How Many Times Do I Have to Prove I Can Design a Button?
You're applying for your fifth UI/UX role this quarter. You've already shared your portfolio, spent hours on custom design tests, and walked interviewers through the same Figma files over and over again. And now? Another assignment.
Another brief. Another user flow. Another button to redesign.
Sound familiar?
For countless designers, writers, developers, and other creative professionals, this is the new normal: being asked to prove the same core skills, repeatedly, for every job they apply to. While companies justify these tests as a way to assess real-world ability, the experience for candidates is exhausting, demotivating, and often redundant.
It's time we talk about the fatigue of over-assessing talent and how we can fix a broken process.
The Problem: Endless Assignments, Minimal Trust
Assignments can be valuable, when they're fair, relevant, and respectful of time. But in today's hiring landscape, they have become excessive.
Here’s what many candidates face:
Repetitive assignments asking for tasks they've already done a dozen times.
Unpaid design work used internally by companies with no intent to hire.
Assignments with no feedback or explanation on the outcome.
Short deadlines that force candidates to choose between their current job and a potential one.
This approach not only disrespects the candidate's time and skill, but also contributes to burnout in industries already battling high turnover.
Why Portfolios and Experience Are No Longer Enough
Despite having years of experience, glowing referrals, and robust case studies, candidates still find themselves jumping through the same hoops. The assumption? Past work can't be trusted.
This erodes trust on both sides:
Candidates feel they're constantly starting from zero.
Companies worry that portfolios are polished but not proof of real skill.
And so the loop continues: more assignments, more time spent, more frustration.
A Better Way: Persistent, Verified Proof of Skill
What if you only had to prove your skills once and that proof could follow you from application to application?
That’s the idea behind platforms like Proof-of-Skill. Instead of asking candidates to repeat the same tasks for every role, companies can access verified skill assessments that show how a candidate has performed on real-world challenges. No guesswork. No redundancy.
This approach benefits everyone:
Candidates save time and avoid burnout.
Recruiters get credible, structured insights into a candidate’s capability.
Hiring becomes faster and fairer for all.
Respect the Craft, Respect the Candidate
Designers and creatives in general are not just applicants. They’re professionals. And just like we wouldn’t ask a surgeon to perform a test operation before hiring, we shouldn’t be asking mid-to-senior-level talent to redesign yet another homepage just to make the shortlist.
The answer isn’t to remove all assessments. The answer is to build systems that validate skill without creating friction.
With platforms like Proof-of-Skill, we can finally move beyond the button test.
Conclusion
The future of hiring isn’t just about finding the best. It’s about respecting the process that gets us there. It’s time to stop making candidates prove themselves again and again. Let’s trust skills. Let’s validate them once. And let’s move forward.
