Deconstructing The UX/UI Recruiting: Why Enterprises Should Talk To Networks, Not Recruiting Agencies
The feedback I’ve been receiving on my previous articles about headhunters and the reasons why UX/UI recruiting is broken is a clear evidence that what I am talking about is not simply an allegation, but the true state of the matter. So let’s continue.
As a little side note: I write specifically about recruiting in UX/UI, because this is my field. But the takeaways are as universal as it gets — you can apply this methodology literally to any recruiting field, be it engineering or airspace industry or anything else where a certain set of skills and professionalism is crucial.
When company XYZ seeks to hire a UX/UI designer, UI developer or an UX executive, it is per definition expecting to find a professional of a certain level, and such positions usually come with a good pay grade (depending on the country, but still). The hiring manager usually has a pretty clear picture of what the exact tasks for the new hire will be, what projects await and what skills the new hire must have. I’ve never met a design lead or manager who would want to hire a well-paid professional with great credentials to have them sit somewhere near ‘just in case’ — there is always a rock solid need for very definitive skills, knowledge and experience. Problem is, nothing of this clear picture gets to be on the job announcement that the company — or the recruiting agencies — populate. We’ll get to this later.
What the company definitely does not want, is to hire somebody who later turns out to be not as good as advertised. Or somebody with a portfolio hinting at the next Jony Ive — only to find out that it was faked by the candidate to bump their value in the eyes of the employer. Or somebody who potentially could be a great designer, but only after the company invests a lot of time (and money) to train them properly. And if the professional turns out to be less of a professional than the company XYZ has hoped him/her to be, firing them and hiring a better one isn’t really something the company XYZ is interested in.
So, one would imagine that in an attempt to find and hire the best matching candidate, company XYZ would use all the means it possibly can. Its goals are clear: finding the best match as fast as possible while making sure the new hire will fulfil their expectations.
And that is a clear cut to the problem with recruiting agencies.
What does recruiting agency ABC do for the company XYZ in order to help it hire the best matching professional?
First of all, it makes sure that the job announcement that the agency itself or the company XYZ has composed will get populated all over the career sites.
Is it efficient? No.
Professionals who possess the desired skills, experience and knowledge that the company XYZ looks for, do not regularly crawl career sites in search for new opportunities (no matter how strongly companies and agencies wish for them to do so). Instead, they already work for other companies in similar positions. Or course, there is always a chance that somebody is looking to relocate to another city or to find a better paying position, but those are chances and not a certainty, so best case is, the ideal candidate would stumble upon the job announcement.
Plus, as I’ve already mentioned in this article, the vast majority of job announcements are creepy and secretive at best. So, if the company XYZ or the agency ABC wonders why nobody applies (or why only wrong people apply) for months — that is exactly why.
Agency ABC will source its own database of possible candidates and will headhunt some people.
Is it efficient? No.
I personally have around 2000 UX/UI professionals (designers, developers, managers) in my network, and believe me, I don’t know anyone — above a certain level and a certain pay grade — who would move a muscle to be on a recruiting agency’s database. Why? Because these people do not have problems finding a job. And if they ever do need a new challenge, last thing they would want is to go to a recruiting agency. Sorry, recruiting agencies, but to the world outside your shiny offices you are parasites. We don’t like you. And as to the headhunters… Well. You get it.
If and when somebody applies, the agency ABC will ‘screen’ the candidates and pass the matching ones on to the company XYZ.
Does that ensure a good match? No.
Agencies cannot judge a good designer from a bad one. A natural talent from a wannabe. Or one with a great portfolio from one with a fake portfolio. Simply because clerks who work at agencies are not designers. Or developers. Or leads, managers, executives, you name it. They are clerks who screen candidates solely by applying various rasters (their own or the ones provided by the client companies). Years of experience? Check. Link to a portfolio? Check. Education? Check. And so on.
If a candidate is hired through the agency ABC, the company XYZ gets to transfer to the agency’s account a pretty sweet amount of money. Actually, it’s about a third of what the newly hired professional will make in a year. Do the math yourself.
That’s a pretty dark picture for recruiting agencies I am painting, I know. But as long as they do things the way they do things, they’re simply no use for the company XYZ — unless the company XYZ doesn’t care how soon it hires the desired professional, how much it would cost and how good the new hire will actually turn out to be.
But: if the company XYZ does care, there is actually a much clearer, better, cheaper and more secure way to hiring the best matching candidate.
The network.
As I’ve mentioned before, designers tend to build communities. I am not talking about official forums on countless websites that cater to designers’ needs (you may try them as well, they’re funny). I am not talking about countless groups on LinkedIns and Facebooks alike. I am talking about virtual networks that are naturally built when people work together on many projects, exchange job opportunities and connect on both professional and social level. Actually, I am talking about connections.
For example, after my 15 years of freelancing in design, I have over 2000 people in my network. Well, network, circle, whatever you want to call it. In my previous post I’ve mentioned how I leverage that by connecting companies who are serious about finding top level UX/UI personnel with their potential best matching candidates.
What does the company XYZ get from going through such a network, as opposed to a recruiting agency? Well, quite a lot:
The bigger the network, the higher the probability that there will be a potential candidate with exactly the desired amount of skills and exactly the desired experience. Needless to say that being a designer myself, I have a better eye for that than any recruiting agency. Plus, there is a questionnaire that the company XYZ would fill out to provide the important details (instead of writing up the usual marketing bullsh*t noone wants to read).
When a candidate is suggested to the company XYZ, it can be absolutely sure that the candidate is professional enough, that its skills, experience and portfolio are real and proven.
So in essence, leveraging the power of a personal professional network, the company XYZ can dramatically simplify the hiring process and make it a breeze.
And, last but not least, unlike the agency ABC, I personally do not have a shiny office with hundreds of employees, so I am not making the company XYZ pay me ridiculous amounts of money to keep it running.
Unless the company XYZ gets so overwhelmed by finding and hiring their new Lead UX Designer that they insist on paying me as much as they would pay the agency.
That would make for quite a pleasant surprise.
