You’re not always going to get hiring right. And sometimes that creative you really want slips through your fingers for reasons beyond your control. But you already know that this is not really a Chat for the few of you who do the nerve-fraying process of hiring. It’s a Chat for the very many of you who do the nerve-fraying process of being hired. Or not.

This is a bit of insider knowledge about being “the one”.  

Ben Welsh, chief creative officer, & Tara Ford, executive creative director, DDB Group Sydney

Hiring creatives should be easy. Everyone has a book. Everyone has a history.

It should be as simple as checking these out, then catching up for a drink and making sure your candidate isn’t an axe murderer, or arsehole, and away you go.

But it isn’t.

Because human beings are complicated.

Someone can thrive in one place and fail in another. And vice versa.

What’s more, each person in the creative department has an impact on the creative department, and the broader agency – which is why DDB is so focused on “nice and talented”.

As well as looking for talented teams and individuals you need to look for diversity. Of skills and perspectives – by that I mean sex, age, culture etc. If you want to talk to the real world, make sure you have people from it.

My colleague and ECD, Tara Ford is not only very nice and talented, she’s a mum, which actually makes her even more nice and talented. Our department includes Australians, Kiwis, Canadians, South Africans, Brazilians and more, male, female, straight, gay, young and old (well, I’m old).

When interviewing, I often suggest the aspiring applicant think about what their next job will be, the one after the one we’re discussing. I also encourage people to write their own job description – a little bit lazy on my part, but a really useful exercise for them.

I look for hunger, curiosity and passion. Not just for what we do, but for human beings – our audience. Please email me at ben.welsh@syd.ddb.com if you want to join us.

Mike Spirkovski, chief creative officer of Saatchi & Saatchi Australia

How do you know when you’ve found the one?

You don’t.

While a great book, load of experience and a bag of awards helps define us, it’s not always what you get in the final package. Because being a great creative has a lot to do with ambition, vision and importantly passion. This, balanced with the right agency and culture, will help create the diamonds.

You also need to be brave on picking talent and take a calculated risk based on all the information (or as we call it these days, data) you have at hand and make a decision. Like taking on an idea and saying that’s the one and hopefully it works out. If not, you accept the outcomes and fail fast, learn fast and fix fast.
Of great importance, yet dependent on word of mouth, is a formal reference check. I never used to get reference checks when hiring new talent. Then, after learning the hard way with a few bad experiences, I worked out how important they are. If you can, try and get at least three previous points of view on an individual’s work, ambitions and personality. It will certainly help. Please don’t rely on LinkedIn reviews. Speak to a human with a heart.

Like any relationship, the right level of chemistry and fit allows individuals to thrive. How often do you see an incredibly talented creative leave a great agency with an amazing book to then disappear forever within another agency? This goes both ways, where an otherwise average talent leaves an average agency for a better one to finally find their true talent and do the best work of their life. Pretty clear what happened there.

There is a hell of a lot to say about finding the right home, making it yours and just unleashing all you have on it. Feeling free to be yourself, speaking your mind and not being afraid to share your bad ideas, as much as your good ones, often leads to brilliance. I always encourage openness and equal voice.

Most great ideas are created in collaboration with a bunch of other great minds working together to truly make something incredible. So, hanging everything on one single individual is a bit selfish, especially in the complex world we live in these days. It’s one thing to have a great idea and another to make a great idea, which takes several brilliant minds.

I look for passion, drive and more than anything a clear vision. One of the things I often ask creatives is what they want out of life and how they see their job playing a role within that journey. If they don’t then maybe they’re not the right.

Lastly and most importantly they just need to be nice. We foster an amazing culture here at Saatchi & Saatchi and pride ourselves on keeping it that way. I’ve often overlooked certain talent purely based on personality and cultural fit. There is nothing worse for a creative culture than a dickhead with an ego. These individuals have a habit of destruction, making other people’s lives a nightmare. We have a strong No Dickheads policy here at Saatchi. So if you are one, please go next door. Actually, that’s unfair on the people next door, just don’t go anywhere.
Steve Coll, chief creative officer & partner, WiTH Collective

I’ve just finished reading Creativity Inc, by Pixar founder, Ed Catmull. Before I come across all literate, let me say that’s the first book I’ve managed to finish in two years. But it’s a wonderful affirmation of the importance of people over ideas. Ed’s advice is, “hire great people, and they’ll turn even the most mediocre idea into something wonderful.”

It’s so true.

The best practical hiring advice I ever got was by way of a rejection. A very well-known Aussie ECD asked me for an interview when I was a junior. He looked thoughtfully through my book, closed it and said plainly, and without malice, “I’m sorry, but based on what’s in your book I’m just not excited about hiring you.” It sounds harsh, but to be honest it was transformative for me. However well I was doing the day to day work at the time, that clearly wasn’t going to get me the job I wanted. After that, I had a really simple goal – to make my book as exciting as I could.

I’ve always remembered that. I also learned from far wiser heads than mine to hire people based on the three A’s. Ambition, ability and attitude (a rule so simple even I can remember it). Equally, I learned from mistakes. One early error was hiring talent who can’t keep their ego in check – never again.

But mostly, you simply feel the excitement when you meet someone good. The right people tend to light up the interview room. They’ve got some special quality beyond mere talent – for want of a better term I’ve always called it “fire”. They’re the kind of people who don’t just get the job, they take it. Nicole Hetherington and Simon Fowler, our CDs at WiTH, are a case and point. When I met them first, as ECD of Havas, I couldn’t get on the phone quickly enough after the interview to hire them. They were a breath of fresh air. A great mix of talent, genuine kiwi humility and a burning passion to do great work. I’ve worked with them for four years and they’ve never lost those traits, despite their considerable success.

Stu Turner, executive creative director, DDB Group Melbourne

When I’m looking at hiring someone I always look at the work first. If I see someone who can think creatively then the next question, and indeed the biggest one, is are they a good cultural fit? At DDB we have a mantra, “talented and nice” which was first said by Bill Bernbach. It’s over 50 years old now but it still stands. It doesn’t matter how creative you are, if you’re not a nice person we will say no. “Life’s too short to live with a bastard”. Over the years I’ve been lucky enough not to hire any of those bastards.

What I also look for personally is someone who can surprise me. In this industry, we all spend so much time in the same places, looking at the same things. And inevitably we think of the same ideas. So, when a creative can truly surprise you, that’s someone special you want on your team. And the last thing I look for when hiring is the same thing I look for when I’m considering an agency for myself. Does this person I’m looking to hire or work for, scare me a little? What I mean is, are they potentially or obviously better than me? It’s a very scary thing to admit but I reckon if the people around you are not pushing you to better yourself and raise your own bar, then you’re not going to do anything but stand still.

Luke Chess, owner & creative partner, Mammal

Hiring is the hardest part of the job, hands down. After many years of getting it wrong, I believe it ultimately boils down to culture. “The one” is a place where everyone likes coming to work.

I’ve worked in some of the best creative environments either side of the ditch, some of the worst, and mostly places in between. And it should never be the creative director’s, executive creative director’s, chief creative officer’s or any other single creative’s job role to get it right alone.

You may be trying to build a place based on passion. On client satisfaction. On awards, or on any number of other things. But whatever you’re building, you’re doing it as a team. So hiring is an agency-wide decision. (If it’s not, if your people don’t have time for that, you’re focusing on the wrong things.)

On the other hand, this means accepting that good – even great – people may slip through your fingers. Because of your decision about them – or theirs about you.

Because what makes a great creative is that environment. Don’t believe me? Follow the trail of the 99.99% of highly successful creatives and you’ll find a flat spot or a ceiling. That’s the culture they’re fighting against, winning.

So I still look for passion, a desire to have and produce ideas, and – yes – people who can get along together. Because life’s too short to find yourself in the wrong creative environment.