Lately I had the opportunity to review a couple of junior profiles, tests and interviews. The main issue I see is that many of them are becoming good at posing but they are also losing reading skills. I am worried, reading is so important to our profession.
During my day I review documents, chat with teammates, receive emails… all those activities involve reading. If I send to a potential candidate concrete instructions in plain English, I can admit interpretation of course. But, if I notice that you simply are ignoring instructions, I deduce that you didn’t read them.
I believe that one of my advantages as a professional are the 5 languages I speak fluently. That open to me lots of doors, because I can show reliability. I can prove with my messages that I am reading you. This is very basic and critical, you shouldn’t (as a designer) improve your technical skills with engines and tools; writing skills are also not more important than listening and reading. If you fail at that, I cannot approve your test.
If you are reading this, congrats, you are a reader. So maybe you are not part of the problem, but you can become part of the solution.