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Posts Tagged ‘hiring’
Tips For Marketing Yourself as a Prime Freelancer
2/2/2012 3:39 PM By Artisan
So you’ve been searching for employment and you’ve just discovered your dream job. Maybe it’s a marketing position, a freelance writing project or a chance to draw snow cones — it doesn’t matter; this job speaks to you. The problem is, the project also speaks to 250 other freelancers, some of whom may be more qualified than you are. How do you make your voice heard? Here’s some self employment advice that will give you the upper hand.
First, we need to go back in time a bit. Before you started searching for employment, did you update your portfolio and resume? Let’s face it, for freelancers in particular, hiring is all about history. Every freelancer claims to have the most talent, be the best person for the job and be passionate about the work. However, it’s not about what a freelancer can say, but rather what he can show a potential employer in respect to his abilities. A good portfolio is a must. The best piece of self employment advice is to make sure that your best work, particularly your most recent best work, always finds its way into your portfolio.
Another trick to making yourself more attractive to potential employers is to stretch your limits and learn to do different things within your chosen field or related fields. Just because you’ve never written a press release before doesn’t mean you should assume you can’t write press releases. Give it a try — you might be good at it and even enjoy it. Then, when the employer advertises that a need for somebody to write a bio for the CEO for an event, you can say you are able to do that and a press release for the event, too.
Another word here about history and reputation — just as you can build a good reputation, you can build a nasty one even more easily. Any good marketing person knows that good news travels fast, but bad news travels faster so the mistakes you make and the bridges you burn can, and will, come back to haunt you. If you habitually miss deadlines, turn in low-quality work or generally don’t act like a professional, your reputation will precede you and you will find yourself being passed over for jobs.
There is one last simple piece of self employment advice you need when searching for employment as a freelancer. Be confident. If you don’t believe you’re the best person for the job, you will never convince anyone else. Besides, when you look at the portfolio you’ve prepared, you’ll see that you’ve accomplished a lot as a freelancer and you have every reason to believe that the job you apply for is yours for the taking. All that’s left to do is go get it!
Roger C is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.
How to Stand Out at Creative Staffing Firms
10/17/2011 1:14 PM By William Pirraglia
Millions of words have been written with advice to help you ace job interviews, but less has been explained about interviews or presentations to creative staffing firms. Remember employment agencies owe their first obligation to their clients to recommend the best talent that fits their companies’ needs.
Instead of restating 5 or 10 tips to deliver a fabulous job interview performance, here is just one: Treat your approach to creative staffing firms just as you would for an employer job interview.
For example, assume you seek lucrative production artist jobs and opportunities.
- Research creative staffing firms to find those that seem to offer the exciting assignments you like. Seeking freelance or fulltime web design jobs with a staffing firm that specializes in accounting and finance personnel may not be the best option.
- If you’re a newer freelancer, practice, practice, practice your approach and presentation to experienced recruiters. You should practice until you are totally comfortable with discussing your qualifications and convincing creative staffing recruiters that you are a reliable, skilled and dedicated professional.
- Create a career resume that sparks sincere interest in you, not just your qualifications. If you were seeking talent for creative jobs, what resumes would trigger your interest? Put yourself in a talent representative’s shoes—if you received dozens of resume each day, what information, layout and highlights would make certain candidates stand out?
- Always remember that your recruiter (interviewer) is on your side, but has deeper obligations to their client (employer). Present yourself as a “likeable” candidate. However experienced and clinical, recruiters and hiring managers prefer to work with people they like. Recruiters understand what their clients want and do their best to match the ideal candidate for them. However, you’ll always stand out if you are cooperative, talented—and likeable.
- Remain calm and professional. Creative staffing veterans understand that you may be a bit nervous when interviewing. If you develop the ability to remain calm and professional during the “getting to know you” process, you’ll stand out, as it will be assumed that you will project this attitude during your assignments.
- Display confidence, not cockiness. People, recruiters included, respect confidence and control. Few, if any, enjoy big egos. Being thoroughly prepared for a telephone or in-person interview with a staffing recruiter should give you the encouragement you need to make a strong impression.
Creative staffing firms (and their clients) want to deal with professionals. Even if you are a fairly new graduate or beginning a freelance career, display professionalism, commitment and dedication to your craft. Experienced creative staffing recruiters will respond with more confidence and belief in your abilities and talent.
Less Obvious Ways a Top Chicago Staffing Agency Can Help You
10/13/2011 4:58 PM By William Pirraglia
Assume you’re a graphic designer seeking freelance assignments in the Chicago-metro area. You have some contacts that occasionally advise you of potential client opportunities. You’re ready to expand your horizons and wonder how a Chicago staffing agency could help you.
Some answers are obvious. The best freelance job agencies, like Artisan, list new opportunities, often with daily personal updates. These agencies have more contacts in a number of different industries than one individual probably could ever have. If smart creative recruiters see something they like in you, chances are they will want to place you again and again.
Other creative staffing agency benefits may be lesser known. Here are a few additional benefits of which you may be unaware.
- Some of their employer clients have been partners for long periods, becoming regular and consistent sources of new jobs. Is there ever enough “marketing time?” Not likely. When you’re marketing, you’re not producing. When you’re producing, you cannot market. A good staffing agency can become a consistent source of interesting jobs because of their reputation with many active clients.
- Top freelance job agencies are a valuable resource and dispenser of knowledge that makes you a better performer. Many of the best creative employment firms offer articles, blogs and other reference information that help you become a more polished and knowledgeable freelancer. These resources help make you a more effective—and busier—freelancer.
- The best creative agencies handle many administrative duties for you. This can include providing direct deposit, collecting out-of-pocket expenses on your behalf, keeping a record of your assignments, etc. While money is like time—there is never enough—creative staffing agencies can negotiate rates for you and help manage your assignments more efficiently.
- Freelance job agencies help you become a more confident and effective marketer of your skills and professionalism. As you complete more assignments successfully, your agency will better understand your ability and, when possible, may recommend you, should clients ask for their opinion. Consistently working for new and repeated clients builds your confidence, which further develops your personal marketing ability to sell your talent better to future clients.
These advantages, beyond simple job board listings, can generate upgrades in both short- and long-term lifestyle and professional success for freelancers, whether in major cities like Chicago or smaller markets. Let superior freelance job agencies expand your influence and your bank account.
Finding the Right Creative Talent Agency
10/11/2011 3:10 PM By Jeff Orloff
Chicago is one of the best places for freelance designers, writers, developers and marketers because like most big cities there are more opportunities to find work with equally ambitious people. Yet like in other places, there are people who take advantage of others and this seems to be happening more often when it comes to freelance talent.
Finding the right Chicago-based talent agency doesn’t have to be difficult though. If you know what to look for then you can certainly find an agency that will connect you with clients and help you build your career. Here are some questions to consider asking them:
What are some of the companies you have placed freelancers at?
Obviously you want to know who an agency has relationships with. If you prefer working with smaller companies and the agency only works with large corporations, you may not find them to be a good fit, or vice versa.
How long have you been in business?
A company that has been around for a while is likely one of the more well reputed Chicago talent agencies. They may help you get in the door with established clients quicker. On the other side, a new up-and-coming agency may attract local start-ups that are looking for less traditional talent who are looking to grow with them. Consider both sides when determining the worth of an agency’s age.
Do you offer any professional development?
Good recruiting agencies know that as much as they represent talent, their talent represent them. By providing access to learning tools, they make their freelancers more marketable and productive. Obviously, you want to work with an agency that understands and encourages this.
How do you handle problems your freelancers have with clients?
Not all freelance workers are going to get along with their clients. You need to find out if the agency will intercede on your behalf or if they take a hands-off approach when it comes to dealing with disputes. The answer may help you decide what kind of agency you want to work with, and also make you aware of how you handle conflicts yourself.
Fulltime Web Design Jobs Require More than Technical Expertise
10/6/2011 2:12 PM By ArtisanFulltime web design jobs require as much cognitive and interpretive knowledge as general creative/design skills. Web designers may or may not need cutting edge technical ability, depending on the nature of employer’s requirements. Typically, however, the design task list requires the following:
- Clear screen resolution
- Efficient image compression and maximum loading speed
- Consistent browser display
- Good navigation and architecture
- User friendliness
- Good CSS, HTML and JavaScript skills
To take maximum advantage of this job growth, web designers should also become proficient in, or at least familiar with, these disciplines:
- Interactivity designs and techniques
- Features that make websites “sticky”
- Branding strategies and campaigns
- Social media design and analytics
- Components of graphic design
- Wi-Fi and Bluetooth knowledge
- General understanding of information architecture components
Whether you are a freelance or fulltime web designer, your value
will dramatically increase by having the full menu of skills. For
example, while you may not seek information architect positions,
understanding the components of the structure, capture, massaging and
measurement of data architecture helps you design better websites.
Web design is no longer simply a creative endeavor but an integral
business function too. The expanding dependence on e-commerce,
including other revenue sources (i.e., membership fees, subscriptions and newsletters), branding campaigns and content that informs and
entertains requires web designers to be business persons along with
efficiently using creative talent.
The blurring of the sales and marketing functions by social media
sites creates the need for designers to understand the vagaries of
business and commerce. Only then can they properly incorporate their
employer’s business and marketing strategies into web design functions.
Working with an experienced creative talent firm, like Artisan, will
help you take advantage of the many freelance and fulltime web design
jobs now open. These agencies often have a better understanding of
employer preferences beyond a simple job description. While you can
learn much researching employers via the internet, you seldom
capture inside information that is often available to creative
recruiters.
Why Indiana Design Companies Love Creative Staffing Agencies
10/5/2011 2:29 PM By Vince Font
If you’re seeking a website design job in Indiana, there’s nothing that says you need to pound the pavement in downtown Indianapolis with resume in hand to find employment. To the contrary, more and more companies these days are starting to lean heavily in favor of third party staffing agencies as a way to find talent. Why? The benefits of doing so are obvious.
- Companies who work with third party staffing agencies have to spend far less money on their own internal human resources. This isn’t to say that the job function of HR is totally outsourced. But an Indianapolis web design company can stand to save a significant amount of money in overhead if the duties of pre-screening applicants is already done for them by an outside agency. Considering that having an employee tasked with the job of fielding questions from prospective employees and weeding out resumes is a full time job, that’s one additional resource freed up to perform other important company tasks.
- Creative staffing agencies can afford to be choosy about who they represent. This can be an added benefit to an Indiana graphic design company that only wants to entertain offers from the cream of the crop of job applicants.
- Job hunters can be persistent. And when an Indianapolis design studio uses the services of a creative staffing agency to handle all follow up inquiries for them, they’re not just hiring someone to do the applicant screening – they’re also paying for someone to provide cover from overly-persistent candidates.
If you’re serious about finding a job in website design in Indiana and want to get your resume seen by as many employers as possible, double up your efforts by teaming with a creative staffing agency that can get your foot in the door with the highest number of hiring companies.
Hiring the Right Freelancer to Write Your Content
10/4/2011 3:56 PM By Patrick OgleContent developers seeking a freelance writer must hire carefully. Hiring a copywriter for a freelance job seems like a simple matter—look over the samples, check the resume, interview the applicant, hire them to write your copy. But it isn’t always so easy.
Freelance writing requires more than just the ability to adapt and have a neatly presented portfolio of samples. It requires a writer that understands your perspective. It requires a writer who can write on your deadline. It also requires a writer who writes clean copy the first time without the need for extensive editing.
This last part is crucial. Many writers need the guidance of an experienced editor while others may not be equipped to write for all audiences. What happens if you choose a writer who does not write clean copy or one who does not understand your specific business needs? You have to edit or you have to hire another writer. In other words, you waste time and money.
So what can you do to ensure you’re hiring the right person for the job? Consider asking them to write some off the cuff copy on a subject when you interview them. Give them the resources they need to do research on the subject too. Often someone’s ability and willingness to research a topic is as important as the writing itself. The ability to gather and synthesize information, even when that information is not going to be directly used in the copy, is a sign of a potentially good writer.
Sometimes even the best writers aren’t the most appropriate fit for the job at hand. Hemingway didn’t write poetry. Goethe didn’t write user manuals. The writer you hire has to be the one who can write for your unique needs.
No-Brainer Interview Tips You Might Actually Forget
9/27/2011 1:56 PM By Vince FontThere are some interview tips that are so obvious and intuitive, you wonder why it’s necessary to put them down in black and white. If you feel this way, you’re probably one of those conscientious types that makes an effort to actually get to your job interviews on time – you might even get there early enough to ensure you’re not out of breath on arrival. Good for you. But believe it or not, there are people out there for whom the following interview tips do need explicit saying.
- Practice answering job interview questions with a friend or peer. The fact is, you’re going to be asked a boatload of challenging questions in the course of your interview and the worst possible answer to any of them is “I don’t know.” You have to know. Everything. Or at least fake it. Practicing with someone who can hit you with the kinds of questions you’re likely to get asked is the best possible preparation.
- Don’t be late. And if you are late, you better have a darn good excuse for it. If circumstances arise at the last minute that are going to prevent you from getting to your job interview on time, pick up the phone and give your interviewer a call. Giving someone a heads up is always preferable to simply showing up 15 minutes late. Your chances of getting that job are severely limited if you can’t even be bothered to do that.
- Dress the part. You’d be shocked at how many horror stories have been told by interviewing managers who tell of people arriving in torn jeans and t-shirts to interviews where the daily dress code is business casual. If you don’t have anything nice to wear, buy something. It’s an investment that will pay for itself if you get the job you’re applying for.
- Maintain eye contact. You don’t have to frighten the person you’re interviewing with – in fact, one of the biggest interview tips is to not creep out the person that you’re trying to impress – but unless you make eye contact frequently and show them that you’re engaged, you’ll make a lousy impression.
- Be inquisitive. Ask questions, even if you have to make something up or if you already know the answer. This serves two purposes: it tells the interviewer that you’re genuinely interested in learning more, and it increases the level of your interviewer’s engagement with you. That can only bode well for your chances at landing a job.
Not everyone can ace an interview – but if you implement the aforementioned interview tips, you’ll greatly increase your chances of hitting a home run. They could be the difference between work and unemployment.
Are You Qualified to be a Marketing Communications Manager?
9/15/2011 1:13 PM By Vince Font
The job descriptions that accompany listings for marketing communications managers are often intentionally vague. This may be to appeal to the greatest number of interested parties in an attempt by the hiring management to look “outside the box” for the best possible candidate. But vague job listings can also backfire, as they lead people to erroneously think they’re qualified when they aren’t – or that they’re not qualified when they are.
Aside from specific work experience and education requirements, some of the basic qualities that you’ll need to possess in order to do well as a marketing professional or marketing communications manager are the same ones you’ll need to do well in most jobs. If you can say that you possess the qualities listed below and have the necessary experience to apply for the position, don’t let anything stop you.
• Good written and verbal skills. Being able to talk a mile a minute doesn’t qualify you as having excellent command of your verbal skills, just as being able to type 120 words per minute doesn’t mean you have xcellent written skills. To succeed at both, you should be able to express yourself eloquently and clearly, without ambiguity or insecurity. Essentially you need to be able to let people know exactly what you’re talking about at all times. Ironically, that’s far easier said than done.
• People skills. As you might imagine, having the affability to yuk it up with your coworkers over a few happy-hours drinks doesn’t necessarily qualify you as having people skills. The ability to get along well with both internal team members and outside stakeholders at all levels, while maintaining high work productivity is key, as is the ability to help mediate personal conflicts between others.
• A strong work ethic. Remember that having work ethic is very different from simply showing up and doing what’s expected of you. To have truly strong work ethic, you’ve got to be willing to exceed expectations by going the extra mile for your supervisors as well as those who report directly to you. This might mean staying late at work, triple checking details and basically doing whatever it takes for the best possible results.
• Be a problem solver. This means that you’re able to come up with creative solutions to address issues that impact productivity. If this is something you can do on a regular basis, you’re a problem solver. The great news about this is that hiring managers love problem solvers.
Getting a job as a marketing communications manager is all about having the right combination of experience, education and personality traits that make you stand out as an obvious candidate for the job. If you’ve got the near perfect balance, you’ll do well. On the other hand, if you feel that you need work in any of these areas, there’s no time like the present to reinvent yourself from the ground up. It can be done; it’s just a matter of knowing what needs improvement and taking action.
Practice Makes Perfect: How to Beat Interview Stress
9/12/2011 2:29 PM By Vince Font
There are two types of people in this world: people who admit that job interviews scare them and others who lie about it. The fact is, everyone gets nervous before a job interview so take heart. Even people with the best interview skills in the world feel that stress. But there’s a big difference between feeling interview stress and letting it control the outcome of an interview. By far, the most important way of controlling this is through preparation.
Without a doubt, one of the reasons so many people feel overwhelming stress when going into a job interview is because they feel wholly unprepared and are anticipating things going poorly. This isn’t to say that butterflies in the tummy are a sign of ill preparation. As mentioned before, it’s only natural to be nervous. But that nervousness could be significantly decreased with thorough preparation. So how do you prepare for a job interview? You practice, that’s how. Over and over. Here are a few tips for how get started.
• Enlist a trusted friend, co-worker or mentor to help you prepare by running a series of mock interviews where your friend plays the interviewer. In order to better prepare for a real-life scenario and sharpen up your interview skills, have them draw up a list of difficult, thought-provoking questions that you’ll have to answer on the fly.
• Work on your handshake. This might sound silly to some, but a lot of prospective employers are put off by people who offer weak handshakes or, worse yet, sweaty palms.
• Practice your vocal delivery. True, this isn’t a talent competition and you’re not going to be asked to stand in the center of the room and perform. But pulling off a great job interview has a lot of similarities to performance, and one of the most important parts of that is to be heard loud and clear. If you mutter when you talk, work on it. If you’ve ever been accused of being mousy, now’s the time to shake that off.
• Do a dry run. One of the biggest interview stress factors is not knowing where you’re going and getting lost on the way. You can slice away a huge percentage of the stress factor by practicing the route to your interview location so that when the day comes, that’s one less thing to fret over.
Interview stress is one of the leading causes of doing poorly in a job interview. Preparation is key to being able to take the edge off of this nervous energy and giving yourself the mental peace necessary to knock it out of the park.
