How to Identify the Right Web Design Talent for Your Company
Unlike most advice about hiring web designers, we decided not to suggest tips on finding the “Best” candidates. Instead, we’re offering ways to identify a candidate that is the right choice for your company, your needs, and the position you need to fill. While skills and accomplishments should still be vital considerations in your hiring plan, asking these additional questions about your next potential hire will ensure you land a web designer that will really work for your brand.
Can this designer go above and beyond the basics?
A keen eye for aesthetics and visual composition will only take your web driven business so far these days. This is why you must ask your potential web design hires what they know about UX, SEO and development. It’s important that a candidate can speak to current trends in web design, such as oversized headers, one page layouts and larger footers, said John Poore, Regional Vice President at Onward Search. “But smart companies,” John says, “know that getting the most out of their site or page means they need designs built around a user experience that will cause the end user to emote or click on a desired action, which is becoming increasingly more challenging.” Designers who understand how UX, SEO and proper web development interact with and support effective web designs should be high on your hiring list.
Does the designer bring the right personality to the table?
Imagine you couldn’t see a candidate’s portfolio and had to make a decision based solely on their demeanor. Scary thought, isn’t it? But considering how much weight personality carries when hiring the marketing, administrative, financial, members of your team, why wouldn’t you take an equally careful inventory of how a new designer will fit in? This is especially pertinent in agency and start up environments where a designer may be client facing or work with a broader team. Don’t hire a designer simply because they won an award last year or drop industry names during the interview. Consider awards won and professional celebrity as the perfect compliments to a skilled designer that will also mix perfectly with their co-workers and invest themselves in being part of a cohesive team.
What are people saying about them?
While it’s easy to call or write emails to the top three references each candidate gives you, it’s smart to dig a little deeper in their portfolio and history to find out more. How has the designer worked against tight deadlines and budgets? What is their communication style? It may take longer to find these things out, but the information is well worth your time as it could mean the difference between an award winning designer who doesn’t respond quickly to revision requests, and a lesser known designer who has developed professionally, as well as creatively, over the years. It also pays to find out what online communities and social platforms the designer is a member of. Look up your potential hire on Twitter and Google+ in addition to LinkedIn to investigate who they talk to and how informed they are on the latest trends. The more they share and build on the ideas of others, the more likely their portfolio, and the work they do for you, will reflect this broader industry perspective.
Asking these three questions will bring you closer to finding the best web designer for your company. Contact Onward Search today and we’ll help you hone in on what you’re really looking for in your next web design hire.