« Homework assignment: links | Main | Ease of use as a brand »
August 4, 2005
A sample design exercise for Graphic Artist job candidates
Download the sample design exercise here
Based on a discussion on the IA Institute list, I have posted the sample exercise I used during the search to find Chaz, our graphic artist.
We got burned with our initial graphic artist. She had a nice portfolio and spoke very well about the work she had done. But when we hired her and asked her to do work very much like our sample problem, it became tremendously obvious that she could not do it. I don't know if she had worked for an art director who had told her specifically what to implement, or was just so completely unfamiliar with the B2B universe, but it was clear that it was just not going to work out and we needed to let her go.
During the second round of searches, I created a sample problem for the candidates to complete around the time of their face-to-face interviews. We had already weeded out some candidates based on their phone interviews, so these were the folks who had good potential.
I worried about providing them with an activity that could be perceived as creating deliverables for free, and I was also sensitive to the fact that they all had their own full time jobs. I wanted something that would allow me to "get inside their heads" and not require them to produce comps.
I was spoiled at HCT because I got to work with Graphic Artists who understood the importance of design research and cross-disciplinary design efforts and I wanted to find that for this position at KnowledgeStorm. I was convinced that this person HAD to be out there somewhere. I just had to find him or her. This approach was the method I used.
I thought it worked well. The candidates reported that it was interesting, not too taxing, and was sort of fun. All completed it fairly quickly, and although speed of completion was not truly a factor in my decision, I did, in one instance weigh speed of completion against the thoroughness of the answer provided.
As a result, we found Chaz who has worked out so wonderfully. I'd use this method again in an instant to find additional team members.
