Life on a Job Board

There will be some of you out there who will never look for a job. That’s because you’ll either be so happy in your role that you’ll never want to leave your current company, or you will be fortunate enough to make useful industry connections and move from job to job in an organic way.

Then, there are those people who make tentative steps into job hunting as and when feels right for them. This might involve updating your CV and LinkedIn, connecting with recruiters, joining job boards and applying for advertised jobs.

For some people though, job hunting is a constant and ongoing process. There are those people who live their lives on the job boards, updating their details regularly (sometimes even daily) and very active about keeping their channels of contact open.

For contractors, who only commit themselves to companies for weeks or months at a time, having job board visibility can be a fantastic way to keep informed of upcoming projects. For designers in permanent roles, there is nothing wrong with keeping yourself abreast of the job opportunities which could be out there for you or your industry acquaintances.

As a recruiter I do sometimes wonder what it must be like to be in this position.

When I’m actively resourcing for a new role, one of the first places I will look is the job boards.

This is where I find people who are flagging themselves up as open to hearing about roles. I think, “Well, this role matches their location and expertise, why don’t I give them a call?” But then I think – if I’m looking to speak with this person about a new job – how many other recruiters are doing the same thing? How many calls to job board regulars get in an average week?

It must be hard to keep tabs on the names of recruiters who have called you, let alone which jobs they have sent you information about!

It would be great to hear from job board regulars about their experiences.

How can recruiters like me make it easier for you to find your next move?

Look forward to hearing from you. please email me.

Recruitment in Pre-Digital Times

This morning, the most terrible of things happened at IC Creative.

For two and a half hours, we were transported to pre-historic (well, pre-digital age) times when the local internet connection went down, and along with it, our server capability.

Now, working out in the sunshine-soaked sticks is usually an uplifting and soul-soothing experience. However, our bucolic location (and lack of technological back up) worked against us on this occasion as we were plunged into digi-darkness, having to rely on pen and paper, telephone conversations, and our own memory to get things done.

Without knowing whether our messages were reaching their recipients, how were we to know if we had successfully booked in that interview or imparted the details of a great role? More importantly – how could we tell if the jobs we matched to designers were hitting the spot for them?

Having this kind of time delay is something recruiters aren’t used to. By nature, we want to ensure that everything moves as seamlessly as possible – if someone wants their details sent to a hiring manager at their dream company, it is beneficial for all parties to get that done as soon as possible!

Timing is everything.

The next question is – information – where can you get it, if Google is off-limits? Did recruiters visit libraries every lunch break, or simply keep an Encyclopedia close to hand? Did they have a Rolodex and a Yellow Pages on their desk at all times? Imagine flipping through scores of company and candidate details to get names, numbers and addresses every time you needed them. Information was once a tangible thing which felt like turning the corner of a page and running an ink-stained finger down a printed list of facts. Today it is as readily available and fleeting as the air we breathe.

It really is mind-boggling to me that recruiters functioned perfectly well before the internet.

Now, as our emails from the  early hours of the morning slowly filter through and we can load up LinkedIn and G+ to catch up on the news, it is back to the modern world with us. The morning’s break was refreshing, but in its’ wake we feel a certain creeping dread that we may have missed out on urgent messages, rescheduling issues, or even a flash Twitter trend.

 

As always, please feel free to contact me.

We Are Going Social! Are you?

At the moment we’re on a huge ‘Going Social’ drive here at IC Creative. No, that doesn’t mean popping down the local for after-work drinks every other night (although, if you’re ever in our part of the world you should visit: The Swan at Three Mile Cross, Reading http://www.theswan-3mx.co.uk. What we’re doing is getting our voices and our faces (sorry in advance) out there, in the hope of connecting, communicating and ultimately promoting discourse around the subject of User Experience.

LinkedIn is of course the business networking tool to use, and like most we are riding the Twitter bandwagon. But we’re currently on a mission to open our eyes to the numerous sites and tools aimed at enabling interactions - many of which have been designed by you!

Putting the question out there to you guys – which are the social media and networking sites you’re using at the moment? Are there any up-and-comers which we should know about? Have you had a hand in designing anything like this, which you’d like to showcase here?

I have very recently started toying with About.me - appealing because of its’ simplicity and aesthetic appeal. If anyone fancies ‘Complimenting Me,’ that would be great because so far I’ve only received the default About.me compliment and am feeling unloved! http://www.about.me/samanthaemmett  

Looking forward to hearing back from some of you with some interesting social sites for creative/ UX people!  

As always, you can email me. 

The Interview…

As a contractor you probably spend more time interviewing for your next contract than you do onsite at your current one in the few weeks leading up to the end date!! Permanent candidates will be asked to move heaven and earth to attend interviews, and then be made to wait until things get signed off before we can even move forward. It is however the part of the process that can’t be missed!

I’ve had some great stories from clients and candidates about interviews, some have been done within 15 minutes and offers out, some have gone on for hours because the client wants the candidate to refer back the ‘user’ at least once!

As the designers and the interviewers you’re the guys that have the technical knowledge, but sometimes you can forget about the person/s that are in the interview room with you. Being a UX interview, I’ve spoken to a few of my clients and done some reading to see what I can muster up, here are a few points that can hopefully help..

• You’re interviewing for a User Experience role- so take yourself out of the interview for a second and think of the client as a user and you’re the product. Have an understanding of the needs of the client, and how you will get them to their goal.
• This leads on to the next point quite well, as controversial as this may sound, designers will get to the same end product/ deliverable as another (some by hook or crook and others by loving what they do and being darn good at it), but it’s the process and the methods that will make you stand out and fill clients with confidence
• When you’re asked to take your portfolio with you to go through it, it’s not just a matter of plugging it in and saying ‘I did that.. I did that.. I helped do this.. I drew that..’ take the client on a journey. It’s all about the user experience here, if the interviewer has been taken on a journey through your portfolio, they’ve understood how you approached the task, the problems you came up against, the methods you used, how you thought outside of the box when you came up against hurdles and how you got to the deliverables, the client is seeing the product in action. This is a good user experience for them, they’ll invest in the product..

For example..

Buying a car	Hiring a UX Designer
Do your research (internet)	Do your research (Linked, Xing)
Watch videos and screen (youtube, forums)	Go through online portfolio / PDF
Go to a showroom to have a look	Skype / telephone interview
Test drive	Face to Face interview and expanded portfolio review
Question the salesman	Ask the interviewer questions
Decision	Decision

Obviously this is quite watered down, but my point is you wouldn’t buy a car without going through the process, you’re putting your hard earned money into something and you want to be made to feel excited about what you’re doing. Be the Aston Martin in your interview, you’ve got to the interview stage because you’ve passed through the previous phases.

If you turn up, it’s your fourth interview of the week, you’ve got a Dominos on order, hoping the delivery man doesn’t turn up in the middle of Eastenders then it’s not worth you being there. If you are there, you’ve done the research and have a genuine interest, show the passion you have in your work, sell yourself as that top end vehicle and give them the best test drive they’ve had (bit cheesy, I just got really caught up in the writing).

Just a few pointers, I’m more than happy to go into more detail over phone or email if you have any questions or pains about interviews.  Please feel free to contact me at sukhi.kang@ic-creative.co.uk