Hey gang,

So, first things first - a quick introduction. My name’s Rand and I’m the CEO of a startup company in Seattle, WA called SEOmoz. We’ve been growing like a weed for the past few years, and are in desperate need of a truly inspirational, top notch designer. We’re offering reasonably good compensation ($65K+ bonuses, healthcare, etc.), but we’ve been having trouble attracting candidates and finding designers that have high quality portfolios (we’re not big on experience, just talent).

Naturally, as I was browsing around the CSS/design galleries and blogs, I stumbled onto CSSDrive and thought maybe the community here could offer some insight. Questions might be:

- What sorts of jobs excite great designers?
- Is having a single brand a detriment, in other words, do designers generally prefer agencies so they can work on many different campaigns/concepts?
- What are we doing wrong, or what should we be doing to help attract great talent?
- Any suggestions on steps to take?

Thanks a ton!

Hi,
I have been in the midst of looking for jobs so I think I could provide a pretty good answer, at least with my preferences!

You may want to try looking for students that are just graduating.  I’m attending the Art Institute of Pittsburgh Online and there are so many talented people with great portfolios and students are located across the country.  You could check out other colleges as well. 

I work from home and I always look for companies that would be worth leaving home for in the way of company culture and compensation.  65k at this point would be worth it, I make less than that and it would be nice not to worry about where my next job is coming from.  So I’m not sure the level of pay has anything to do with not attracting people.  Perhaps it is because a potential applicant doesn’t see themselves as worth that much if they are just entering the field. 

I also would only work for someone who has a relaxed personal attitude, while maintaining professionalism with clients, of course.  I have thought about working with a brand so I could see how larger companies find and tackle projects.

I don’t really know what you are doing wrong because I don’t know what you are doing! 

I would suggest talking to local colleges and the like.  I believe student portfolios are available online. 

Good Luck!  I know what a pain it is to need people to work for you and you can’t find that perfect person!

Mary Hagan Double
MK Digital Media

Mary - thanks so much for the reply. I think the college/art school angle is a really good one, and we’ll definitely look into that. There’s a couple of Art programs locally here in Seattle.

Here’s the post we most recently placed on Craigslist - http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/med/752470588.html - maybe that would help to get an idea of what we’ve done.

Thanks!

Good Morning!
I looked at your ad and I did see a couple things that you may want to change.  It may be because I haven’t had coffee yet today, but the I wouldn’t trust the ad based on the title.  You might want to make it a little more concrete.  Tone it down!  (Just kidding, I read that in your ad!)  It kind of sounds like an auto-responder ad title. 

Also, I would look for that type of ad in the category of web design, not art/media/design.  Although, I do check out my local craigslist quite often and I look in both categories, so that may not matter. 

Other than that I don’t see why you wouldn’t be getting more applicants. I don’t know about your specific location that might be hindering the process or the local job market, but I think you would do well by looking at some students in your area. 

Have fun,
Mary

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My suggestions, don’t use getafreelancer or vworker or that kind of sites when you can get people that specialize in web design for years with lots of feedback…from forums. Hire people from internet marketing forums first, then look elsewhere. It’s often way better as testimonials and feedback are way more real then outsourcing regular portals.

randfish - 11 July 2008 06:14 AM

Hey gang,

So, first things first - a quick introduction. My name’s Rand and I’m the CEO of a startup company in Seattle, WA called SEOmoz. We’ve been growing like a weed for the past few years, and are in desperate need of a truly inspirational, top notch designer. We’re offering reasonably good compensation ($65K+ bonuses, healthcare, etc.), but we’ve been having trouble attracting candidates and finding designers that have high quality portfolios (we’re not big on experience, just talent).

Naturally, as I was browsing around the CSS/design galleries and blogs, I stumbled onto CSSDrive and thought maybe the community here could offer some insight. Questions might be:

- What sorts of jobs excite great designers?
- Is having a single brand a detriment, in other words, do designers generally prefer agencies so they can work on many different campaigns/concepts?
- What are we doing wrong, or what should we be doing to help attract great talent?
- Any suggestions on steps to take?

Thanks a ton!

There are any amount of ‘website mechanics’ building websites for the small medium sized business owner.

Those who know nothing about web design feel lost when it comes to finding a good web designer

If you’re going to make Web design or Web development your career,

While searching for the right web designer it is important