In a word: yes.
An honest and transparent relationship will give you the best possible footing and, with a little luck, will also set you up for a long and fruitful working relationship.
Here’s my advice for jobseekers and hiring managers around making sure you stay on the right side of the line while still playing to your strengths.
Budget – It’s not all about the money
Talking to candidates every day, I know there are lots of factors they take into account when considering a role – not just the money. It’s about the team, the client, the project, and the work environment. Make sure you’re transparent across the board and sell your company with all the assets you have!
Being honest about the likely day rate on offer is essential. While it might be nice to think you can blow the bank on a best-in-class designer, the reality is sometimes less glamorous.
It’s always best to temper your budget and be pleasantly surprised by who you can afford, than to over-estimate and build up expectations which are unachievable.
Job spec – Every role has its challenges
In today’s candidate-short market, designers always ask for project details, and like to know exactly which project they will be working on. Being honest at this stage will help avoid difficulties when the project gets under way.
Some projects are business as usual, others are new and exciting – designers understand that too! It’s important that as a client, you outline the potential challenges that candidates might experience in the role.
Far from putting candidates off, we find that a clear outline of the difficulties of the role helps candidates come to terms with the job at hand and understand the challenges.
Have a clear and honest CV/LinkedIn/Portfolio
Employers will always cross reference all three of these resources, so make sure everything stacks up. The important things are dates (project durations), job titles and descriptions. While an inconsistent profile might not constitute dishonesty, it certainly shows a lack of attention to detail and overall poor organisation.
Additionally, not everyone is a Photoshop-genius or a Java-wizard, but clients understand that. Over-embellishing your technical ability will only come back to cause problems further down the line. Project case studies are a great way to demonstrate your technical ability while avoiding meaningless statistics like “Photoshop: 90%”.
Project responsibility – be transparent and specific
Always be honest when talking about your deliverables on a project. We meet a surprising number of candidates who all claim to have the delivered the same elements on a project. You should also be honest when talking about the wider team and any assistance you had on a piece of work. For such a huge industry, it is very well-connected, and a “little white lie” could come back to bite you later on.
Hopefully this has been helpful in wading through the ethical quagmire of applying for roles and attracting candidates to your company. It also helps to have a good and nice recruitment partner – honesty being key in this relationship as well.
For more on honesty, keep an eye out for my upcoming article on how to tell if your recruitment partner isn’t being transparent with you.
With an interest in Literature and Philosophy, Craig is an analytical thinker and loves getting stuck into a challenge. Craig credits his travels in India, as well as work and educational experiences as his biggest influencers. As a resourcer at Futureheads, Craig strives to find the best talent in the Digital Design market, listing UI and motion design as areas of particular interest.