Hunting UnicornsHow to find, keep and grow a design team

Cap Watkins, @cap

2010

2011

2012

2013

Whoa.

Help us hire some more.

How do I find people?

How do I convince people?

How do I know who’s right?

One bad hire...

Can affect everything.

So where to start?

There Are No Unicorns

There Are No UnicornsOr rock stars. Or ninjas. Or Santa Claus.

Non-descriptive labels suck.

Your job description determines who applies.

Be descriptive.

Advocate for the user.

Has product vision.

UX-focused.

Visually cohesive.

Writes html/css.

Measures success.

Moves quickly.

Breaks things.

Unafraid to be wrong.

Describe the person.

Starting the Search

Starting the SearchGo get ‘em, tiger.

What not to do:

Don’t hire a recruiting firm.

Don’t use LinkedIn.

Okay, here’s what works:

Be patient.

Really patient.

Like, a metric ton, boatload, omg unfathomable amount

of patient.

Contact people you admire.

Find people in their natural environment.

Look for the writers.

Reach out yourself.

Recruiters suck.

Recruiters (mostly) suck.

Guess who doesn’t suck?

Guess who designers want to hear from?

You.

Sell your passion.

Peeling the Onion

Peeling the OnionConducting a real design interview.

Forget design for a second.

What do you want to know?

Will we work well together?

How do they make decisions?

Take each answer and ask another related to it.

Do you want to work with them?

Keeping People

Keeping PeopleHiring doesn’t matter if people leave.

Attrition.

Maximize happiness.

Control.

Ask them.

Managing Growth

Managing GrowthThe more things change, the more things should change.

Hey, things are going well!

We need more people!

Wrong.We need more people!

So, so wrong.We need more people!

Hire when it’s painful not to.

That’s okay.

Culture is fluid.

It changes all the time.

So, yeah.

So, yeah.That’s kind of it.

So, yeah.It’s about people.

So, yeah.It’s always about people.

Thanks :)

Cap Watkins, @cap

This person

This person = really important

This person

is *the* unicorn.

is *the* unicorn.

But here’s the thing.

Hiring one takes patience.

Like, a lot of patience.

And in the meantime...

Shit is getting real.

Relax.

Build your product.

Rules for hiring designers.

Great people are usually pretty happy.

Great people are never looking for work.

Rule #1

Reach out in person.

Rule #2

Be prompt.

Rule #3

Be kind.

Growing UnicornsAn alternative for those who don’t like hunting.

You have two options.

1. Keep looking for a unicorn.

2. Grow your own.

Anyone can be a unicorn.

Aptitude

Passion