Designer jobs offered today
I started this thread on Linked In more than five months ago. It now has more than 250 comments. The comment below is from Ron Walls. I thought it pretty much hit the nail on the head. Thanks, Ron.
: by Douglas Goddard
Ron Walls • @Michelle – What some employer drones and HR pimps don’t realize (or won’t admit) is that this mythical person doesn’t exist in great enough numbers to help them. The term “purple squirrel” comes to mind – impossible to find or catch. For any employer, if this person existed, they are already employed. How much will you spend to get this god-like being away from their current employment and into yours?
Here are two solutions (I know they’re going to seem obvious, so bear with me) to their search problems:
One – Train and promote from within. Someone in your current employ probably already has most of the skills you want in this new person, plus they know your procedures and processes, so could you give them the time and training to learn the rest? Let them return to school on time and reimburse them for it if necessary. Then, remember to raise them for their new duties and expertise.
Two – Hire someone from outside who knows most (80-90% or so) of what you need, and train them to do the rest. Benefits: fully integrated, happier, and more productive employee. They will know how to do things YOUR WAY and will be more appreciative of the effort and expense you put into their hiring and training. This could also lead to better retention rates, something you won’t get with the “Purple Squirrel,” who knows, there’s always someone out there who will pay more than you will. Remember – if they jumped ship to come to you, they would jump just as quickly to go somewhere else, possibly in the middle of a project.
In closing, to many employers, You’re Doing It Wrong. Think long-term, and you get good long-term employees with good long-term results. Think short term, and you’re shortchanging yourself and your business. You do not want the squirrel.
I suspect that some employers don’t want to hire anyone; they make a show of putting the position out to the public while making the requirements nearly impossible for any human being to meet. It’s like what many are asking for when they request a “Web Designer”… once upon a time, there were two distinct disciplines for creating web pages, with some overlap… “artists,” and “programmers.” Two people were hired to work together. One made the website look good; the other made it work well. Each required expertise, training, and even degrees. Now, one “SuperDesigner”(R) must do all that, plus SEO and countless other duties, and be an expert. Now, that’s not to say that one shouldn’t learn some of the tools of the other; it’s that one cannot usually be an expert in both (or all).
As Col. Taylor once said, “It’s a Madhouse! A Madhouse!!!”
/pardon my wall of text
Via: How do you feel about the industry pushing to add a Web Designer to your resume? | LinkedIn.