David Francis’ Post

Hiring a creative director in 2024 involves more than just finding someone with a creative vision; it requires identifying a candidate who can blend creativity with strategic business thinking. Here's a concise guide to help you streamline the hiring process: ✓• Redefine the Role Update the job description to reflect the modern responsibilities of a creative director, including strategic oversight across all customer touchpoints, not just traditional advertising. ✓• Source Creatively Use platforms to find potential candidates. Engage with creative communities and present your company as a place where creativity thrives. ✓• Evaluate Beyond the Portfolio Look for a balance between creativity and strategic thinking. Assess how candidates have previously driven business results through their creative work. ✓• Focus on Leadership During interviews, explore their leadership style, team management experience, and ability to foster a collaborative and innovative environment. ✓• Test Analytical Skills Discuss past projects where they used data to drive creative decisions. Present hypothetical scenarios to evaluate their problem-solving and analytical abilities. ✓• Use Real-World Tests Assign a small, real-world project to see how candidates apply their skills in a practical context. This helps gauge their ability to translate ideas into actionable outcomes. ✓• Stand Out with Your Offer Highlight opportunities for growth, a supportive company culture, and comprehensive benefits. Tailor your offer to attract top talent by emphasizing flexibility, professional development, and creative freedom. #Key Traits to Consider: >Vision and Innovation: They should be ahead of trends and able to set new benchmarks. >Leadership and Communication: Effective leadership and communication are crucial for managing diverse teams. >Adaptability and Problem-Solving: The ideal candidate should be able to pivot strategies and solve problems creatively. >Technical Proficiency: They should be well-versed in the latest tools and platforms relevant to your industry. >Cultural Fit: Their values should align with your brand’s identity and goals. #Hiring costs can vary widely. Freelance creative directors may charge per hour, or per day. By redefining the role, sourcing creatively, and focusing on the key traits that align with your business needs, you can hire a creative director who not only enhances your brand's visual identity but also drives strategic brand growths. #CreativeDirector, #HiringTips, #BusinessGrowth, #CreativeLeadership, #MarketingStrategy, #InnovationInBusiness, #TeamBuilding, #LeadershipSkills, #CreativeStrategy, #DigitalCreativity, #TalentAcquisition, #BusinessInnovation, #BrandStrategy, #CreativeIndustry, #CreativeHiring.

🚀 How to Hire a Creative for Your Team 🚀 Finding the right creative talent can transform your business and elevate your content. But hiring a creative isn't just about finding someone with the right skills – it’s about finding someone who fits your team culture and vision. Here are my top tips for hiring a creative: 1️⃣ Define Your Needs Clearly: Be specific about what you need – graphic design, video production, copywriting, etc. The clearer your requirements, the better the fit. 2️⃣ Look Beyond the Resume: Portfolios and past work tell a more comprehensive story. Look for creativity, style, and versatility. 3️⃣ Assess Soft Skills: Communication, teamwork, and adaptability are just as important as technical skills. Ensure they can collaborate effectively with your team. 4️⃣ Use Practical Tests: Give candidates a task or project to complete. This helps you gauge their problem-solving abilities and creative approach. 5️⃣ Cultural Fit Matters: Hire someone who aligns with your company values and culture. A great cultural fit leads to better teamwork and job satisfaction. Watch my latest video where I delve deeper into these tips and share some personal experiences from my journey in building a creative team. Let’s make your hiring process smoother and more effective! 🌟✨ #Hiring #CreativeTeam #ContentCreation #TeamBuilding #BusinessGrowth #CreativeTalent #WorkCulture

Are you worried that hiring a Virtual Assistant could be a mistake? I hear you! Without the right processes, training, and relationship in place, a VA could end up being a disaster. That's why I have put so much work into building a team of incredible people to serve our clients as virtual assistants, copywriters, content creators, graphic designers, and more. You don’t need to do everything and anything to make your business succeed. You just need to do the right things, and hiring a ~quality~ VA team is one thing that will push your business to the next level. Ready to learn more? Curious about what sets our team apart? Schedule a consultation: https://lnkd.in/gjcH4zvM #MelissaSwink #entrepreneur #virtualassistant

Why I hate the job title 'Creative Director' Reason Number 73. Job ads that go like this... 'You're a Creative Director. Or maybe an ACD who is ready to step up. Salary - Up to 80K.' This is what I call 'irresponsible recruiting' and possibly why recruiters constantly get a bad name for themselves. Dan Poole, Farzana Dhami, Jo Joseph, and Shima Maher - I'm not including yourselves, you're the good ones. So, don't kid yourself, recruiters. They're NOT a Creative Director. At least, you won't be hiring a decent CD for 80K. You'll still be hiring an ACD, who'll then be underpaid in their new role as CD. The Creative Director title needs redefining because it seems to cover a far wider remit and salary banding than it ever did. All I know is that 80K is just an OK salary for an ACD, NOT a Creative Director. If you join a company on 80K as a Creative Director it's irresponsible to your profession and your industry. Why? Because, by accepting that 80K salary, you're effectively sanctioning and reducing all salaries for the rest of your team, now meaning your ACD will probably be on 60K, your Art Directors and Copywriters on 45K, and your Senior Designers on 40K. All approx. 10-20k below the industry average. Which means an unhappy, undervalued, and underpaid team. Companies, Recruiters, and Creative Directors all have the responsibility and power to challenge salaries, ensuring they're realistic for everyone. If the majority of Salary Surveys quote the below as industry averages, then how about we all stick to them? Executive Creative Director (ECD) - 140K+ Creative Director (CD) - 100K+ Associate Creative Director (ACD) - 80K+ Senior Creative Team (CW/AD) - 65K+ Senior Designer - 55k+ *Note: All figures are based on averages from recent salary surveys in £GBP #CreativeRecruitment #CreativeAgencies #SalarySurvey #RealisticSalaries #CreativeDirector

Can your marketing and creative team handle everything on your to-do list? Struggling to cover all the marketing and creative skills your team needs? You don’t need a full-time hire for every role. Fractional or contract experts can fill those gaps, bringing specialized skills exactly when you need them. From graphic designers to social media strategists, you can get top talent without a long-term commitment. Ready to explore your options? We help leaders like you with teams like yours do this everyday. It starts with a simple chat. Coffee is on us! #Hiring #FractionalTeams #MarketingExperts #CreativeSolutions

I'm in the process of hiring my first full-time employee. A brand and graphic designer. SHFT Agency is growing (and glowing) up! Don't get me wrong. SHFT already has a team of 4. A mix of part-time employees and contractors, and #SassyJason. But this will be our first full-time employee. Which got me thinking about a part of branding most businesses miss. Employer branding. - what values will you hold? - what benefits will you provide? - what experience will you create? - what mission are you inviting them to be a part of? - what do you want employees to say about working for you? And the most important employee branding question: - why on earth should anyone choose to work for you? Your employees will often be your customers' first, middle, and last impressions of your business. Meaning: branding is just as much HR as marketing or operations. Create an epic employer brand. Doing so will help you attract and keep the RIGHT talent. And elevate your customer brand. Sounds like a win-win to me. ✌🏼 #shftyourbrand ----- PS - NO, I am NOT accepting applications for this role. I'm already in the final stages of the search. I will (hopefully) be hiring 2 more full-time roles later this year - a strategist and a copywriter. Keep your eyes open. Those I will be accepting applications for (just not yet!).

Hiring, Superhero-Style. Imagine a hiring agency with a twist - they dive into your company, really get to know how things work first, and find out what's missing. Instead of just collecting requirements and sending over resumes, they figure out if the problem is really about needing more people or something else - like fixing how work gets done or improving leadership. They are all about crafting a strategy that is as sharp as obsidian knife blade, ensuring your team grows stronger, not just larger. Large teams are a legacy of the past. 2024 is about delivery efficiency and matching actual needs through process transformation. - I need to hire 10 copywriters, can you help? - Yes, you don't need 10 copywriters, you need 2 with an AI background. What's your take? Is this totally off the rails, or what? #hiring #hiringagency #efficiency #teambuilding #strategicthinking #transformation #recruitment

Hiring Senior Creatives? How easy can it be? As easy as this 👇 Imagine your relief! New talent hired within 3-4 weeks in post in 8-9? Sometimes sooner, often we can. We're a specialist #Creative #Marketing #Digital #PR #Media and #Advertising recruiter. More often than not, we have your perfect hire, ready and prequalified. Imagine not having to wait 8 or 12 weeks to get that new creative or design director in post, earning you money. The relief, it's palpable isn't it. We can make your hiring a lot easier, and often much quicker. Equally as important, we can give you more accuracy, where some like quality over quantity, other like more choice with quantity being their preference, we work however you'd like us to work, how it should be. Call us on 0204 5052020 for a discovery call. If you haven't got time now, but would like to explore the potential of us being your new talent partner, then Click here or above to book your discovery call: https://lnkd.in/e775GvWS We've been doing this for over 20+ years now, we've worked with the biggest agencies in the world to the smaller boutique agencies, we love them all. Well almost! 😬 Freelance, Contract or Perm. Contingency, Retained, perhaps Embedded or subscription, we have something to suit everyone. Go on, give us a shout, you don't know unless you try. #creativeagencyrecruiter #marketingagencyrecruiter #digitalagencyrecruiter #mediaagencyrecruite #advertisingagencyrecruiter #brandingagencyrecruiter

A CEO's £35K hiring blunder: (£2K/pm solution could save her brand + £9K) Yesterday, I met CEO who hired a social media manager to post their content. The content posted failed to: → Storytell → Get attention → Generate leads → Expand visibility → Drive engagement → Build trust + credibility → Showcase social proof → Communicate her offer → Enhance personal brand → Position her as an authority To make it worse, a £30k salary was paid. Yet, for just £2k/pm she could have had: → Her profile fully optimised → Strategic content posted → A lead gen system built → An expert design team → A responsive website → Her offer positioned → Storytelling content → Expert copywriters → A brand strategist → Guaranteed leads Brand elevated → cost deflated 👍 P.S. If you want access to our team of copywriters and designers dedicated to elevating your personal brand for a fraction of your current costs, DM me "CONTENT".

Every single business should be investing in creative talent. Here's how to do it (for 10x results): The fastest growing businesses in the world are all placing creative at the forefront of their growth strategy. The challenge: Finding, training, and retaining top creative talent can be extremely difficult and time consuming. That's why we built Landed: The one-stop-shop for efficiently and cost-effectively hiring full-time creative talent directly onto your team. • Marketers • Video Editors • Project Managers • Designers • SEO Specialists • and much more The results speak for themselves: Current customer retention is 97% at 6+ months and over 50% of our customers have expanded with new hires after the initial hires. I've personally used Landed to hire three full-time members of my team, and my holding company businesses and startup investments have used it to hire many more. To level up your company's creative engine, hire with Landed today! Get started here: https://lnkd.in/dRCuSEi6