A must-read guide for fresh graduates getting started with user research!

User research is also a discipline. This article describes the specific content of the user research profession. Let's learn about it together.

1. Choosing a career direction in user research

We need to know that doing user research is not just about joining the client's user research team. Even within the client's user research team, there are huge differences between them, so you need to choose based on your own situation.

To be precise, there are three main forms of user research profession in the country:

1. Market research company type (Party B)

They are mainly distributed in large foreign companies such as Nielsen, Kantar, Ipsos, GFK, and local private enterprises represented by Zero Point. This category has a large number of people and strong mobility, and most of them flow to Party A companies, making it the Huangpu Military Academy for user research personnel.

In market research companies, user research is more marketing-oriented, focusing mainly on what services/products users will buy and understanding what people say and think, rather than how to use or do it.

In terms of professionalism, it is the strongest in user research because the market research industry has accumulated nearly a hundred years of experience and market research companies have passed on project experience and methodology as products, such as Nielsen's retail research system, Kantar Millward Brown's complete brand research system and advertising effectiveness evaluation system, and professional division of labor (data processing, PM, quantitative and qualitative researchers are separated, etc.) ensures the professionalism and standardization of research.

However, the project cycle is generally long, ranging from one month to half a year, which is not agile enough. In addition, because the research is conducted outside the company, the results are not so easy to implement.

The advantage of doing user research in a market research company is that the academic requirements are not so strict, the entry threshold is relatively low, the learning and growth curve is relatively steep, and it is the fastest way to accumulate project experience and consolidate the research foundation. However, it often requires overtime and business trips, low income, and low cost-effectiveness. It is suitable for newcomers to accumulate endorsements and transition to other jobs (large client companies).

2. Manufacturing company type (Party A)

It is mainly distributed in medium and large enterprises represented by Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Coca-Cola, and Mengniu. In such companies, user research is still marketing-oriented while taking into account user experience.

Due to the lack of research channels and resources, these companies rely more on the professional capabilities and resources of third-party market research companies to conduct user research. They usually have hundreds of millions or even hundreds of millions of research budgets to allocate each year.

User researchers in this type of company are at a medium level in terms of professionalism because they have long been receiving output of capabilities and methodologies from third-party market research companies. However, because they are in-house, they are more agile and practical than market research companies.

The remuneration for engaging in user research in such companies is much better than that of working as a contractor, the workload will also be reduced, and it is relatively stable. In addition, you can learn some practical business knowledge, making it a cost-effective career choice.

Of course, this is not absolute. Some manufacturing company-type client user research teams are also very competitive and the work intensity is high, so it is best to find out clearly in advance.

3. Internet company type

It is mainly distributed in medium and large private Internet companies represented by BAT, NetEase, and Didi. As the user research profession is recognized and accepted by more and more people, some small and medium-sized Internet companies are now also forming their own user research teams, but on a much smaller scale.

In Internet companies, user research is more oriented towards user experience, studying how users feel about products and services. That is, it seeks very specific and in-depth information about how users use products.

Since they can easily reach their own users online, these companies do not rely too much on the professional capabilities and resources of third-party market research companies when conducting user research, and can be said to be relatively "stingy" when it comes to research budgets.

Internet companies mainly train their own user researchers, and also recruit experienced personnel from third-party market research companies to strengthen the core strength of the team, but in general, the team members are young and less professional. However, because they are in Internet companies and the particularity of agile development, the concept and practice of growth hacking are popularized, and the agility and implementation are the strongest.

Of course, the situation may be different for different companies. The professional strength of the MUR team in leading Internet companies such as Tencent is very strong.

Working in user research in an Internet company generally offers the best pay, especially in the leading Internet giants. The pay for the same position can be twice that of the second party. The income of a user research manager is equivalent to that of a second party research director. However, they usually face high pressure of working 996+ hours, and Internet companies implement a strong performance-based salary model + last-in-first-out. If one does not have strong personal abilities, not only will one not be able to get the total package income in the offer, but one will also easily become unemployed.

Summarize:

If you have a very solid academic background, with a bachelor's or master's degree from a prestigious 985 university or a top overseas university, and you are very confident in your abilities, can adapt to fast-paced work, and are eager for challenges and high income, then go for the big Internet companies (ByteDance, Kuaishou, Tencent, etc.).

If you have a solid academic background, are relatively pursuing stability and income, and hope to have a medium-intensity output environment, then it is recommended that you go for a large manufacturing company.

If your academic qualifications are average and your internship experience is unremarkable, then it is recommended that you transition to a second-party (head) company, especially Nielsen and Ipsos, which are still very popular brands.

2. Selection of User Research Positions

If you are considering doing user research within the client's company, then you need to be clear about what it means to do user research in different departments.

1. Do user research in the design department

The user research profession in the Internet field first appeared in UED design teams. It is a subdivision of the experience designer profession. It can be seen that in these teams user research first serves the design team, and then serves the business team.

When doing user research in the design department, the work content focuses on user experience. The most common work done is probably product usability testing, satisfaction testing, and other experience diagnosis and evaluation projects. In the long run, there is limited room for growth.

Nowadays, the number of user researchers in design teams is gradually decreasing, or even being completely eliminated. Instead, designers/interactionists are required to do user research and gradually return to the role of experience designers. It really is a retribution.

2. Do user research in the data department

With the rise of big data, many emerging companies have benefited from it and have emphasized its value and application. However, as time goes by, they find that big data cannot solve all problems, so they introduce surveys (user research).

The advantage of doing user research in a data team is that you can learn how to fuse large and small data and have abundant opportunities to practice large and small data fusion projects. At the same time, you can get closer to the business and actually solve business problems, thereby achieving better value output.

However, data-driven user research teams also have their limitations. Under the premise of big data, the value of small data in user research is easily obscured, such as user portrait research.

This can easily lead to a result that user researchers are assimilated into the big data team. User researchers are required to know SQL and Python, to be able to extract and analyze big data by themselves, and then... they directly switch careers to become data analysts (I am talking about Alibaba).

3. Do user research in the strategy/marketing department

In manufacturing companies, user researchers first appeared in the marketing department, which can be traced back to Procter & Gamble's entry into China in 1988. Later, user researchers began to spread to departments such as the strategy department, and Internet companies are also moving in this direction.

Now, the strategy/marketing departments of more and more companies are building a capability system that integrates industry strategy, big data, and user research. In this system, user research, as an independent functional line, can play its value independently, and is no longer attached to design, data or other functional departments.

The career ceiling for doing user research in this type of department is the highest. You will learn to integrate users, data, industry resources and capabilities to provide systematic and complete business solutions and maximize value output.

Summary: Give priority to the user research team of the strategy department/marketing department, followed by the data-driven user research team, and be cautious with the user research team under the UED.

3. Acquisition of user research knowledge and experience

After you have a clear understanding of your job search direction, you need to start preparing the corresponding knowledge and experience.

First of all, you need to systematically learn the introductory knowledge about user research.

• Understand the user research industry, including the origin of user research, domestic development history, development status, trends, and foreign user research development status and trends.
• Understand the relevant detailed information about the user research profession, including the user research capability evaluation model, the connotation and boundaries of the user research profession, the development prospects of the user research profession, the improvement of user research professional capabilities, etc.
• Understand the progress of user research work, including demand communication, research plan design, questionnaire design, interview script design, research execution, project management, report writing, and reporting implementation.
• Systematically learn user research methods. In addition to conventional quantitative research methods and qualitative research methods, there are also some cutting-edge research methods.
• Understand the various tools and resources for user research, including the use of Excel and SPSS tools, as well as the introduction and use of AI tools, a must-read list for user researchers, learning site resources, etc.
• Learn user research solutions and cases, distinguish between solutions in the Internet and non-Internet fields based on different product life cycles, and understand the differences clearly.

Secondly, you need to accumulate practical project experience related to user research, that is, cases.

Frankly speaking, you are unlikely to see public user research project examples on the Internet. This is mainly because user research projects usually involve a lot of data, and many companies have confidentiality clauses that prohibit sharing them with the outside world.

Then there are the cases shared online. At most, you can only see an overview. You cannot see the operational details of the user research project, nor can you see the difficulties and solutions encountered from demand communication to result delivery, which are the most technically demanding.

Therefore, the remaining ways can only come from personal practice, which includes research topics, paper practice, and internship project experience in enterprises.

Not to mention that there are significant differences between in-school research projects and papers and real commercial user research, in-school research projects and paper practice provide very limited help in accumulating user research experience.

Internship opportunities in companies, especially user research internships in well-known companies, are relatively scarce. If you have received internship offers from these large companies, you probably won’t read this article. So what should you do?

You can participate in practical training courses for user research projects (cloud internships), which can be online or offline. Let experienced teachers guide you through several projects step by step. You will definitely get the hang of it. You can also ask the teachers to help you create your own portfolio to make up for the lack of internship experience.

I have sorted out 6 directions. For each direction, I have prepared multiple cases instead of just one case. I will show you the best solutions and practical cases for each type of requirement:

• User segmentation and portrait research
• Market Entry Feasibility/Product Innovation Studies
• Pre-market research/post-market verification research
• Brand equity/advertising effectiveness evaluation
• Usability testing/Satisfaction NPS research

Specifically for the Internet industry, the following are added based on the logic of user operation/growth:

• Research on new users/existing users/churned users
• Evaluation of operational activities

These cases can basically cover the mainstream project types that a user researcher needs to be involved in.

IV. Resume and Interview Preparation

In general, in the current environment, the number of user research campus recruitment positions available is relatively small, but there are many job seekers, which means there are more people than jobs. Of course, other professions are similar.

In this situation, a more effective way is to first use internal referrals, through acquaintances, friends or other channel resources to "go behind" and ensure that your resume is seen and not screened out by HR. You can also contact Peron for help in this regard.

Then let’s talk about resume preparation.

1. Resume

Unlike social recruitment, the resume of fresh graduates is actually quite simple, with two core points: one is your academic background, and the other is your social practice experience.

User research is a profession that places great emphasis on academic qualifications. It is no exaggeration to say that more than 70% of practitioners today have a master's degree.

If you have a bachelor's and master's degree from a prestigious 985 university, then congratulations on being shortlisted in advance; if your bachelor's degree is not outstanding enough, but you have a master's degree from a prestigious university (Peking University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Jiaotong University, etc.), you are still competitive; if your bachelor's degree is not outstanding enough, but you got your master's degree abroad, but not from a top university, you can consider applying for an overseas user research position.

If your academic qualifications are really not outstanding, you can focus on your major. Some majors that are more suitable for user research are psychology, statistics, and sociology. If your major happens to be one of these, you can spend more space on your resume to introduce your professional training.

Social practice experience is not a hard requirement. Recruiters value your soft skills more. However, in today's involutionary era, people can only compete with practical experience in addition to academic qualifications, so social practice experience has become important.

Many people worry about their lack of practical experience in user research and that they cannot get internship opportunities in well-known companies. In fact, there is a workaround, which is the cloud internship I mentioned above. Participate in practical user research training projects, and then create a portfolio to make up for the lack of internship experience.

Regardless of your academic background or social practice experience, you should emphasize the matching degree with the company and position you are applying for. For example, if you are applying for an overseas user research position at NetEase Games, you'd better emphasize relevant experience in your resume, such as your overseas study background, your ability to do interviews in English, your research on game topics at school, your user research projects on games during internship, etc.

2. Interview

The resume is more of a match screening, while the interview is a comprehensive quality/soft skills screening.

User research interviews typically involve questions that fall into the following categories:

• Motivation/Drive: Why did you choose to pursue a career in user research?
• Industry/product related: Do you have experience with xx? How deep and broad of your experience with xx are you? Please talk about your understanding and feelings about xx from a user's perspective.
• Practical experience: Please talk about the xx research topic/xx project you have done in detail, including the background, objectives, implementation details, and results output
• Views on user research careers: What are the difficulties in user research work? How to improve your abilities? And so on

For the first type of questions, you need to explore them yourself. I suggest that you think carefully about them from three perspectives: interest (passion), talent (excellence), and commercial value (in line with social needs), rather than answering them just for the sake of answering.

For the second type of problem, you need to do your own homework on the industry and products. It is not just about understanding them but also about in-depth experience. For example, in the gaming industry and gaming products, while you are experiencing them, you also need to think about what is good and what is bad and how to improve them from the perspective of user experience.

For the third type of questions, you need to do a systematic and in-depth review of the projects listed on your resume. It is definitely right to prepare according to the [STAR Principle]:

For the fourth type of questions, you'd better have practical experience and physical experience in user research projects. Talk about more details. If the answer is empty and general, it will make people doubt the waterness of your project practice experience.

The above interview questions mainly examine your three qualities/soft skills:

1. Strong learning ability, self-motivation, and self-management ability. Why do large companies now generally require 985 prestigious universities, which has become a basic threshold, especially for fresh graduates (the academic qualifications for social recruitment will be relaxed), because academic qualifications are an indicator that can better reflect these characteristics.
2. Excellent logical thinking and problem-solving skills. The most fundamental focus of user research is still research. Without strong thinking ability to support it, you can't go far. In addition, user research needs to solve business problems. If you don't have the ability to solve problems, you are doomed to be eliminated.
3. Excellent communication, expression and coordination skills can promote cross-team consensus and implementation. User research is a service-oriented profession, and the entire workflow involves communication with the demand side; user research work is project-based, and most of the time communication and coordination are needed to advance the project.

First of all, your answers must be logically clear and organized, demonstrating your logical thinking and problem-solving abilities. Secondly, you must be able to chat with the interviewer, feel comfortable chatting, and have good interactions with him/her, rather than just mechanically asking and answering questions. This demonstrates your excellent communication and expression skills and compatibility. Furthermore, you must focus on demonstrating your proactive learning ability, self-drive, and management abilities in your introduction to your school and social practice experiences, such as your academic credits, IELTS scores, etc.

Basically, if you grasp the above three points, you will get twice the result with half the effort.

5. Finally, some suggestions

The demand for overseas user research is becoming more and more urgent. Many user research positions require at least fluent foreign language (English, German, French, Japanese) and the ability to communicate with overseas users verbally and in writing. It will be an advantage if you have overseas study/living/working experience.

For user research job applications, past project cases are a must-ask question. It is recommended to prepare at least 3-5 impressive project cases and memorize the details of the project cases as much as possible. Your presentation of the project cases will directly determine whether you can be promoted.

It is very useful to attend some interview training courses, which will work wonders for those who have experience and ability but are not good at interviewing.

Interviewing and job hunting is a two-way selection process. If you are unsuccessful in your job search, don't be discouraged. It does not mean that you are incapable. It is very likely that you and the interviewer just don't have the same aura, so don't belittle yourself.

Author: Peron

WeChat public account: Peron User Research