Almost all digital designers are seeking a UX designer. However, the market experiences some difficulties with providing companies with qualified candidates. It is a well-known fact that can be confirmed by a range of design companies. It’s hard to say what’s causing this situation. It could simply be a skill gap, but there could also be other reasons. 

The ever-changing freelance market offers private contractors attractive pay rates, and client choice, unlike permanent positions, is often accused of not being able to provide recruits for permanent roles. Nevertheless, this is not a cause but rather a symptom of the problem. And it’s not just about insufficient training. Although user experience design is a relatively new discipline, some  UX design agencies and companies often provide superior training right on the job, but, have а significant problem filling trainee and junior positions.

It appears that the seeming skill gap conceals a different problem. If a person has an opportunity, enough will, and intelligence, they will be able to learn new skills. Because people are willing to learn and are provided with opportunities to do it, the issue is in finding candidates that possess the right qualities. And while there is no precise path to success in UX design, there are still things that may affect the qualifications of a designer. 

The first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “creativity” is someone doing pretty things. While the ability to make things look charming and attractive can be a useful skill, it’s not exactly the type of creativity you should look for in a UX designer. It is not essential in terms of one’s professionalism, but rather just a useful trait.

The creativity we’re talking about here is the ability to solve problems, think unconventionally, generate ideas, and introduce them into reality. People think obvious things and have at least a couple of alternatives to each of their solutions. Creative UX designers manage to think of at least five ideas to resolve a problem even before their briefing is over.

This is the type of creativity you need to look for in UX specialists if you aspire to drive innovation in your particular field.

The value of analytical thinkers is in their ability to check, approve, comprehend, and assess. They tend to ask weird questions. They can take an objective view of a problem and find the best solution, whether it was their idea or someone else’s. They are capable of keeping track of several goals and put enough effort into fulfilling each of them. When they encounter problems, they develop their approach to them and aren’t scared of sifting through data to find relevant solutions.

Analytical thinking is a valuable quality nowadays. You can find specialists with this skill in a wide range of fields, including psychology, programming, social sciences, business analysis, etc. In other words, wherever an enquiring, organized mind is required, analytical thinkers are a must-have.

While analytical thinking isn’t usually associated with UX designers, the best of them have it without a doubt. Such people will always be objective in their work assessment and help guide other employees. Design is more than just some random creative nonsense.

In terms of UX design, empathy has to do with the capability in dealing with different perspectives from what the designer designed for them. Insight is one’s ability to understand what the user will feel and see, thus predicting the latter’s reactions and thoughts.

The ‘user experience movement’ has devised a comprehensive toolkit that helps designers understand users’ needs, goals, and behaviors. These include audience research, analytics, personas, and usability testing, among other things. These tools aren’t worth anything if a design specialist isn’t able to put their preferences aside and accept the fact that the end user’s perspective is valid and has to be reckoned with as a priority.

While you can’t gain an empathetic mentality through a career path or academic background, it shows through the designer’s approach to their work. That is, empathetic UX designers don’t create designs for their portfolio, but rather for users.

It may seem that this set of qualities is very unusual, but the thing is that the industry has a hard time finding the right candidates just because companies tend to look in the same places. However, there is a ton of talent out there, and the only thing needed to access it is to shift perspective.

The first place most design companies look for candidates is among design graduates. They’re high with Creative Suites, fluent in design terminology, and also have polished portfolios. However, even though design degrees are useful in creative process support, they usually don’t help develop any of the qualities described above. Therefore, it’s crucial to look past the conventional norms to find good UX designers.