Job hunting for the modern creative: A Q&A on navigating the complex hiring landscape of 2023
Picture this moment.
You tap the LinkedIn icon on your phone with some trepidation. Lately, your feed is dominated by green banners and long, intense posts. You doom scroll and wonder if you’re next. Or, maybe you’re the one putting up that green banner yourself. Either way, you realize it’s time to dust off the portfolio and resume and put out some applications.
If you have been affected by layoffs, you’re not alone. Layoffs are so prevalent in 2023, Forbes even has a running tracker of them. In Columbus, even some of the most seemingly stable organizations announced staff reductions this year. And countless talented creatives, advertisers and marketers have been the unfortunate byproduct of dreaded budget cuts. It’s a story we’re all familiar with: When the budget gets hit, marketing and communications seems to be the first thing to go.
Advertising agencies are no less affected by this trend. As agency clients tighten their belts and pull their budgets close, agencies lose business they might have relied on. And talented agency professionals find themselves in the same boat as their corporate counterparts.
It’s a grim scene many in the advertising industry have faced this year. And unfortunately, it’s only the beginning of the trouble for some. Across the board, it seems that companies are approaching hiring with greater discretion, putting out fewer postings and being more stringent than ever with their requirements.
The one thing we keep hearing over and over again? This is a hiring landscape like no other.
We talked to Felicia Lilien Wagner, SHRM-CP, MHRM about the complexity of the 2023 hiring landscape. As a recruiting manager for Portfolio Creative, Felicia spends every day helping connect talented advertising individuals and marketers with the companies that need them. As someone whose job is to stay enmeshed in the hiring best practices of the day, Felicia has a unique perspective on what candidates are facing today. And both that perspective and the tips she has for job hunters may surprise you.
The Q&A: Job searching in Columbus for creative professionals
Everyone's talking about how different and challenging the advertising/marketing hiring landscape is right now. What do you think makes the hiring market different now than in previous years?
Whew, where do I begin? If I had to come up with a few important reasons why the market is different, this is where I would start:
We recently all lived through an astronomically impactful economic event that has shifted the way businesses handle risk. Whether the economy is healthy or not, being a business leader during a global pandemic would make anyone want to err on the side of caution. Unfortunately, advertising and marketing are typically areas where business leaders will typically look first to trim the fat (although I think we could make a strong business case for doing the opposite when you are trying to keep your business afloat). It is so important for leaders in the creative space to know the business and know their value proposition in terms of dollars. They must have a seat at the table if they want their department to survive and that’s something we are constantly helping our clients to build strategy around.
In case you haven’t heard, people are talking about this dirty word a lot lately: ”AI.” I think a lot of companies are seeing this influx of automation as a replacement for labor. What many are not currently considering is the amount of labor that goes into utilizing these resources in a way that is most beneficial to reaching their target audience (not to mention the incoming avalanche of intellectual property lawsuits that are on the horizon). I think this reasoning for not hiring creative professionals, if it is a real issue, is short-lived. Once the dust settles, I think we will find in the near future that reverting back to our talented advertising and marketing experts to leverage “Intelligent Automation” will replace the current obsession with a complete reliance on AI to do the work.
Lastly, I think the creative space has become a bit saturated as of late. Being able to work from home for a period of time gave a lot of people the space and opportunity to cultivate their creative passions that they didn’t have time for previously. I think we can all agree that this is WONDERFUL but can also make the competition for creative roles all the more intense. It has never been more important to know what skills, software and experiences hiring managers are looking for. We do a lot of resume and portfolio reviews and are more than happy to be a resource for potential candidates who need to upgrade their personal brand!
Do you believe there is a difference in the Columbus market versus others?
I think every market is different so the short answer is absolutely, yes, but I think Columbus has definitely differentiated itself from other markets in some very specific ways.
Firstly, Columbus doesn’t just value diversity, it is a lived experience here. It’s not typically a high-level conversation we have to have with our clients in Columbus — we’ve found that diversity and inclusion tends to be just the way we do things here and it is so refreshing to be able to see our local economy thrive because of that.
Secondly, Columbus is a creative powerhouse. The amount of support for artistic endeavors here both communally and financially is astounding. Between the academic and employment opportunities as well as volunteer-run programs such as CreativeMornings, CSCA, and AAF (just to name a few), we are brimming with entrées into the creative community and people here are happy to lift others up.
Finally, Columbus, in my experience, has always been a collective of imports. The sheer mass of opportunities here tends to attract people from all over the world to be a part of it which creates such a unique wealth of exposure to new and different ways of doing things. Columbus is so unique in the way we embrace and engage in celebration of newcomers in our community and I think that’s what really makes us flexible and competitive.
What does this have to do with hiring? Many of our clients are involved in that local creative landscape and I believe that because of the collective involvement in the support of creative ventures here, companies are much more likely to seek local talent. Our team at Portfolio Creative is especially invested in the creative community here and a huge part of the joy in what we do comes from building those networks and relationships between candidates and hiring managers who value creativity.
What, if anything, has changed about what employers are looking for in creative industry candidates today?
I would say that because budgets are limited and creative teams are running much leaner right now, hiring managers more than ever are seeking candidates who are ready to immediately plug into a role and hit the ground running. Hiring managers seem to have less and less capacity to invest in training beyond typical onboarding into company culture and procedures and usually look for a ready-made candidate with all of the skills and software experience required for the job.
What does that mean for candidates? They need to be extremely entrepreneurial:
Not familiar with a program? Take a LinkedIn Learning or Coursera course and add it to your profile. Take it a step further and create something with the knowledge you gained from that course and put it on your portfolio.
Don’t have the experience you need to have with a certain skill set? Create a spec project for yourself, find a local business and offer a package of your services at a discounted rate (this is a SHORT-TERM solution, only do this until you have the experience you need and then set a competitive rate for yourself moving forward).
NETWORK NETWORK NETWORK! Go to local events and woo prospective hiring managers with your charm and ambitious attitude. Ask for people to write a recommendation for you on LinkedIn. Utilize agency recruiters like ours to practice your elevator pitch and advocate on your behalf. A hiring manager is much more likely to consider someone they’ve already met or who comes highly recommended by a trusted source!
What are the biggest mistakes you see job seekers making?
Typos. I really do my best to point these out to candidates when I see them because they really can make or break a first impression. Your resume/portfolio is a document that you spent a significant amount of time creating and it reflects your commitment to making sure something is correct before it’s presented. If you aren’t able to put your best foot forward with a resume or portfolio, how can a hiring manager trust you to wow a client?
Broken portfolio links or portfolios that haven’t been updated/improved over time. If you are in an advertising/marketing role that requires a portfolio, make sure it’s working, visible and functional! For many hiring managers, this is all they have to go off of to determine if you’re capable of doing what they need, so make it easy for them to say yes!
Not being prepared for an interview. We typically send an interview cheat sheet to all of our candidates prior to an interview that includes details about the role as well as suggestions for virtual interviewing etiquette, questions that may be asked of them and questions they should be asking. I’d say the best way to impress someone in an interview is to research the business (not just what they do but what do you think they need right now?) and share your best guess as to how your skills and expertise would fulfill a business need. Make sure to practice some typical behavioral questions and utilize the STAR method to talk about your previous experience.
AAF is all about networking. Do you think networking still has power in a complex hiring market?
I’ll repeat what I said in question 3: NETWORK NETWORK NETWORK! Absolutely, I don’t think networking will ever not have power. Beyond an applicable skill set, hiring managers want to work with someone they enjoy being around and many times that comes down to capability to accept critical feedback gracefully, ambition to learn and grow, and a positive “what’s next?” mindset — all of which can only typically be observed through in-person or virtual networking.
Do you think a good portfolio still holds the same weight for creative job seekers?
I think a good portfolio certainly holds some weight but a GREAT portfolio can tip the scales. The biggest blunder I see from candidates is throwing everything they’ve ever done onto their portfolio with very little to no context. Think of your portfolio as a restaurant menu — would you want them to include every dish they’ve ever had on the menu (even the stuff they tried when they first opened that no one liked)? What if they just put everything on there in any order they liked? Desserts mixed with salads at the top, some appetizers at the bottom, maybe some drinks and entrees mixed in in the middle? How would you ever find what you’re looking for? A portfolio can do more harm than good if it’s not carefully curated. Put yourself in the hiring manager’s shoes — how would you best be able to visualize a cohesive story?
The age-old question: Two page resumes, yes or no? But more to the point, what has changed about what employers want to see on resumes for creatives?
There are SO many theories on this and honestly I think we’re focusing on the wrong thing when it comes to resumes. People tend to forget that gone are the days where a recruiter would go through a stack of printed resumes on their desk. Most resumes are now sent virtually and go through an ATS (applicant tracking system). I think more important is making sure your resume is in the proper format to be read by an ATS and that it has searchable keywords related to your experience that coincide with the job description. Hiring managers spend about seven seconds on average reading your resume, so channel your advertising/marketing brain and make sure that your most pertinent information is above the fold and easy to read!
Do you find a difference in effectiveness between applying for jobs via websites like LinkedIn or Indeed versus applying directly to a company website or using a direct staffing partner?
I would say the quickest way to get to a human is always going to be your best bet. Consistently checking in with a recruiter that you have a relationship with about roles on the job board that are relevant to your work experience will help you to stay on their radar when new roles pop up and will most likely give you more context about the job than the job description.
That being said, LinkedIn can be a great resource. But your chances of being seen decrease the longer you wait to apply. If more than 100 people have applied to the role before you get to it, it may be worth putting your name in the ring just in case, but I wouldn’t expect an immediate response.
How can a company like Portfolio Creative aid in your job search?
Our team is pretty well-versed in the marketing/creative space and we know what hiring managers are looking for. Speaking to someone on our Talent Sourcing Team to share more information about your experience and job search will ensure that when we are reaching out to you about open roles, we are targeting opportunities that we think will be a solid fit. We try to submit no more than two-to-three candidates per role and we typically end up placing one of those candidates every time we open a role, so when we send you over to the hiring manager we believe you have a pretty good shot of receiving an offer (and if we don’t think you have a shot, we’ll be straightforward with you about it and save you the heartbreak of a fruitless job application process).
Our team can also help with sharing feedback about your resume or portfolio that can help you become more noticeable to hiring managers. All you have to do is ask!
When we do submit your resume for a role, our recruiting team puts together a three-to-four paragraph writeup (like a recommendation letter) to share with the hiring manager for that extra oomph to grab their attention. Our clients trust that we’re the expert and we encourage them to speak to the candidates we send to them, so having a partner through that process can be a real boost.
Once you connect with us you are ALWAYS part of the Portfolio Creative team. Whether you are contracting through us or a potential candidate you’ll hear from us frequently. It’s our passion to make sure our creative talent is well cared for and our priority is to make sure you are well-supported at all stages of your career journey. We are here for you whenever you need us!
The importance of connection
As we continue to navigate the ways the global pandemic affected our jobs and communities, there has never been a more important time to come together. You heard it from Felicia: network, network, network! But just as important is making space to hear and be heard and to make the human connections that inform our work as creatives.
Whether you’re actively on the lookout for your next role, casually putting out feelers or simply interested in connecting with others in the advertising and marketing industry, AAF Columbus is up and running with events throughout the year. Invest in a membership, or attend ad hoc at your discretion, and get back to making the important connections that just might lead to your next opportunity.
Disclaimer: This blog was in no way funded or sponsored by Portfolio Creative.