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How do recruiters evaluate work vs a a CD?
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I’ve hired over 200 creatives and I primarily focus on the quality of the ideas in their portfolio. I’m fully aware that awards are elusive and filled with people taking credit for other’s work. Instead, want to know what YOU are capable of coming up with. The most important thing for any creative to do is be hard on themselves and edit their own work. If you have five great ideas for your book, just show me five. Don’t show me five strong ideas “plus a bunch of other stuff I made.” If you do, I’ll think you’re “hit and miss” and a risky hire. If I’m going to pay a decent salary plus moving expenses, and a 401k match, I want close to a sure thing. I want to hire the creative with fewer ideas that are really strong. Awards are nice to have. However, if you’ve been at strong creative shops, that goes along way. It’s almost as if you’ve been “prescreened” by those great agencies. So try to only work at the best creative shops possible. It will accelerate your career. I can share more tips if you like. Just email me at askthecco@gmail.com. Good luck!
I’m totally in favor of winning awards, but I have to say the obsession with them in recruitment is a bit myopic. There are so many other skills and qualities that make someone valuable as a creative person, that to make awards the most important requisite is to ignore what actually helps the agency retain and win business.
Sure they’re an indicator of talent. But not necessarily even the candidate’s. That award winning work was touched by clients, ECDs, CCOs, GCDs, editors, directors, photographers, producers, DPs, and all the other folks that conspired to make something great.
If recruiters wanted to be honest with themselves, instead of just looking at people’s (award winning) work, they’d engage them in a conversation about how the idea came to be. The challenges. The failures. The resilience. The impact it had. What one might do differently with 20/20 hindsight.
When you hear someone speak to these other facets of the work, you’ll know the candidate and their ability and talent far better than if you just look at the awards section of their resume.
I never understood that as a prerequisite. Like, "I need someone else to tell me your work is good so we can do good work."
Signed, someone who spent too much time at an agency focused on good work, not award submissions.
Given the rare nature of how the stars need to align in order to win awards for legitimate work that actually runs, for awards to be prerequisite for hiring is beyond mind-numbingly depressing
SC1 yes, send me your link and I’ll give you my opinion. Askthecco@gmail.com
I'm hoping some CCOs chime in!!
CCO 1: mind if I take you up on that offer too? Looking to gear up the job hunt and could use a good gut check.