Tianyu Koenig

Most candidates finish an interview and send a simple “Thank you for your time.” And then they wait. But recently, one of my UX students did something different. After her final round, she didn’t send a thank-you note. She sent a 90-day onboarding plan . A few hours later, the hiring manager replied personally: “I appreciate you taking time to do that,” and invited her to discuss offer details. This is what most candidates miss. The interview does not end when the conversation ends. There is...

Recently, I’ve been talking with several interviewer friends, and one topic keeps coming up again and again: AI. But not just in a general sense. More specifically, how to tell whether a candidate is truly “AI-native.” At the same time, many of my students have been sharing similar experiences. Whether they are applying for design or research roles, they are almost always asked some version of: “How do you leverage AI in your work?” And simply saying “I use ChatGPT for research” is no longer...

Most designers don’t struggle because of their design skills. They struggle because they don’t know how to communicate with people who don’t speak design. Executives don’t think in Figma files or visual hierarchy. They think in revenue, efficiency, risk, and outcomes. If you want your work to land, you need to translate design into something they care about. Here are 9 principles that will change how you present your work. 1. Speak Business, Not Design ❌ Saying “we improved usability” sounds...