Your team matters

When recruiting, you’ll want to make the case you have an excellent team. Top talent wants to work with top talent. The caliber of who you have today matters for the team you want to build next quarter. What have they done so far? How can you help designers empathize with the team’s challenge, including the unique and complementary perspectives your team will have coming together?

Your industry matters

When I joined Modsy as Head of Design, I knew I would be able to attract and hire top talent. Modsy, is afterall, an interior design company and product and communication designers want to work with a team focused on alongside the 100’s of interior designers already working at the company. I still love home design, but there are also so many other great industries out there.

Designers look closer at healthcare, fintech, and climate tech. Oftentimes the less “sexy” the industry, the bigger the business opportunity, and in turn the better opportunity for career fulfillment. Are the problems your company is solving meaningful to you? Are candidates able to really see the creative and professional development upsides you do?

Executive buy-in matters

World-class design teams usually don’t just form on their own. They have business partners and business leaders who typically start small, but increase their investment as they realize competitive advantage.

Executive support is essential to your work. Is this a new company? If so, how have executives worked with designers in the past? To help you recruit, make sure you highlight the company’s past performance with design, as an indicator of strong strategic partnerships.

Your culture matters

Finally, the culture of your company and design team is important to help your company stand out. What information about your team is public knowledge? Do you have events, a blog, a dribble presence, youtube videos, an instagram you can share?

What are your team’s values and design principles? Do they sound unique? What’s truly different about where you work versus other companies? Try selling these differences as advantages of working at your company versus the competition. 

Just like in a design case study, you’ll want to open with learning about your candidate’s needs, determine if they’re the right fit, and sell the value this role will play in their career trajectory.