To celebrate the expansion of Propel London’s Creative department, we’re talking to some of the industry’s most influential figures to discuss how the role of creativity is changing in the tech and digital sectors, how companies can make themselves more attractive to the top creative talent, and how creatives themselves should be approaching the hiring process.
Daniel Harvey is Head of Product Design & Brand at The Dots Global. He’s won over 100 creative awards in his career and previously held executive creative roles at agencies including R/GA, SapientNitro and Zone.
How should creatives approach the hiring process? Is the standard CV and portfolio still the best way to show prospective employers their talents and what makes a portfolio stand out for you?
Helping people write/design their CVs helped me earn dosh when I was in uni as a struggling art student. As a result, I have a weird soft spot for them, but they are absolutely a tool stuck in the past.
Portfolios are more useful but they both often share a common problem: they don’t do a good job of showing hiring managers who you’ve worked with. That info is increasingly useful as a way of helping companies dig more into claims about your skills and responsibilities.
Hiring managers want to talk to people that aren’t on your recommendations list.
How are new technologies such as VR and AI affecting the way people hire creatives. Is there now more demand for specialists or should the best creatives be able to work in all mediums?
New mediums and new technologies always demand specialists to begin with. As they become more widely adopted and understood and the tools used to create experiences for them become more democratised, the need for specialists lessens.
There is a battle for the best creative talent, so how can employers make themselves more appealing to attract the best?
Values go a long way. People want to do work they can be proud of.
Purpose over pay check is a very real thing for more and more creatives. And that’s not only for people making career decisions from a place of privilege.
People are less willing to do work that is ethically compromised.
What one technology will have the biggest impact on the future of design?
AI. We already live in a world expressed through algorithms. As designers we need to work to make them more transparent and knowable. We also have to adapt to their presence in our tools more and more.
AI will only exacerbate both of those points.
