In a recent LinkedIn post, Nasir Uddin challenges traditional hiring practices for designers, advocating for a shift away from over-reliance on resumes. Uddin suggests that conventional hiring metrics like fancy job titles, lengthy experience lists, and perfectly formatted documents are becoming less relevant in assessing a candidate’s true capabilities.
Uddin’s core argument is that resumes primarily showcase past employment history, which doesn’t always equate to present ability. He contrasts this with the skills that truly matter in design roles today: critical thinking, problem-solving, and a clear approach to design itself.
“Hiring today is not about: ↳ Fancy job titles ↳ Long experience lists ↳ Or perfectly formatted PDFs anymore. It’s about thinking. It’s about problem-solving. It’s about how someone actually approaches design.”
The Limitations of Resume-Based Evaluation
The post highlights a common paradox in hiring: individuals with impressive resumes may falter when faced with practical challenges, while those with less conventional backgrounds can offer innovative solutions. Nasir Uddin shared his personal experience of changing his evaluation methods precisely because of this observation.
As Nasir Uddin points out, the conventional resume focuses on the past, failing to capture the dynamic nature of a designer’s current abilities. “Resumes show history. But history doesn’t always show ability,” Uddin states, underscoring the disconnect between historical data and future performance potential.
Shifting Focus to Design Thinking and Problem-Solving
Uddin proposes a new framework for evaluating designers, focusing on three key areas that reveal more about a candidate’s aptitude than a traditional resume ever could. These include:
- How candidates explain their design decisions.
- Their approach to tackling complex, ‘messy’ product problems.
- The clarity with which they communicate their thought process.
According to Nasir Uddin, this shift is crucial because strong designers don’t just present their finished work; they articulate the reasoning behind their choices. “Great designers don’t just show work. They show reasoning,” he emphasizes.
What Portfolios Should Truly Reveal
Beyond the resume, Uddin suggests that portfolios offer a richer source of information when structured correctly. The most effective portfolios, in his view, go beyond a mere showcase of projects. They illuminate the ‘why’ behind design choices, the specific problems that were addressed, and the impact of changes made after testing.
“The best portfolios reveal: ↪ Why decisions were made ↪ What problems were solved ↪ What changed after testing And how the product improved That tells you far more than a resume ever will.”
Nasir Uddin concludes that while resumes haven’t disappeared entirely, their significance as the primary hiring signal has diminished. He urges hiring managers to look beyond the polished PDF and seek out the critical thinking and problem-solving capabilities of the designer.
“Look past the PDF. Look for the mind behind the work,” Uddin advises, advocating for a more insightful and effective approach to building design teams in a rapidly evolving industry.
📝 About This Content
This article is based on insights shared by Nasir Uddin on LinkedIn.
📅 Originally posted on April 19, 2026 | View original post on LinkedIn →