Before you've committed to a research-heavy role or a hybrid one
You're applying to a mix of roles, a research-heavy in-house product team, a consultancy that moves faster and researches less deeply, without a clear favorite yet. A general session doesn't ask which kind, and it needs no posting or portfolio link to run.
It covers what shows up regardless: how you describe your process to someone unfamiliar with it, and how you talk through a project's arc, the problem, what you tried, what you'd change. Once you've picked a specific posting or want questions built from actual past work, job-description and resume-based practice go further.
What a general session covers
Expect a background question about how you got into UX work and what draws you to it, followed by a request to describe your design process in plain terms rather than portfolio-deck language. There's no research study or design file required beforehand.
This is the type to start with before you've committed to a specific posting, or when you're deliberately keeping options open across different kinds of UX roles rather than preparing separately for each one.
Scoring
What scoring weighs here
Communication and Cultural Fit carry the most weight in a general session, since there's no specific study or design artifact to evaluate, just how clearly you talk through your own process and whether your answers read as a fit for how a team actually works.
A candidate who can walk a non-designer through a project clearly tends to score well here, which mirrors how much of the actual job depends on explaining a decision to people who don't share a design background. Overall reflects the session as a whole, so a candidate whose answers stay consistently clear tends to land higher than one with a single strong moment surrounded by vaguer ones.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a portfolio or job posting to run a general session?
No. General practice doesn't require either. It runs background and process questions common to a UX interview regardless of the specific employer or research emphasis.
Will there be a usability-testing or accessibility question in a general session?
Not specifically. Those deeper research and accessibility questions belong to the technical and comprehensive types. General stays at the level of background and process.
Is this useful if I'm applying to both agencies and in-house product teams?
Yes. It covers questions that show up across both, useful when you haven't committed to one kind of UX role and don't want to prepare separately for each.
What kind of report do I get after a general session?
A five-dimension scored report with written reasoning, useful for spotting whether your process explanation needs work before moving to posting-specific or portfolio-based practice.
Should I run this before or after building out my portfolio?
Either order works, though running it early can help you notice which parts of your process are hardest to explain clearly, which is worth knowing before you finalize how a portfolio piece is framed.
Related pages
Start with a general UX designer interview
Practice the background and process questions a UX interview opens with before you've picked one specific posting to target.