Ankita Sengar was born and brought up in Madhya Pradesh. She pursued her master’s in Interaction Design from NICC in Bengaluru. After which she started her research on various companies related to consultancy services and product companies. She found Nykaa’s culture suitable for her and decided to apply. She has been working with Nykaa for almost 2 years and currently has a position as a senior product designer.
What was the selection procedure? How did you get this job?
I initially joined Nykaa during the start of the pandemic during which there were lay-offs and salary cuts so my position was on hold. The process was simple and straightforward. I am in the hiring team myself. First, we have team catchup where we list down all the prospective candidates and have a brainstorming session in which we evaluate and analyze various resumes. We narrow down candidates from a pool of applicants. After which we have around 1 exploratory round which includes the experience of the candidate, discussion of a project verbally etc followed by a small exercise of 90 mins called a “whiteboard challenge” in case of product design. In the third round, the candidate needs to explain their favourite project and technical questions are asked related to the role and opportunity they apply for. The fourth round involves an informal discussion with a design director which ends the hiring process for design. Then the fifth round includes a meeting with an HR Manager. For me, the process was the same but instead of a whiteboard challenge, I was given an assignment.
What is your title and responsibility at this job? What is your day-to-day work?
I have the title of a senior product designer. Currently, I am working with two verticals. The first one is UXR which is the user experience, research team. There was no research team when I initially joined Nykaa. We don’t give a lot of workload to newly hired people instead we give them small tasks related to the organization. My first task was to simplify the signup and login flow of the Nykaa beauty platform. I did research a few years back on which I got amazing insights, which is when they asked me to start my own team. Currently, I am handling user onboarding, user management and user activation. This is my product end vertical that I am taking care of across beauty, fashion etc. The second vertical is the UXR team. So my two verticals are product design and UXR.
What are some of the challenges that you faced? How did you overcome them?
My initial experience was in consultancy services where we had multiple projects, different domains, and different types of clients and had the chance to work on several different projects at the same time. The transition from that background to a product company was really challenging as at Nykaa if we are taking the ownership of any vertical then we need to do it completely, starting from brainstorming till the final release of the design. Even though I worked with a product company before, working with Nykaa has been a huge difference since it is a large organization.
Secondly, understanding the process and culture of a company that has been there for years took me a while.
Thirdly understanding what is feasible for the company, what they expect and how to fulfil their needs was challenging. However, Nykaa gives sufficient time for a new candidate to understand the working culture and is really supportive.
What are some of the skills essential for this job?
Being a proactive designer is important. If a product manager is coming up with an amazing idea as a product designer we need to be able to judge whether the idea is feasible or not. Understanding data is also a must-have skill when it comes to a product company. Having good communication skills, being able to interact with various stakeholders from an associate product designer to a developer and convincing them of your idea is the key. Being creative and coming up with new ideas are also essential. Lastly, being transparent about what you are working on is important. Being able to work with a team and not individually is a must.
What is your overall experience working with Nykaa?
My experience has been good and challenging. We need to prove ourselves through the designs we make and convince them why they would be suitable. We need to explain to them what differences they should make and how would it help Nykaa. It has been a great learning curve for me. Nykaa is super flexible and allows us to extend our boundaries to other departments as well if we have interesting insights and want to help with that particular project.