4 Reasons Interview Skills Are Key to the 2025 Job Market!

TL;DR: In the 2025 job market, technical skills alone will not get you noticed. With AI screening most CVs, the real advantage lies in your ability to talk to people. User interview skills help you uncover what customers need, bridge gaps between teams, and stop companies wasting money on products nobody wants. Whether you work in tech, marketing, or management, knowing how to run insightful interviews makes you indispensable. The market is flooded with people who can build things. The ones who can understand people will lead.

What Are User Interview Skills?

User interview skills are exactly what they sound like - the ability to sit down with real people and have meaningful conversations about their problems, needs, and behaviours.

It's not just asking "Do you like this feature?" (spoiler alert: people lie). It's about digging deeper, understanding the why behind their answers, and uncovering insights that can transform your entire approach to work.

This is consumer psychology in action - understanding the different types of customers and what drives their behaviour.

Think of it like being a detective, therapist, and business strategist all rolled into one.

You're not just collecting feedback - you're uncovering the hidden truths about what makes people tick!

Why User Interview Skills Matter Across All Industries

Whether you're in tech, finance, healthcare, retail, or any other sector, understanding people is the ultimate career advantage.

These skills translate to:

• Sales roles: Understanding customer pain points

• Marketing positions: Knowing what messaging resonates

• Product management: Building what people actually need

• Customer service: Solving problems more effectively

• Business development: Identifying market opportunities

• Management roles: Leading teams through understanding

  ---

I Can't Land a Job: The 2025 Job Market Crisis

How are you supposed to differentiate yourself from 100 other candidates?

At this point the job market feels practically impossible to get a foot in the door! 

Quite literally, you feel you are getting nowhere, no progress at all. 

You're looking at the LinkedIn job boards and go to apply for a job. But what on earth is going on, there's at least another 100 people competing for the same job.

And now with most of our CVs having to pass the 'AI' test before it is even glimpsed by another human being.

Here's a sobering reality check: By the end of 2025, 83% of companies plan to use AI for resume reviews (ResumeBuilder.com survey, 2024) to filter CVs before they reach human recruiters.

That means your beautifully crafted CV might never even make it past the digital gatekeeper.

But here's what most people don't realise - whilst everyone's busy perfecting their technical skills and cramming more frameworks onto their CVs, there's a massive gap in the market.

Companies are crying out for people who can actually talk to users and understand what they need.

Why Companies Desperately Need People Who Can Talk to Users

Here's what's happening behind closed doors at most companies: they're building products in isolation. The development team talks to the design team, who talks to the product team, who talks to the marketing team. But nobody - and I mean nobody - is talking to the actual users.

The result?

Products that make perfect sense to the people who built them and absolutely no sense to the people who need to use them.

But here's where it gets interesting: Companies that actually prioritise understanding their users don't just build better products - they absolutely dominate the market.

The Beautiful Market Opportunity is User Interview Skills

Here's the beautiful irony - whilst everyone's cramming more frameworks onto their CVs, there's a massive gap in the market.

Only a small fraction of people list user research or interview skills on their profiles, yet 70% of organisations plan to hire at least one UX or research position in 2025 (State of User Research 2024).

So why does this matter?

Well, of a matter of fact, nearly 61% of corporate learning and development professionals say closing skill gaps is their top priority (Devlin Peck, 2025).

And guess what's one of the biggest gaps in most tech teams?

The ability to actually talk to users and understand what they need.

Learn more about a proven interview methodology used worldwide that will set you apart 

4 Ways User Interview Skills Will Make You Absolutely Indispensable

1. You'll Save Companies From Expensive Disasters

Early identification of product-market fit issues through user interviews can save companies months of wasted development (State of User Research 2024).

Whether you're in product development, marketing, or business strategy, understanding what customers actually want prevents costly mistakes across all departments.

2. You'll Bridge Critical Team Gaps

Most people (particularly engineers - surprise, surprise) have zero interest in participating in user research - some even feel they "would probably hinder the process more than contribute" (State of User Research 2022).

That makes you the rare person who can translate between what users need and what's technically possible, what's marketable, or what's financially viable.

3. You'll Drive Real Business Impact

Half of researchers now use KPIs and quantitative metrics to measure impact, with 15% having revenue goals attached to research projects (State of User Research 2024).

You won't just be writing code or creating campaigns; you'll be directly influencing business outcomes through customer understanding.

4. You'll Become the Person Everyone Needs

When product and design teams are arguing about features, when sales teams struggle with objections, when marketing campaigns fail to resonate - you'll be the person with actual user evidence.

Research insights make teams successful by helping them focus and deliver real value (State of User Research 2024).

Your Action Plan: Next Steps

Make interviewing skills your unfair advantage in the job market!

Stop competing on the same technical skills as everyone else.

Start learning how to talk to users, understand their needs, and translate those insights into products people actually want to use. Your future self (and your career prospects) will thank you for it.

The job market might feel impossible right now, but it's only impossible if you're playing the same game as everyone else. Time to change the rules.

Check out our practical digital course to help you stand out in any job interview - designed to rapidly give you the skills to be able to interview anyone, perfect to stand out in the pool of CV’s.

Make interviewing skills your unfair advantage in the job market!