Preparing for the interview

We interview designers after evaluating which applicants have a compelling portfolio. For us, that typically means a portfolio of high quality designs showcasing consumer work. For product design, we look for excellent craft and aesthetics, product thinking/intentionality, interaction design, and prototyping skills. For content design, we look for product and systems thinking, expertise in information architecture, taxonomy, and a strong sense of voice and tone to guide the user journey. For creative design, it can span an even wider range of craft skills across visuals, creative strategy, copywriting, motion, illustration, video, and more. We also look for indicators that any candidate, regardless of the role and function, deeply understands their client and business needs, collaborates well, and communicates well.

When it comes to the interview process, we delve deeper into finding stronger signals and precision around the things mentioned above. The goal of the interview process is not only to understand the candidate, but to also ensure that the candidate truly understands what we do and who we are. They’re also interviewing us, and we want to ensure that’s a valuable experience for them as well. The exact interviews vary, and we adjust the process depending on the role and the market and what we learn from the existing formats we have.

The same qualities we value internally are the ones that stand out in candidates. What works well for us:

1. Craft and systems thinking
   Since finances are complex, designers at Wealthfront are not only excellent at the craft skills of their design function—but they are also good at thinking in systems and figuring out ways to drastically clarify and simplify those systems so that they become accessible for our clients. Ultimately, our success comes from our clients’ success. Design has a critical role in helping our clients find clarity and control managing their finances.
2. Communication and collaboration
   Related to that, communication and collaboration are key to being able to solve hard problems. You’re unlikely to nail a solution on the first go—that’s normal when it comes to complex products. Also, regulatory and economic conditions change regularly, so it’s important to adapt accordingly. Thus, it’s important to be able to effectively utilize the people, tools, and data around you to refine and evolve the work.
3. Culture & values
   As a company, we are learning-oriented and mission-oriented. Being a part of Wealthfront inherently means you need to be curious, thoughtful, and rigorous. You fundamentally have to care about helping our clients build long-term wealth in a way that works for them.
   
   Within Design specifically, we foster a culture of sharing early and often, debating openly and respectfully, and holding a high bar to ensure we are able to accomplish our goals. 

I’ll answer at a high level, since the details do change now and then.

1. You apply. We review our list of potential candidates for the role and select folks to interview from the list. 
2. Chat with either the hiring manager or recruiter. You learn about us, we learn about you. If there’s mutual interest, we proceed to a first round that includes a one-on-one deep dive into your portfolio, and an exercise to understand your design thinking and process. 
3. Assuming that goes well and everyone’s excited, the second round involves a panel presentation of your work and a series of one-on-ones with peers and your hiring manager. 
4. If all signs are “go,” we move to the offer stage!

The most important thing is to be yourself and authentically present your work and the way you work. Interviewing isn’t about “winning” or getting an offer every time; it’s about finding the right role at a place that’s going to inspire you to do your best work—that’s going to give you the most growth and resilience and joy during the inevitable challenges that arise with any job.

Key things candidates miss (at any interview, not just with us):

• Not treating the interviews as an opportunity to interview the company
• Not sufficiently reading up on the company—telegraphing low initiative or interest
• Not being clear on the business and client problem to be solved by the project
• Presenting solutions that don’t directly address that problem
• Not sharing enough about how they made specific execution decisions, missing craft details and thinking
• Not sharing enough about how they either responded to, influenced, or drove strategy (will vary based on level) and only being focused on execution—missing strategic thinking
• Not sharing enough about how decisions got made in the project, and by whom
• Demonstrating unaddressed emotional baggage about a previous employer or teammate, where anger or blaming are present
• Not being honest—either with themselves or us—about their reasons for being interested. It’s important to feel excited about the role you’d be stepping into right away, not just one you could have in the future.

Changing jobs is like changing relationships. People are referencing their past experiences in the types of questions they have. We each have our own list of “never agains” or “must-haves.” The exact questions we get vary, but the underlying questions tend to be:

• Will my manager be competent and advocate for me?
• Does design have a seat at the table? (Answer: Yes, and we make tables, too.)
• Does my design function have a seat at the table?
• Does the company/do my cross-functional partners understand design?
• Are your values compatible with mine?
• What’s the culture of the design team? 
• What’s the growth potential of this role?
• What’s the growth potential of this company?

Questions I don’t think people ask enough are: 

• What do you see as my key strengths and how would they be exercised in this role? 
• What do you see as my key growth areas and how would this role and you as my manager help me in those?
• Compare those answers to what you understand as your core strengths and growth areas. Do they see you, get you, have a plan for you?

Yes, of course. Though they’re not the only way we source great people. Surprisingly, we even get referrals from people who have previously interviewed with us. I like to think that’s because they had a great experience meeting us, even if it wasn’t ultimately a fit for one reason or other. 

There are probably some small things about what we do that are different, but I think what comes across most clearly is that you are talking to a company that is oriented structurally and culturally around doing what is best for our clients, and through that, aiming to build a longstanding (hopefully lifelong) relationship with them. There are many companies that will say they care about these things, but their business model is misaligned to those talking points. Best intentions die at the feet of real economic pressures unless your monetization is aligned with them. 

Because of that, we are also a place where various functions are pretty literate when it comes to understanding the impact of an excellent client experience. So you may be surprised when a very insightful experience/design observation comes from an engineer or PM—that’s normal for us.

Yes, you will be timed on how quickly you can round a corner in Figma. Just kidding! We will time how quickly you can build an AI agent designer that rounds corners. Just kidding! 

Everything is a design test. You prepare by being you, sharing what you’ve done, how, and why. Just like every interaction you have with Wealthfront is a test of Wealthfront.

We look for whether we see mission and values alignment. We have to want the same things to row in the same direction at the same time. Are you learning-oriented, humble, collaborative, striving for excellence, etc. 

We don’t so much look for “cultural fit” as “cultural add”—how would this person add flavor and dimension to the way we think and work, as we all work towards the same objectives? Teams that all look the same have the same strengths…and the same weaknesses, which can lead to glaring gaps in execution and thinking. So we try to avoid creating that situation by being well-rounded.

We bring on whomever we believe will be best set up to succeed in that particular team. Because we are extremely lean and each individual has a lot of autonomy, our team is presently staffed with folks who have a fair amount of experience and are skilled in craft and strategy.

Finance is a complex space. We design with a high bar for craft relative to the industry. That said, not everyone on our team went to design school or had a traditional path to getting to that bar.

If you’re earlier in your career, keep an eye out on our job postings—you never know when an opportunity might arise.

No. While we love having folks on the team who are passionate about finance, it’s worth remembering that a large percentage of our clients hire us because they don’t want to have to deal with the baggage associated with traditional finance and banking. So being able to see with fresh eyes and envision something without being overly biased to existing conventions can be an asset rather than a drawback.

The same way we approach any other problem. We first ask: What value can it offer to our clients, the business, and our team? Using automation and technology to create more value at a lower cost is core to our DNA here at Wealthfront. Regardless of the technology, we are very intentional about investing in things that have clear value and enable us to put our clients’ wellbeing first. Following every trend without a clear plan is a recipe for distraction, not success. 

To date, we’ve avoided things such as AI usage quotas for employees. Such things encourage gaming rather than leading to client or business outcomes. Beyond the fundamental bright lines, we have avoided prescriptive formats for how everyone should use AI in favor of empowering AI champions across the company to share and teach others. At some point, best practices for certain teams or functions may emerge, and we’ll formalize what works well.