photo: Splodge
Most of the advice in this column to date has focused on the job-seeker. After all, we've all been one at some point or another, so the appeal is pretty broad and the well of personal experience from which to draw is pretty deep. The creative job market, though, is a two-sided affair, and just as there are plenty of do's and don'ts for the applicant, there are some easily avoidable mistakes that many hiring companies make when embarking on a talent search.
The search process, as anyone who's completed one can attest, is a huge pile of work: not only do multiple interviews need to be prepared for and conducted, but countless portfolios need reviewing, travel and scheduling logistics need working out, references need checking...and that's after the initial job description has been formulated and publicized. Like many labor-intensive endeavors in the creative world, though, much of a hiring's ultimate success depends on the earliest steps. A job that's well-defined is easier to fill, and a job posting (if that's how you choose to publicize) that's clear and compelling can raise your quotient of good candidates dramatically.
Coroflot being a job-listing website, we're inclined to focus on the posting step...and we've seen enough of them over the past few years to have a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn't. So if you're getting ready to look for your next hot pencil, procrastinating about starting the process because it's too daunting, or wondering why you keep getting applications from all the wrong people, read on.Look at an ad from a major player, read it aloud, then read yours. The tone should be different of course, but yours shouldn't sound dumb in comparison. Nobody wants to work someplace dumb.
1. Look legitimate.
Formatting, spelling, and grammar are noticed, even by creative professionals. On-line career advertising is great because it's relatively inexpensive, and allows any interested party to post; but this also breeds skepticism. There are plenty of small-potatoes, poorly run, hellhole places to work in the world, and some of them post right next to Apple and Pentagram. Job-searchers have gotten good at paying attention to the hallmarks of a serious, professional employer, so it behooves you to spend the extra couple of hours making sure your ad has them. Look at an ad from a major player, read it aloud, then read yours. The tone should be different of course, but yours shouldn't sound dumb in comparison. Nobody wants to work someplace dumb.
2. Avoid marketing speak.
We're familiar with marketing bullshit--we read it every day, and some of us write it--so you're generally better off playing it straight. Admittedly, a posting from academia, government, or a large multinational corporation is going to come off a standardized template, then get edited by committee to within an inch of its life; applicants understand that and accept it, albeit grudgingly. For a smaller company or an agency, though, something more direct and conversational is usually expected, both when describing the company and soliciting the applicant.
Long lists of non-specific company characteristics (dynamic, insightful, engaged, consumer-driven, etc.), or applicant characteristics (hard-working, self-starter, team-player, etc) are generally ineffective. Not that these characteristics aren't important--because they are--but if you want to target the right job-seekers, you need to pick the few things you're really looking for and describe them, using examples if possible: if your position requires 60-hour weeks and the generation of 20 concepts a day, say that, not "hard-working and prolific."
On the other hand, this is a great opportunity for you to communicate some of what makes your company unique. If you've got a clever approach to your design process, something with a name (HLB's "Meaningful Design" for example), go ahead and use it, but define it in realistic terms. If it's something your company genuinely believes in, that earnestness and enthusiasm will come across, and that draws attention from earnest, enthusiastic workers.
3. Remember who you're talking to.
You're looking for creative professionals, so be creative. Hiring an illustrator is different from hiring an accountant, and showing you know this can go a long way toward impressing the most desirable applicants. Job ad copy, therefore, need not be the tinder-dry, lukewarm doublespeak seen in other parts of the professional world. Many creative professionals got into the field because they're specifically escaping that kind of corporate culture, so there's nothing wrong with expressing a little individuality in your ad.
This strategy can extend beyond words as well. One of the best application set-ups I've come across this year is a simple trick from London consultancy Hyphen. Interested parties are directed to their "Positions" page, where they are instructed to "please download and complete the application form on the right." The process is said to "take between 10 and 20 minutes using an image editing program," and this is where they show their unusual thoughtfulness: the form, it turns out, is simply a JPG, with some non-interactive boxes to be filled with images and text from the applicant's own portfolio. Hyphen assumes anyone applying to their firm will have the tools and knowledge to complete this task, and not only are they right, they're demonstrating an understanding of their target audience's singularity. I barely remember what these guys design, and I already want to work for them.
...an L.A. based consultancy a while back indicated in its ad that those who wear their cell phones on their belts need not apply.
4. Be specific, not just about what skills you need, but what kind of person.
Much as we might try to identify a creative "type," there is enormous variation in work expectations and approaches among designers. Some of us love being on a team; others prefer to look through a brief then hole up and work alone. Some of us are impassioned workaholics who live for the adrenaline rush of an all-nighter or two every month; others will burn out rapidly without set hours and generous vacations. If you have a good idea what your ideal candidate is going to be like--not just what they'll be able to do--you need to articulate that and get it into the ad.
5. Be flexible.
Teaching someone a new software package is much faster and easier than teaching them to lead a project team, or come up with innovative concepts, or perform well under a deadline. Too often, a job listing takes the form of a laundry list of skills: must use a Wacom tablet; must know Pro/Engineer; must code in Flash. While it's true that some jobs are so dependent on expertise with a particular tool that it's non-negotiable, long term success is often decided by more nebulous qualifications like enthusiasm, thought process and learning ability.
While on one of my first interviews after graduation, things nearly ground to a halt when a passing project manager found out I didn't know InDesign, an Adobe application more common in print than product design. While it's similar enough to Illustrator that many creatives have moved from one to the other in a matter of days or weeks, she remained unconvinced, and I was dismissed, presumably in favor of an InDesign-savvy candidate. Whether he or she proved to be a rock star or a train wreck I cannot say, but given the paucity of product designers who specifically use that package on a regular basis, they were certainly drawing from an unnecessarily meager applicant pool.
6. Use humor sparingly and carefully, if at all.
Senses of humor vary widely. Not only is it easy to get a joke wrong and come across as lame, it's even easier to get it wrong and upset a humorless potential applicant. When it works, being funny communicates a more playful corporate culture, which might attract a certain type of applicant: "It's more fun to be a pirate than join the Navy!" began Method's solicitation last year, and an L.A. based consultancy a while back indicated in its ad that those who wear their cell phones on their belts need not apply.
On the other hand, one ad last year finished off a list of requirements with "Must be good-looking," and was met with accusations of discriminatory hiring practices. Some people won't get the joke, so it pays to take care, especially when you're describing who you're looking for. Describing the company, you can probably get away with more.
7. Put the right info in the right place.
You'll be sorting through hundreds of applicants, but many of your best applicants will be sorting too, through dozens or hundreds of job postings. Based on a little informal research, the typical job-seeker's approach to reading a posting goes something like this:
A. Glance at job title, company name, and location. Plenty of applicants are stuck in a particular city or region, and this forms their first criterion. Others have a clear idea of their next job title, or a desire to work for a recognizable firm, so if this information is not clear that's the last they'll see of your posting.
B. Quickly scan for years of experience required. No point in applying to a job that requires 6+ years of experience if you're fresh out of school. Note that the terms "entry level," "mid-level," and "senior" are so arbitrary as to border on meaningless.C. Quickly scan for required qualifications. An applicant who prides herself on sketching ability, for example, will seek out jobs that ask for that, and another who knows no CorelDraw will probably avoid jobs that need it (so be careful about what requirements you identify, and see number 5 above).
D. Once the above tests have been met, your potential new hire may actually start reading the ad, skimming first, then delving into your carefully wrought prose.
The implication is clear: a successful ad makes these key pieces of information really easy to find. Bullet points are good for this, provided you don't use dozens of them. Picking the right job title is crucial too: "Senior Designer" or "Technologist" could mean anything, so be more specific than that; also avoid long, hyper-wonky job titles that are only meaningful to your department manager. Something like "Senior Designer - Branded Environments" is just about right.
8. Be specific and realistic about the application procedure.
Probably the single biggest gripe I hear from job-seekers is how variable and opaque employer's expectations are for application content. The fantasy of the One Perfect Applicant crafting the perfect submission for the One Perfect Job is just that, a fantasy; in reality, even the pickiest seekers often send off a dozen or more applications in a round of job-hunting, and it's unrealistic to have them craft a completely new package every time. For the majority of portfolio-toting creatives these days, the PDF portfolio is standard, and most job posters recognize this, thankfully. What they often fail to do is make this expectation clear and easy to find. Besides the above-mentioned job title, location, and qualifications, application requirements are probably the most important bits of information in the ad.
Where things get ridiculous is in size limitations. "Portfolio should be submitted in PDF format, not to exceed 1MB" read some postings. Really? What is this, 2002? Even with austere compression standards, it's rare for a graphic, industrial or interior designer to fit a fair sampling of their work into a document smaller than 3MB, and 5MB is more realistic. Given current email standards, there's no real reason for setting the bar any lower. In addition, many of the most qualified job-seekers have already built their own portfolio website, and these often give a far better impression of current abilities and thought process than a static document could, especially since they have the ability to update, something a PDF could never do. A two-option application standard may well be the best way to go: "Submit PDF portfolio (6MB max) or portfolio website address."
