Corporate Recruiting Among Web Designers

Corporate Recruiting Among Web Designers I recently filled a Web Designer position for one of our portfolio companies out in California. I’m currently working on another Web Designer recruitment initiative for another expansion stage technology startup, which also happens to be in California. When it comes to corporate recruiting for positions beyond my area of expertise (which I’d have to admit is currently sales) and local area/network (Boston), I frequently use Linkedin. As far as recruiting tips goes, it has been a tremendously effective source. When looking for Web Designer positions, you can use a lot of similar terms to make the research more robust. Don't just limit your search to the term “Web Designer”. Explore titles like User Experience, Information Architect, User Interface, Interaction Designer and so on to maximize your hits. I also don’t limit my search to just the specific city in which the portfolio company is based. Often times, people are ready to commute or relocate for an awesome opportunity, so neighboring cities are a good option to consider. For example, if I’m searching for a Web Designer in the greater Los Angeles area, I would absolutely punch in “Information Architect Orange County” in my search bar. Once a list is populated, you should screen and filter the candidates who possess the ideal amount of experience if their skills match the role (OmniGraffle, Visio, CSS, HTML, Flash, AJAX, SQL, JavaScript). Normally you can get access to 100 hits for free on Linkedin. Beyond that, you are required to upgrade your account at a premium. Once you've acquired a few intriguing profiles, you can either send them an Inmail (which costs money) or you could just add them like I do. Not only is it free, but if the person decides to connect with you, you’ll be able to access their contact information and total professional network. Once you invite a person to connect on Linkedin, though you can use the standard message that immediately populates (see below), I highly discourage that. I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn. - Victor Mahillon Not only is it uninteresting, but it’s also not effective. In this introductory note, you are limited to only 300 characters, so why not make your message as persuasive as possible? Make that person want to carry on the conversation with you. I’ve created my own simple template (see below) that I frequently tweak depending on the portfolio for which I’m hiring and this has become very effective. Hi <Prospect’s Name>, I’m a recruiter for a VC firm in Boston. An expansion stage tech start-up we’ve funded in <your area> needs a strong Web Designer to join their team. Please let me know if you are interested in networking or learning more. Thanks, Victor If the candidate wants to learn more or is simply interested, start a legitimate conversation with them either through email or phone. Send along the company profile and job description immediately. If they’re interested in next steps, nicely request they send you an up to date resume, online portfolio and wireframes of their current work, which will be sent off to the hiring team for look over. If all goes well, the candidate will be called in for a phone screen and live interview. At that point, you’ve done your work as a recruiter and you can let the hiring team take it from there. However, if you connect with that prospect but they don’t respond to your invitation to proceed with the conversation further, fret not. Because you’ve connected on Linkedin, you’ve expanded your network tremendously and now you have more 2nd and 3rd degree connections to tap into, which will appear when you perform another search. Feel free to peruse this prospect’s contact list also, which offers names, job titles and cities related to these contacts. Web Designers usually know other Web Designers, so take the initiative and explore! Victor Mahillon recruits top talent to OpenView and our

Web Designers