

How to hire a designer for your startup - foundryhiring
http://blog.foundryhiring.com/post/31992180007/how-to-find-a-designer-for-your-startup

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bluetidepro
First off, great article/read. My only suggestion is that on your "TL;DR", you
should add "(pay them)" to your "give a 2-hour challenge" part. You mention
that in the article, which as a designer, I completely agree with. I would
just make sure people don't read only the "TL;DR" and think you meant spec
work! :)

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foundryhiring
Edited! Thanks for the feedback.

I'd love your input on another thing. We're passionate about making the hiring
process awesome for both employers and jobseekers.

I've spoken to a few designers who really dislike things like 99designs, or to
a certain extent, what this article advocates because it seems to commoditize
designers. On the other hand, the vast majority of designers we've worked with
are really happy with the way we met and started working, because it ensures a
good fit and doesn't waste anyone's time.

As a designer, how do you find work (either full-time or freelance)? And in
the ideal world, what would that process look like for you?

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bluetidepro
Well, I actually just recently started (back in June) as the new Senior Ui
Designer for Angie's List (<http://www.angieslist.com>), so I just went
through that whole process.

Yes, I agree with the other designer opinions on sites like 99designs. Sites
like that, to me, are the devil! (haha)

I would say my ideal process for full-time is either finding jobs posted
online and applying or having someone contact me about a job opening. Then
from there I would like to talk to the company, show them my past work, show
them recommendations I have, and learn more about the job and their company.
Then if the company and I were still happy, I would take the job.

My freelance process is about the same, however I may skip over how much I
want to learn about the company, seeing as it wouldn't be as important if I
wasn't a full-time employee.

I, personally, am a more special use case because I have a well rounded
portfolio that I would refuse to do spec-work being as it would be a waste of
my time. If they couldn't make a decision from my past work, then I don't
think it would be a good fit anyways. However, I realize not all designers
have the luxury of being able to show off work in all the ways they may be
experienced in. In that case, if it were me, I wouldn't be opposed to doing
spec-work if it was only going to take an hour or two. Anything over that
time, I would like to get paid for that work (if I wasn't hired).

Does that help and/or answer the feedback you were looking for?
...Hopefully... :)

Feel free to comment back or contact me further via email (zreed [_at_]
bluetideproductions [_dot_] com).

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foundryhiring
Thanks for the thoughtful answer. That makes a lot of sense. One of the
reasons that we started this company is that we know how much applying to jobs
can suck. Our business is helping companies hire better, through better
process management and analytics. The obvious tension here is that companies
need to be efficient, but I personally think the best recruiting is done at
the human level - that is, recruiting shouldn't be a cattle call or a stack of
resumes.

So when we've hired in the past, we want to make sure there's a good fit on
both sides, and this is one way we've found that really works.

If you have any other suggestions on how companies could do a better job
hiring designers, I'd love to hear it.

And congrats on the new job :)

