Creative Careers 2007 – Follow up

The creative showcase article – our response and what we have done for the candidates

Purple has been subscribed to Web Designer magazine for about a year now and recently noticed a ‘Graduate creative showcase’ article displaying the best graduates’ portfolios from the University of Leeds. All designers were associated with D&AD; either they had won an award or had been nominated. Knowing how important it is that our clients invest in the future of web design, I visited the first three graduate portfolios where I explored their design skills and got in contact to find out more about them. Within this article was a small section dedicated to recruitment agencies and their thoughts. Being the competitive sort, I knew or thought that these top designers were going to be contacted by the other featured recruitment agencies so I had to act quickly. I could see that they had talent and I could help them get their first step on the career ladder. Being a recent graduate myself, I knew how hard it was to get a job, especially in London.
After contacting the top three graduates, I soon realised that they were interested in me helping them find a job within the digital media industry. Danny Blackman, Will Jones and Tom Cavill all accepted my help so I invited Danny and Will to London to meet me to discuss how we can move forward. I passed Tom’s details to my colleague Carly in our Leeds office as he wanted to stay in the North.
Danny and Will’s main requirement was to join a well-known digital agency that is growing and created well-executed work. Within no time, both Will and Danny had a number of interviews lined up. I set up four first interviews for Danny and two first interviews for Will. Both completed their first interviews in one day. Their day began at 9am, meeting me where I left them fully prepped with tips and maps – being from Leeds, they understandably found it a little daunting travelling around London. In-between their interviews, they each called to provide me with their thoughts on how the interview went and for me to offer further advice and prepare them for their next interview.
Purple had met one of the showcased designers, Danny Blackman, a year ago as he was freelancing for one of our clients in Leeds. We kept an eye on him for the past year, and three weeks before the article was published he got in contact with us and asked for our help. When the article came out on him, it helped to secure his job offer and his status as one of the best graduate designers in the UK. Danny interviewed with Collective London (formerly Midas Collective), Lateral, Digit and Delete London. After his first round of interviews he had three job offers on the table. After thinking long and hard and speaking to his friends and family, he decided he was ready for the move to London and accepted the job at Collective London (www.collectivelondon.com). “We can see Danny being a key player in our agency in the next couple of years,” says Stephen Barns, design director.
Will also interviewed at Collective London and Twentysix London, both of whom thought he was very good; however, it was Twentysix London who wanted to snap him up quickly and offered him the job after his first interview. Again, after talking to friends and family he was ready to move to London and accepted the offer. Will visited Twentysix London a few weeks later before starting, to meet the whole agency. “We were very impressed with Will’s attitude and when he showed us his creative showcase article in the interview, we knew we had to secure him,” says Matthew Maxwell, creative director.
Tom was looked after by our Leeds office who arranged a few first interviews for him in Leeds. Tom wasn’t sure if he wanted a permanent job as he had planned to freelance. However, after visiting a couple of agencies he realised that there were a few good opportunities in front of him. It was Twentysix Leeds who showed most interest and after two interviews he was offered the job. Tom accepted the offer and says: “I liked the people and had a good feeling in both interviews. I think I can contribute something here. They were quick with the process and I only live a ten minute walk from their offices.”
All three candidates have recommended other friends of theirs who we have since been able to help.

THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN ISSUE 135 OF WEB DESIGNER, REFERRING BACK TO ISSUE 131.

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