Building a creative team, brick by brick

Finding talent takes time. Historically, for creative marketing companies, hiring cycles have been never-ending. Nowadays, it would seem that everyone is looking for creators and innovators at the same time, and in the same places. As a result, true creative talent is a highly sought-after commodity - and it can be an expensive one, too! According to Glassdoor, the average company in the United States spends around $4,000 on hiring a new employee, taking up to 52 days to fill the position. Get that hire wrong, and it can become even more costly.

To avoid making expensive mistakes, nowadays a lot of creative agencies fast-track the hiring process by planning and simplifying it. Sumit Rampal, Creative Director at EKCS, has honed this strategy based on his experience of hiring creative professionals. He works closely with the HR team to adapt and improve the hiring process, helping the company to recruit the best creative talent in the least possible time. Here are his key learnings from this ever-adapting hiring process.

Tips for creative hires

Collaborate closely 

From the start, all the parties involved in the hiring process should be made aware of their roles and responsibilities. When it comes to interviews, having a panel of interviewers from different aspects of your business can be beneficial.

Invest the time  

It’s vital to invest time to clearly outline what your organization wants from new hires. Here are some ways you can enable everybody in the team to get focused:

• Have a clear description of the kind of personality and skill sets you are looking for.
• Finalize the hiring criteria - although the assessment may vary according to the role, there should be a clearly defined benchmark to evaluate candidates.
• Remember organizational values are as important as creative skills
• Define your budget and timeline. A slow hiring process can mean that the organization misses out on top talent.

Implementing these steps will help with candidate attraction and keep your internal teams aligned throughout the hiring process. 

Recruiting strategies to overcome hiring obstacles

Tip -Don’t just hire skills, hire entrepreneurial mindsets!

• The portfolio - A portfolio is like a calling card for a creative person. It tells you more about the individual, their variety of work and even clients the candidate has worked with previously. People with a variety of work in their portfolio are often the ones who can actually contribute to making a difference to the company, by enhancing the value of its offered services.

• Personality and leadership skills - Recruitment can be a bit like dating! You know the feeling… on paper the person might fit your criteria, but after talking to them, you quickly discover that they are not the person you are looking for! Culture fit is important, as is a positive ‘can-do’ attitude, an enthusiasm to learn, and having the specialized creative skills that are essential for your business. 

Keep learning. Keep updating 

Last but not least, it’s imperative to keep on revising the hiring process by taking feedback from candidates as well as interviewers. Feedback can be collected through surveys - anonymously sent to both successful and unsuccessful candidates. Follow these steps to fast-track your recruitment process, and build an effective creative team in no time.

And remember, EKCS are always here to help. From projects and rebrands to seasonal peaks, our 400+ staff are ready to take on your campaigns production as and when you need. We enable you to focus your creative resources on what they do best, while we take care of the production work with end-to-end creative production services.

Want to learn more? 

Join Robert Berkeley on Thursday, September 7th. In this free webinar from Henry Stewart, Robert will explore the age-old dilemma of having a great in-house team but needing to do more. And often do more for less! This webinar looks at the ways in which in-house teams can work alongside offshore teams. Robert invites you to share your in-house challenges, gives insight into how to embed teams and different outsourcing models such as the hybrid mix, and reveals how outsourcing creative production can enable in-house teams to think and behave more creatively.

Sign up now for the webinar: Why would I outsource if I have a fantastic team: Here's Why...
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Thursday, September 7, 2023
9AM PDT / 12PM EDT / 5PM BST / 6PM CEST