How to hire commercial and industrial designers

Job description template

Copy it, fill in the brackets, and remove anything that does not fit your job. Keep only must-haves you would really turn someone away for.

[Job title] at [Company name]
[City, State] · [Full-time / Part-time] · [Pay range]

About the role
[Two or three sentences about your team, the work and why it matters.]

What you will do
• Confer with engineering, marketing, production, or sales departments, or with customers, to establish and evaluate design concepts for manufactured products.
• Direct and coordinate the fabrication of models or samples and the drafting of working drawings and specification sheets from sketches.
• Evaluate feasibility of design ideas, based on factors such as appearance, safety, function, serviceability, budget, production costs/methods, and market characteristics.
• Investigate product characteristics such as the product's safety and handling qualities, its market appeal, how efficiently it can be produced, and ways of distributing, using, and maintaining it.
• Modify and refine designs, using working models, to conform with customer specifications, production limitations, or changes in design trends.
• Prepare sketches of ideas, detailed drawings, illustrations, artwork, or blueprints, using drafting instruments, paints and brushes, or computer-aided design equipment.
• Present designs and reports to customers or design committees for approval and discuss need for modification.
• Research production specifications, costs, production materials, and manufacturing methods and provide cost estimates and itemized production requirements.

What you bring
• [Required license, certification or years of experience, if any]
• [Education, only if you truly need it. Typical to start in this job: Bachelor's degree]
• Strong active listening, reading comprehension, critical thinking, speaking, monitoring and writing skills
• Working knowledge of design, engineering and technology, mechanical and production and processing
• [Anything else you would really turn someone away for]

Pay and benefits
[Pay range]. For reference, the U.S. median for this job is $40.34 an hour ($83,910 a year).
[Benefits, schedule and anything else candidates should know.]

How to apply
[Apply on JAI Bot. Every applicant hears back.]

Copy the template Check your finished job post

Interview questions for commercial and industrial designers

Ask every candidate the same questions, in the same order, and write down what they say. Questions about past work show what someone has actually done.

1. Tell me about a time you had to confer with engineering, marketing, production, or sales departments, or with customers, to establish and evaluate design concepts for manufactured products. What did you do, and how did it turn out?
2. Tell me about a time you had to direct and coordinate the fabrication of models or samples and the drafting of working drawings and specification sheets from sketches. What did you do, and how did it turn out?
3. Tell me about a time you had to evaluate feasibility of design ideas, based on factors such as appearance, safety, function, serviceability, budget, production costs/methods, and market characteristics. What did you do, and how did it turn out?
4. Tell me about a time you had to investigate product characteristics such as the product's safety and handling qualities, its market appeal, how efficiently it can be produced, and ways of distributing, using, and maintaining it. What did you do, and how did it turn out?
5. Tell me about a time you had to understand a request or problem that was explained poorly. How did you make sure you got it right?
6. Tell me about written instructions, a policy or a manual you had to follow closely. How did you make sure you followed it correctly?
7. Describe a decision at work where the obvious answer was wrong. How did you work out the better choice?
8. Why this job, and why now? What would make you stay here for the long term?

Good answers name a real situation, what the person did themselves and what happened. Avoid questions about age, family plans, religion, health, national origin or anything else unrelated to the job.

What commercial and industrial designers do

• Confer with engineering, marketing, production, or sales departments, or with customers, to establish and evaluate design concepts for manufactured products.
• Direct and coordinate the fabrication of models or samples and the drafting of working drawings and specification sheets from sketches.
• Evaluate feasibility of design ideas, based on factors such as appearance, safety, function, serviceability, budget, production costs/methods, and market characteristics.
• Investigate product characteristics such as the product's safety and handling qualities, its market appeal, how efficiently it can be produced, and ways of distributing, using, and maintaining it.
• Modify and refine designs, using working models, to conform with customer specifications, production limitations, or changes in design trends.
• Prepare sketches of ideas, detailed drawings, illustrations, artwork, or blueprints, using drafting instruments, paints and brushes, or computer-aided design equipment.
• Present designs and reports to customers or design committees for approval and discuss need for modification.
• Research production specifications, costs, production materials, and manufacturing methods and provide cost estimates and itemized production requirements.

Skills that matter most

Active ListeningReading ComprehensionCritical ThinkingSpeakingMonitoringWritingDesignEngineering and TechnologyMechanicalProduction and Processing

Education, experience and outlook for commercial and industrial designers

• Typical education to start: Bachelor's degree (BLS)
• Related work experience most have: 2 to 4 years (O*NET)
• Job outlook: +2.4% over ten years, about as fast as average · about 2,800 openings a year (BLS)

What to pay commercial and industrial designers

Pay depends a lot on where the job is. Highest and lowest median yearly pay by state:

See commercial and industrial designers pay in every state

Related hiring guides

• Art Directors
• Craft Artists
• Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators
• Special Effects Artists and Animators
• Artists and Related Workers, All Other
• Fashion Designers
• Floral Designers
• Graphic Designers
• Interior Designers
• Merchandise Displayers and Window Trimmers

Job duties and skills: O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license; O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. JAI Bot has modified this information; USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. Pay: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS, May 2025. Interview questions and the job description template: JAI Bot, based on the duties and skills above.