6 Ninja Techniques For Finding The Best Creative Talent On Coroflot
To all the employers out there, looking in vain for the right designer, illustrator, art director, architect, etc. - first off, fret not, you've come to the right place. Second, finding good creative talent is a careful business, with some similarities to other sorts of hiring, and plenty of differences as well. Many of the things to look out for when hiring are true in creative hiring too - look for collaborative ability and common sense, ask detailed questions about past work, expect strong communication skills - so we won't dwell on those. Over the years though, we've noticed a few approaches to finding creative professionals that work better than most, and thought we'd share some of the better ones:
1. Look at some pictures.
One of the difficulties in hiring creative staff if you don't have design training yourself is the unfamiliarity of the skill sets. While most can tell that a Rembrandt is more skillfully rendered than a stick figure, discerning which of 20 different product designers sketches the most innovative, producible concepts may not be readily apparent. One way to prepare yourself for a talent search is to look at the output of a broad array of professionals in the field you're searching, to get a sense of what the range looks like. The Coroflot Project page is a good place to start: pick the specialty you're looking for and browse through Featured images (ones we think are good) and those with lots of Views and Favorites (ones other designers think are good). It's kind of like doing your research before buying a car.
2. Talk to someone you know.
The importance of personal recommendations is as important in the creative disciplines as anywhere else; maybe even more so. You are, after all, looking to hire someone who creates persuasive images and objects for a living, so it's nice to get a second opinion. If you have any smart co-workers, friends, or professional contacts who are closer to the field in which you're hiring than you are, talk to them first and involve them in the hiring process if possible. If that doesn't work, set up an account and engage with the creative community on Coroflot, to see if you can make contacts with working designers in your local area. Creative professions are often small little worlds and they may even know (or know of) some of your prospects.
3. Search and search again.
Creative fields are more volatile than most, so the talent that you find when you search one week may differ from the next. It's worth cutting yourself out a longer than normal stretch of time when hiring creative talent, and also keeping in close touch with promising professionals you meet who are currently unavailable. That availability could change with surprising speed.
4. Cast a broad net.
Many well-worn truths about hiring aren't quite so true with designers and allied professions. Most of us do this because we love it, and will often move location for the chance to do interesting work, so unless you're just looking for a short-term freelancer, it pays to look beyond the local geography.
5. Write a good posting.
Not sure how? Check here.
6. Look at how they got there.
Beautiful images of final renderings, studio shots of completed projects, artfully staged photo composites - these are all great, but they only constitute a tiny fraction of what creative professionals do all day. If a portfolio you examine doesn't have some rough sketches, storyboards, mock-ups, or other exploratory work in it, you're not getting the whole story. In the business we call this "showing process" and it's the key to finding someone with good ideas as well as good showmanship.
Note: This article was originally written by Carl Alviani. It has been updated and edited for clarity.