A major requirement for being a UX researcher is flexibility.  User research has many moving pieces.  Any of them can fail, and a researcher has to be able to handle it with aplomb and with minimal disruption.

If a user study involves a prototype or working code, there is always a chance for error.  There can be bugs in the prototype or unexpected technology issues.  The user could also come up with a different solution than the one intended to be studied by the researcher, which might not work at all.  The user researcher has to try to minimize the chances of such issues in advance, as well as handle them discreetly during the study in such a way that the research participant doesn’t feel interrupted.

Research that involves participants at scheduled times comes with its own set of challenges.  Participants can be late (or early!), or need to reschedule, or not show up.  There is also the chance that a carefully-selected participant might not be a good participant, in which case the researcher has to gently handle the situation to ensure that the participant doesn’t have a bad experience and also that anyone who is observing the research doesn’t draw invalid conclusions.

There are several characteristics that I look for in researchers to indicate how good they are.  Researchers tend to be scrupulously on-time (often early), because they never want to keep a participant waiting.  They tend to keep their calendar updated so that they can accurately schedule participants.  They build in time for unforeseen issues.  They are excellent communicators, and are also very good at following up.  They take excellent notes, and they are able to get to the heart of the matter quickly.  They can get up-to-speed on something new very quickly, and ask excellent questions along the way.

This is all a very long way of saying that my team is currently hiring for a researcher.  Ping me if you’re interested.