Interviewing for your next user research role is as much about storytelling as it is about sharing your skills and experiences. When you weave together a memorable narrative, showcase your expertise, and create strong connections with the interview team, you're more likely to stand out in the crowded market.
This guide will provide some actionable tips and templates to help you create a lasting impression during your search.
Why Storytelling Matters in UXR Interviews
Storytelling is one of the most powerful ways to persuade people. As a job seeker, it shifts the power from trying to react to interview questions to proactively sharing your strengths, talents, and story. You get to own the narrative and the story you want to share with the hiring committee. Plus it’s your unique journey—you can make it as personal or engaging as you’d like.
Setting yourself up for success
Interview preparation is key, especially in a crowded market. Consider taking time to:
Understand the role
Re-read the job description and identify the key skills that the hiring manager is looking for on the team. Focus highlighted qualities like empathy, collaboration, and problem solving.
Focus on your audience
Research who you’ll be meeting with. Based on their role or title, you can often predict what they might care about.
Gather your stories: Reflect on your peak moments of your career that highlight your expertise and experience in research. This might include successful projects, challenging situations, or examples of how you’ve impacted users. Aim to create a list of 5-10 stories that you can draw from during interviews.
Use the STAR method: For each story, use the STAR method to ensure your stories are concise and impactful. This means highlighting:
- Situation: provide context
- Task: explain your role or responsibility
- Action: describe the steps you took
- Result: share the outcome or impact of your work
Putting it into practice
During your conversations with the hiring team, you’ll likely be asked behavioral interview questions. These types of questions focus on your past experience because they are strong predictors of future behavior.
Scenario: Share an example of how you’ve researched to solve a complex user problem
Sample Response using the STAR method
Situation: In my previous role, I worked on a project where my goal was to understand why users were abandoning the onboarding flow
Task: My goal was to uncover customer pain points and provide recommendations for improvements
Action: I conducted 15 1:1 interviews, created a customer journey map of the onboarding journey, and worked with the analytics team to understand drop off rates
Result: We identified 3 key friction points and implemented design changes that reduced drop off rates during onboarding by 25% in three months.
Delivering your stories
Just because you're using a framework to share your stories doesn’t mean they have to sound rehearsed. Practice until you feel confident and comfortable, but aim for a conversational tone rather than perfection.
Before your interview, take 5-10 minutes to reflect on the energy you want to bring to the conversation - similar to how you might prepare for facilitating a research interview. Focus on establishing trust and speaking from your lived experiences.
Tailoring your stories
You can also tailor your stories based on the roles you're applying for. For example:
- Research leadership roles: Highlight times when you’ve established systems for your team, mentored others, or contributed to wider business strategy
- Individual contributor roles: Emphasize projects you’ve executed, your technical expertise, and craft skills you’ve honed along the way
Using storytelling during your research interview goes beyond showcasing your knowledge. It’s about connecting with your audience and sharing your passion and excitement for the role. With preparation, you'll be able to confidently navigate the interview process.
Templates for Crafting Your Stories
Storytelling Interview Template
Common UXR Interview Questions
Over the years I’ve hired my fair share of research leaders. Below are a list of common UX research job interview questions that you might be asked during your search. Use the STAR method and storytelling template to structure your responses
Collaboration
- Tell me about a time when you had to build trust or collaborate with stakeholders on a project.
- Describe a time when you had to work with a difficult stakeholder. How did you manage the relationship?
- Tell me about how you’ve engaged with different stakeholders across the team? (ex. Engineering, product, design, customer success)
Craft Skills
- How do you prioritize research work when supporting multiple stakeholders?
- Give me an example of when you used both qualitative and quantitative data to inform your work.
- Tell me about a time when you uncovered surprising user insights.
- How have you incorporated user feedback into your practice?
- Tell me about a time a project didn't go exactly as planned. How did you fix it?
Impact
- Tell me about a time when you influenced a team using research insights.
- Tell me about a time when you ran a research study that significantly impacted a business decision.
Conflict Resolution
- Tell me about a time when your research findings were challenged. How did you respond?
- Describe a time when you had to change your research plan or methods on the fly? How did you shift your approach?
- Tell me about a time when you had to justify the need for user research in a project.
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