The time has come for your business to hire an in-house creative. Whether you’re looking for a graphic designer, a videographer or a social media content creative, you can bet that what you pay for isn’t always what you get in return.
After years of scanning thousands of resumes, conducting hundreds of interviews, and hiring scores of creatives, here are the top things I look for before making a final decision.
This is probably the biggest area of concern for me.
It doesn’t matter if you can recite what you’ve been taught, paragraph by paragraph, in a lighting or framing book, can you execute it?
These days, there’s no excuse for creatives, even young ones, to not have a website with their best stuff featured on it.
Lawrence Hinson, principal owner of Hinson Media, says, “You need to make sure they can deliver on the promise and you need to see if their style is going to match what you’re looking for as far as your brand is concerned.”
“You can get a degree from the best colleges in the country, but if you can’t step in on day one and help make the team better, why did we hire you?”
The ability to deliver a finished product on time is paramount in any industry, but especially the creative industry.
A beautiful website, delivered three weeks later than promised, is still a stain on the company you represent.
Is the person hired going to be able to meet daily, weekly and monthly goals on time consistently or are you going to become an expert at apologizing to clients?
I once had to cut loose an incredibly promising graphic designer from my company because he repeatedly missed deadlines.
His work was great, but that’s only part of the equation when working in the creative service industry.
It goes without saying that creatives need to have thick skin to succeed, especially early in their careers.
Creatives associate their work with art, and art, often times, is subjective.
You can’t fall too deeply in love with your work because a client may not feel the same way and dictate changes, which is within their right since they sign the checks.
Yes, lending your expertise and helping them make decisions is critical but at the end of the day, if they want it changed, you’ve got to be able to swallow your pride and make the changes needed.
Is the person hired going to be ok with that?
Can they work in a team environment and take direction from superiors or management that may technically know less than them but none the less ask for a certain look or feel?
This team member also needs to be able to get along and help balance out various personalities and work types, but figuring out who would be a good fit and a good asset for your company moving forward is critical.
Creatives can add such a powerful dynamic to any company, just make sure you take your time to find the correct fit for you, and ultimately, your clients.