience imbalance:
It’s harder to find
managers and senior Open roles for
designers experienced
designers
The allure and opportunity of design
drives more new designers into the
field, but it can be hard to break in.
Erin Young, the founder of

consulting firm Slide UX, posted a
junior job earlier this year and
immediately received 600+
Candidates with
applicants. Just a month or so later, “enough experience”
she posted a senior role and saw far,
far fewer organic applicants. Candidates without
“enough experience”
Thinking about the past few years, have you made any of the
The bad news:
following changes to the way you find and hire designers?
success means
more outreach More successful Less successful
at hiring
at hiring
In many conversations hiring

managers hoped there was a
secret to streamline the
process and send fewer
messages.
Survey results show more

personal messages and more
design familiarity were
correlated with success.
Increased the Increased recruiters’ More targeted outreach Advertised
role of design familiarity with to designers working at design jobs in
leadership
design terms and specific companies or new places
concepts
competitors
“I spend way too much time

browsing Linkedin.
At the end of the day, the hiring

goals are mine. A recruiting team
supports me and they're great. They
have great candidates, but I can
source more... I’ll use Linkedin
Recruiter and do random browsing
to supplement and make sure
there’s a bigger pool of candidates.”
Hiring manager

Tactics
What’s leading to more candidates?
During our research we found a few
interesting examples.   
Have suggestions?  
Send them our way on  
Twitter or Linkedin.
Mentoring and The Coffee Chat
Always Be Meeting (mentoring?)

“Some of our hiring managers really
enjoy leveraging Slack communities to
get connected with potential talent. If
the candidate isn’t interested now,
they’ll make a plan to check in next
quarter or maybe get a referral or have
them talk to someone else on the team
that might help them get interested.”
Freelance design leader
Stephen Gates filled an
Design recruiter entire day with ADPlist
B2B software company mentoring sessions
Candidate diversity
New approaches to
candidate diversity
“One of the things we’re doing to increase
diversity of candidates is creating a design
apprenticeship program for people just
entering tech from non-traditional, diverse
backgrounds. This program creates a
formal process with a starter project and a
direct mentor separate from the manager
to provide additional support.”

Non-traditional approaches
Elevating design, sooner

“We’re finding that there are a lot more Design as a career
Rupal Parekh
nontraditional approaches to trying to
elevate design as a career to younger,
more diverse audiences sooner.”
Partner, Work & Co
Member of the Diversity  

in Design Collaborative 14->50
Growth
Growthinincompanies
companiesininthe
the
Diversity
DiversityininDesign
Design
Collaborative
Collaborativesince
since2021
2021
New initiatives include the Diversity in
Design Collaborative, a group of companies
seeking to increase diversity in design and
Useful School, a pay-what-you-can program
to elevate design skills.
New sources
Some of the communities mentioned:
Get involved  
in communities 11 Creator-curated groups like  
Mia Blume’s or Femke’s that are  
“I made a change in my job search often run on Pallet. Jared Spool’s
strategy. I made a list of companies I had   Leaders of Awesomeness also  
a good story and was suited to work for. came up repeatedly
Then I started looking for connections and
joining communities. I tried to meet not 22 Slack communities like these groups
just design leaders but product people.” that cover DesignOps
33 Read.cv is a place to share profiles,  

Job seeker
job opportunities and work
How should the

interview process
work?

Under review: 11 Change the interview process

interview loops Nearly every company changed the interview process, the
key is determining the right effort and time investment
Over the past few years, many
companies shifted to Zoom
interviews, but are still trying
22 Most start by going shorter
to find the best ways to A good place to start: make interviewing shorter. Most
companies shortened the process, even if the core
balance effort and energy from interview methods, like whiteboarding, remained
everyone involved.
33 Closing candidates
The post-interview or “close” portion of the process
can be a key part of the candidate experience and
often isn’t given the same attention
Interview structure number of interviews
Making changes
Every hiring manager shared they had
changed
65%
changedinterview
interviewstructure
structureto
to
43%
reduced
reducednumber
numberofofinterviews
interviews
been thinking about how to interview improve
improvevideo
videointerviews
interviews
better, but there was almost no
consensus about exactly which Design ratios design exercises
changes to make.
removed
24%
removedtake
takehome
homeexercises
exercises
36%
simplified
simplifiedor
orrevamped
revampedexercises
exercises
design exercises Portfolio presentation
41%
added
addeddesign
designexercises
exercises
19%
Eliminated
Eliminatedaaportfolio
portfolio
presentation
presentation
The struggle to find the right effort/

time commitment
“We made the ‘on-site’ about 50% shorter. We “Time is a precious resource. How do
found in scheduling the longer sessions that it we reduce the amount of time the
was tough to get everyone available. It was interviews take for everyone? Everyone
also lot of work for the candidates. We wants a quick process. The hiring
thought we could still get all the right signals manager, the candidate, the team. It
without making it feel like a daunting process needs to be efficient, while also
for the candidates. And we need to move fast. ensuring due diligence.”
These designers are getting pitched left and
right these days....” Product Design Manager
Andrew Hahn
Head Of Design, Operation & Support at Doordash
Sample interview processes

Hiring manager 1 hour: 2 case studies to assess craft  
Screening Recruiter
conversation and storytelling
Company A
1 hour: group portfolio presentation   Peer conversation App critique with PM/ Problem solving: “if this Add’l session if
“On-site” Debrief to discuss
to assess storytelling on design values research/designer company wanted to do X....” manager
Screening 1 hour: Hiring manager portfolio

Recruiter Hiring manager
conversation
Company B
Portfolio Interview with someone in another Debrief to
“On-site” Interview with PM Interview with engineering Interview with design Interview with design
presentation group who knows company culture discuss
One of these will be a
whiteboard exercise
Hiring manager
Screening Recruiter 1 hour: portfolio presentation Coaching
“coffee chat”
Company C
Interview with PM on Interview with design Interview with Optional employee resource
“On-site” outcomes Interview with eng
on craft/whiteboard research group (ERG) conversation
Some of these will be more
casual, some will have a
whiteboard exercise
Process
Assessing the right things, in the right ways

“I created a document template that was “We found our feedback was inconsistent, so
well received. It contains a little about the we created clear criteria for what we're
candidate, their background, and areas to trying to assess in each interview. What are
probe based on feedback. It has the details we specifically looking for in the portfolio
of the role, what the person will be doing, presentation? What other signal do we
what to evaluate them on, and the level need? What’s remaining? For example, we
guidelines. All of it in a quick email to read expect the portfolio to cover storytelling and
through. It’s become something other problem framing. How are we assessing
groups have adopted.” other critical things? For example, how does
a candidate collaborate with peers?“
Design Manager


Show them you listen
Taking extra steps
“People really want to know what it's like to
work with the team and the manager.
One candidate really loved Pokemon. The team
dressed up as Pokemon characters and sent a
photo with the offer, and the candidate
couldn't wait to join the group. Something
meaningful goes a long way. Those
touchpoints in getting to know someone
closely will help them choose. ”
Design Recruiter

A sneak peek
into Figma’s
hiring process
-> Noah Levin, Figma’s Senior Director of Design
at the 2021 Leading Design Festival
We hope
this helps.
Andrew Hogan
Insights and Analysis
Thanks to all the companies

Tell us what’s working for
that shared their perspective
you in a Figma community
and NewtonX for their
file, on Twitter, or on
partnership on the survey.
Linkedin.

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Elevating culture

It’s not just you.

“I want to know I’m not the

B2B software company

316 Survey responses from

1000+ employee companies, excluding agencies or consultancies

US, UK, France, and Germany

Fielded from May 5th -June 16th 2022

Survey administered by NewtonX

Design hiring managers spend

Hiring feels critical —

teams are often blocked ~1.5 hours

when it’s going too slow

Multiple interviewees spent half of their ~1.5 hours

time on hiring and recruiting activities

because they felt they needed to get the

some other part of the job not done to

Estimates based on averages per week

~1.5 hours Hiring Manager

B2C software company

Estimates based on averages per week

“To form a large pipeline of

Product Design Manager

B2B software company

Newer hiring managers face a steep

I’ve also allowed interviews to pop up throughout my

time from 11-1, I gave up my lunch hour every day.

I learned I shouldn’t do that either.”

The current design

(pandemic, pre-recession, post-layoffs)