In my career journey, I have applied to about a dozen companies over the past 5 years - from small agencies to foreign-funded product companies, from fintech startups to traditional corporations that are undergoing digital transformation. I have been rejected without any explanation, received offers then declined them, had to take an IQ test (personally, I think this is quite ridiculous 🤣), and also chose the wrong company only to receive another offer after two months of a trial period.

This article is not just theory. It includes what I have actually experienced - and what I wish I had known earlier.

How does the recruitment process in Vietnam actually happen?

On paper, companies usually post a process that sounds very formal. In reality, it is often much more chaotic and flexible.

In most Vietnamese companies, especially large product and agency companies — the process usually goes through the following steps:

1. Submit application via LinkedIn / TopCV / email - for me, most submissions are via LinkedIn and referrals from acquaintances.

2. Review CV & portfolio - sometimes HR does this (using AI, supporting tools or their own experience), sometimes it is passed directly to the hiring manager.

3. HR screening — a 15–30 minute call asking about the candidate's background, experience, and when they can start working.

4. Technical interview — meeting in person or via Google Meet with the lead/manager.

5. Design challenge — not all places have this, but many are starting to implement it.

6. Cultural interview / final round — meet with the Head of Product, CTO, or Founder.

7. Offer and negotiation

The biggest difference from the process abroad is: in Vietnam, HR often plays a very large role in the early stages - and a large percentage of HR does not have a deep understanding of UX/UI or Product Design. They will ask you questions like "what tools do you know how to use?", "do you have experience in web/app design?", or compare you with a candidate who is a Graphic Designer.

This is not their fault (or they may not have experience recruiting in this field), but you still need to understand this. Your job during the scanning stage is to get past that HR filter to reach the right person who can assess your actual capabilities.

Another thing that causes confusion is that the interview timeline in Vietnam is very unpredictable. I once waited for feedback for 3 weeks without news; when I texted to ask, I found out that the hiring manager was on a business trip, busy with year-end projects, ... I also once received an offer just 3 days after submitting my application (the day I submitted my application, interviewed the next day, and received an offer after the interview). Don’t let the waiting time for the interview affect your mentality; just apply to multiple places in parallel and proactively follow up with HR about the progress.

What are employers really looking for?

The short answer is: Someone who can do the job, doesn’t cause additional trouble for the team, and doesn’t need to be trained from scratch.

It sounds a bit pragmatic - but that is the reality of the current Vietnamese market.

Unlike foreign companies that often have clear evaluation frameworks, many Vietnamese companies, even good ones, hire largely based on the interviewer’s instincts. "Looks okay", “fits with the boss”, "can communicate", "portfolio looks decent", “background seems good” are actual assessments that happen behind your back.

What does this mean? It means that first impressions are more important than you think, you need to proactively clarify your value very early in the conversation, not wait until they ask.

What is actually being sought depends on the type of company:

• Startup / product company: They want independent individuals, who do not need close management, can make independent design decisions, and take responsibility for the outcomes. A beautiful portfolio is not enough — you need to tell the story of the actual impact of your work.

• Agency: They want someone who can do many things quickly and doesn’t complain much when the brief changes for the fifth time. Presentation skills and the ability to persuade clients to win pitches and finalize designs are a big plus.

• Corporation / traditional company: They want someone who understands processes, understands business, knows how to work within multi-tiered systems, and does not make everything more complicated than necessary.

Sometimes their decision has nothing to do with your capabilities. You may not fit their environment. Recruitment budgets may be cut. You may be too good, and they fear you will leave after 6 months because you're bored with the job.

What is the Designer market in Vietnam really like?

Five years ago, UI/UX was still a foreign concept to many companies. Many job postings were easier to find. Now it’s the opposite — everyone talks about UX, but not everyone understands what it really is. As a result, there is a clear differentiation in the market:

The largest group: "UI/UX Designer" — essentially graphic designers or people who have completed a 3-month bootcamp, know how to use Figma, and have portfolios made by following YouTube tutorials. They apply for everything that has "UX" in the title.

A smaller group: Designers with real foundations — understand research, know how to design flows and IA, can argue the reasons behind every design decision. This group is highly sought after but is quite rare.

The special group that is in high demand: Product Designers with product thinking — people who can not only design beautifully but also understand business, know how to ask the right questions, and can work at the same level as PM instead of just receiving briefs and executing them. These are the people that good product companies are willing to pay very well.

Which group are you in? That answer determines where you should apply and how to position yourself.

One thing I learned from seniors is, don’t call yourself a "UI/UX Designer" on your CV. It is too general, not precise in terms of expertise (very few people are skilled in both UI and UX simultaneously), and puts you in the same basket with hundreds of other candidates. Call yourself a "Product Designer", "UX Designer", or "UI Designer" - clearer and more confident.

The skills currently needed in the Vietnamese market:

• Clearly designed flows and wireframes, with logic.

• Understanding IA enough to design navigation and structure for complex products.

• Knowing how to organize and lead a simple workshop or user interview.

• Quick UI design (highly needed in startups and small companies).

• Proficient in Figma.

• Being able to present and defend design decisions in front of stakeholders.

• Understanding enough about development to know what is feasible and what will make developers dislike you.

Another thing, the ability to communicate and write clearly in Vietnamese is more important than many people think. In the Vietnamese market, you will have to write specs, explain design decisions via email, chat with stakeholders. Designers who write and present poorly, even if they design well, are often evaluated lower than their actual abilities. Fortunately, current AI tools can assist in this area, but you still need to think clearly.

CV and Portfolio: The truth from someone who has made many mistakes

I once had a two-page CV, with a fancy font, radar charts, ratings, … showcasing skills. I thought it looked professional. In reality: it looked like a new graduate trying too hard.

One or two pages. No need for more. If you have 5-10 years of experience and cannot write concisely, it is a presentation mindset issue, not a limitation of page numbers.

The first part is a 2–3 sentence section clearly stating who you are and what you are good at. Not "I am passionate about design with a creative mindset"; that sentence is completely meaningless. Write specifically: "5 years of mobile product design experience in fintech and e-commerce. Focused on simplifying complex flows and improving conversion rates."

Work experience along with metrics if available. "Redesigned the onboarding flow, increasing completion rate from 34% to 67%" is a million times better than "Designed the bank app interface.".

Not every project has metrics to include in the CV. Many products are still in MVP stage, internal testing or haven’t launched yet. In that case, instead of writing a general job description, focus on the problems you are solving, the scope of the task, and your role in the design process. Even without data, the reader can still understand how you think and approach a product issue.

For junior designers in Vietnam: instead of redesigning concepts of famous apps, find a small real-life problem around you. Redesign the booking flow of a local bus company. Design an order management app for a small coffee shop. Real problems, real constraints, hiring managers value this much more.

Don’t send portfolios via email as large files. Don’t share Google Drive links and leave them private. Don’t use Behance if you haven’t updated it since 2021. If possible, invest in your own website or a carefully crafted Notion page, linking to each case study; simpler and more effective than anything else.

Preparing for the interview

The reality is: the quality of interview questions in Vietnam is very uneven. Some companies, usually product companies with established design teams, will ask very in-depth questions about processes, approaches to problems, design decisions, results, and lessons learned. But many other companies still interview Product Designers as if they were interviewing Graphic Designers or Multimedia Designers.

Regardless of the level of questions, you need to proactively lead the conversation about your true UX capabilities. When they ask "tell us about a project you are proud of", don’t just talk about pretty screens; discuss the problem, the decisions, and the trade-offs in design with business/technical challenges you faced.

Questions you should prepare for

• "What tools do you know how to use?" — This is often a question from someone who doesn’t understand UX. Answer briefly and then steer the conversation: "Mainly I use Figma, but more importantly, what do you expect the design team to accomplish?".

• "Can you design both web and app?" — A common question in agencies and companies without a dedicated design team. Be honest in your answer and set expectations from the start.

• "What salary do you want?" In Vietnam, this question often comes up very early, even in the HR round. Don’t evade it; research salary benchmarks for your position and level before going into the interview.

Regarding the design challenge:

More and more Vietnamese companies are starting to require design challenges - this is a good sign, indicating that they are evaluating expertise more seriously. There will be some candidates who do not want to waste time doing them or fear their ideas being stolen. You should discuss this matter clearly; most reputable companies will not use a candidate's test for actual products.

When you receive a test, if the brief is too vague, proactively ask for clarification. And most importantly: don’t just submit interface designs; include a short document explaining your design decisions. Most candidates do not do this, and that’s your advantage.

What I learned after many interviews

Don’t try to please everyone. When they ask you if you can do it, responding "yes, I can do everything" doesn’t help you; it only creates unrealistic expectations or hesitation from the employer.

Ask counter-questions. Not to appear clever, but to truly know what you are getting into. "How many people are currently in the design team?", "What is the working process between design and dev like?", "Who makes the final decisions about the design?" - these questions tell you a lot about the actual culture of the company.

And one very practical point in Vietnam: the UX/product design community is quite small. A hiring manager at this company often knows a hiring manager at another company. Don’t speak ill of your previous company during the interview, no matter how bad they were. Talk about your reasons for wanting to move forward, not the reasons for wanting to leave.

AI and the Designer profession - Don’t panic, but also don’t be complacent

AI will cause many designers to be laid off. The door to entering the profession will be narrower for newcomers. This is what I think about the most in the past year and also what I see is passionately discussed in the Vietnamese designer community.

AI is changing this profession. Not "will change" but is changing, right now, and faster than most people are preparing.

From the global picture to the context in Vietnam

According to the latest survey by Figma with over 1,000 designers and developers, nearly 60% of product workers say AI helps them spend more time on high-value work, and nearly 70% say AI helps them increase productivity. It sounds positive, but here is the flip side: more than half of hiring managers (56%) reported that the demand for hiring senior designers is increasing, while only 25% are hiring for junior positions.

This reality shows that: AI is narrowing the entry point of the profession. Repetitive tasks and low-risk tasks are the things that newcomers learn by doing and use to prove their capabilities, which are gradually being diminished. This means that the pathway into the profession for juniors is becoming narrower, not wider.

Some companies will rely entirely on AI. Other companies will recognize the sustainable value of deep design and invest in quality designers. You need to know what type of company you are applying to.

In Vietnam, the story has several layers of complexity

I have tried to straightforwardly ask design managers recently: "How is the company using AI in the design process?" The answers divided into three fairly clear groups:

Group one: "We are starting to apply AI for some simple tasks": Usually traditional companies or small agencies. They haven't faced enough pressure to change their workflow. This environment may be more comfortable in the short term — but it also means you will lag in skills faster than you think.

Group two: "Encouraging and facilitating designers to use freely.” Usually startups or young product companies. They are experimenting, do not have a clear process yet, but have an open spirit. This is often the best learning environment currently.

Group three: "Starting to use AI to reduce headcount". UX Writing, simple Banners, rapid Research, Wireframes, Prototypes, … are all being optimized by companies to be replaced by AI. The answers often do not state this directly, but you can hear subtle phrases like "we need a designer who can take on many roles across multiple projects" or "the company is optimizing processes". These are signals you should read carefully before accepting an offer.

What is really changing in designers' daily work

Previously, a large part of a designer's time was spent on execution tasks: Creating components, making variants, exporting assets, writing placeholders, and building initial layouts from briefs. These tasks haven’t disappeared, but AI can now perform most of them within minutes if clearly described.

If your work heavily relies on a specific UX technique, such as usability testing, it is very likely that part of that process will be automated.

What is not easily replaced is the ability to understand users and the product context: who they are? What problems are they actually facing? And how should the interface be designed to fit.

Therefore, what is becoming increasingly important is not “I can create this screen in 2 hours”, but I understand why this screen has to be designed this way, and can clearly explain it to the team and stakeholders.

Practical questions you should ask yourself right now:

• Do you know what AI is doing for you?

• Are you learning how to work with AI, or avoiding it?

• What skills are you building that AI cannot replace?

The new reality amid AI and Design

There is a wave of public opinion running parallel: one side says "AI will replace all designers", while the other side says "AI can never replace human creativity". Both of these arguments oversimplify the issue.

The reality is more complex: AI is replacing some tasks, narrowing some roles, while simultaneously creating new demands for those who know how to work in an AI environment. Someone still needs to clearly define the problems so that AI can solve them. Someone needs to ask the right questions. And someone needs to make decisions with insufficient data or ambiguity during rapid change, which will be our job.

The UX profession is not disappearing — but UX Designers who do not adapt will.

Choosing what type of company to work for in Vietnam

In the Vietnamese market, you can basically choose between:

Agencies and design studios: The best places to learn quickly, especially for freshly graduated designers or those making a shift. You will work on many types of projects, interact with various industries, and learn how to work under real timeline pressure. The downside is that salaries are mostly lower than those in product companies, and you will have to deal with continuously changing briefs and clients who don’t understand your expertise.

Product companies (from startups to scale-ups): The ideal environment if you want to develop product thinking. You will work closely with PM and dev, see the long-term impact of design decisions, and have opportunities to build design systems from scratch. Currently in Vietnam, companies like First AI, Zalo, MoMo, Be, ... or fintech startups have quite quality design teams. Salaries are often better than agencies.

Corporations and traditional companies undergoing digital transformation: Salaries can be high, benefits good, change can be fast or slow depending on the organization, and could involve office politics; you may spend more time convincing stakeholders about the value of UX than actually doing UX work. Suitable if you want stability and have enough patience to change culture from within.

Foreign companies with offices in Vietnam: Often have more structured design processes, opportunities to learn from international colleagues, and competitive salaries. But sometimes you will find yourself as just a small branch of a design team abroad, with little voice in strategic decisions.

Real questions you should ask before accepting an offer

Who will I learn the most from while working here? Not "Is the boss nice?", but "Can this boss help me become better?".

Is design respected here? The easiest way to find out: ask about the workflow process between design and PM. If the answer is "PM gives wireframes, designer makes them pretty", then you know you need to think again.

What is the company’s domain/product? What can I learn here in the next 2 years? If the answer is "not much", then a 15% salary increase is not worth it.

And an additional question: Is this company approaching AI as an opportunity or as an excuse to cut costs? This question may sound a bit sensitive to ask directly in an interview, but you can observe through how they talk about tools, team size, and productivity expectations. It is an important signal about the environment you are about to step into.

Conclusion

There is no path that is right for everyone. But if you have read this far, I believe you are serious about the profession, and that is already a greater advantage than you think in a market that is still shaping itself amidst the AI storm in Vietnam.

I wish you find a place worthy of your abilities.

References

Figma - Figma's 2025 AI report: Perspectives from designers and developers. https://www.figma.com/blog/figma-2025-ai-report-perspectives/

UX Collective - AI is coming for our design jobs, but it can't touch taste. https://uxdesign.cc/ai-is-coming-for-our-design-jobs-but-it-cant-touch-taste-afd5c7a48184

Nielsen Norman Group - Why I’m Not Worried About My UX Job in the Era of AI. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ux-job-with-ai/