My First Hiring Experience - Learning That Hiring Is Human

At my recent company, I got asked to do something I had never done before: Hire a UX designer.

It might sound simple for someone else, but for me, it felt huge. I wasn’t some polished recruiter in a fancy suit. I was a senior engineer with a thick Asian accent, no HR experience, and definitely not a model-looking face to “represent the company.”

Honestly, when the task landed on me, I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or just hide under my desk. Me, being the face of the company during an interview? I half-joked to myself that this company might go bankrupt if the candidate judged us based on my interview skills.

Even though I was the one hiring, I prepared for about a full day😅. I reviewed UX designer resume, thought about possible questions, tried to predict what the candidate might ask about the company, the product, the team — everything. It almost felt like I was the one being interviewed.

The day of the interview, my stomach was twisting a little. I thought it would be a short, robotic checklist:

"Hello, can you use Figma? Great. Welcome aboard."

But that’s not what happened.

The conversation flowed. One hour went by — without me even noticing. We didn’t just talk about technical skills; we talked about ideas. How they see UX, how we think about product. We talked about culture, work philosophy, and the kinds of values we wanted to protect as the team grew. We even laughed about random startup chaos stories (because who hasn’t experienced that?).

By the end of it, I realized something important:

• Hiring isn’t about judgment.
• It’s about connection.
• It’s about building a bridge between people and business — not just measuring skills on a spreadsheet.

I’m not even sure if the candidate ended up getting the offer. But for me, the experience itself was already a win. I had stepped way outside my comfort zone. I had grown. And I had learned that even if you feel nervous, imperfect, or unqualified, you can still create a real, human connection — and that’s what matters most.

This experience taught me:

• At the end of the day, hiring is human.
• It’s about empathy.
• It’s about seeing possibility in someone, and offering them a glimpse of the story you’re trying to write together.

And for a guy who never thought he’d survive an English interview as “the face of the company,” That felt like a pretty good first step.