How To Hire Professionals To Help You With User Research

User Research

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

If you want to meet the needs of your customers and clients, you need to ask the right questions. At the same time, you have a lot to do on a daily basis, and you may not have time to do this on your own. Therefore, you are probably looking for professionals to help you conduct the user research you need to move your product or service forward. Because there are so many people interested in this field, you will probably have a lot of applications. How can you choose the right professionals to help you conduct user research? Learn more about hiring the right people below.

Ask About Experience

If you are interested in hiring people to help you conduct user research, you need to ask about their experience. Experience is one of the most powerful teachers, and there is no replacement for it. If you look at an application by someone with years of experience in user research, you may want to hire them. Invite them for an interview, learn more about their prior work, and see if they are willing to assist you with your project. You might also want to give them a window into some of the projects you have coming down the pipe. See if they have any ideas about how they can help you with those projects.

SEE ALSO: Should You Get A Degree To Become A Programmer?

Look at Credentials 

Next, you should also take a look at their credentials. What is their educational background like? Where did they go to college? Do they have a graduate degree? If they have a graduate degree, what is that degree in? Do you feel like that degree is going to help them conduct helpful user research? Do not hesitate to take a look at their credentials, and see if they are investing in continuing education. This will probably be reflected in any certificates they might have. If they went back to school, what did they study? See if that might help them conduct better user research. 

Ask for Samples of Prior Work

You may also want to ask for samples of their prior work. Even though you should not expect them to come with an entire project, you may want to see what they’ve included on their resume. Then, ask questions about that. If they mention a specific project that had a lot of User research interview questions, ask them about the project. What did they learn about the project? How did that impact the future direction of the company? Do they feel like the results are applicable to other projects they might do in the future? Do not hesitate to ask someone for samples of their prior work when it comes to user research. 

SEE ALSO: 7 Tasks to Outsource to Make Your Business More Scalable

Hire the Right People

These are just a few of the most important points you need to keep in mind if you are looking for professionals who can help you with user research. Once you find the right people to help you, you need to do everything you can to convince them to stick around. Because it is so hard to find good help, you need to incentivize them to stay. You may want to give them more control over the next project they handle, or you may want to give them additional time off. Also, collect feedback from your current employees to see what you can do to make their experience more favorable. Always take the time to hire the right people to help you conduct user research. They will play a major role in the future directions of your company, your products, and your services.