One-Two-One Onboarding
Best Practices for onboarding new hires and making them feel welcome
Interview Questions Every Employer Should Ask
Artisan Creative is celebrating 20 years of creative staffing & recruiting. Over the years we’ve learned a lot and will share our experiences with you in our 20/20 series:
20 blogs celebrating 20 years of creative recruiting!
Whether you’ve been interviewing candidates for a long time or hiring your first employee, you’ll probably agree that the interview is the most important part of the recruitment process. Therefore it’s critical to ask the right questions.
While our version of the Proust Questionnaire offers a few out of the box questions (designed to see how creative they can be), here are a few tips and questions every interviewer should be asking:
- Tell me about yourself. – This type of open-ended question is a great way to start your interview and put your candidate at ease. It should be easy to talk about yourself! It also gives you an opportunity to witness both confidence and communication skills first hand.
- Describe a time when something went wrong at work and how you dealt with it. – This question is ideal for learning about how your potential hire will handle the pressures of life and conflict resolution, as well as demonstrating problem-solving skills and culture fit.
- How would others describe you? – This is a great way to ask the “strengths” and “weaknesses” question without actually asking it. It also provides some insight into how your working relationship with the potential talent might be. Does the answer describe a person that would fit well within your organization?
- What role do you usually play in a team? – The answer to this question should compliment the previous answer – is the way your coworkers see you the way you actually perform on the team? This question also provides insight on personality and autonomy.
- Where do you see yourself in five years? – The perfect question for uncovering candidate motivations, answers help determine whether your company and the opportunity presented are a good fit for the interviewee. Will they still be with your team in five years or will they quickly outgrow your department or company? This also provides a good opportunity to see a candidate’s drive and how they can grow with the company.
- Tell me about a favorite project you worked on and why it’s your favorite. – Resumes offer a list of responsibilities and accomplishments. Answers to this question should reveal the story behind the bullet points, the passion for the project, and the genuine interest for the work.
- What does leadership mean to you? This is a good opportunity to learn about the candidate’s leadership style, especially for senior roles or when the candidate will be supervising others. Answers will also provide good insight about the candidate’s expectations of their supervisors.
- What questions can I answer for you? – This is the perfect way to “end” an interview as you turn the tables, engaging the talent to then interview you. Not only does it demonstrate your company’s appreciation for open dialogue, but also lets you know whether the potential job seeker is definitely interested. If they answer “no” – then they probably haven’t done enough research on the product or company.
Do you have any tips or interview questions to share? Share with us on Linkedin, Facebook, or Twitter.
5 Morning Habits of Productive People
No matter your sleeping habits or natural rhythms, we all have a starting routine to our day. However, one of the things that
1. Think. Whether it’s meditating, journaling or simply being still, take a few minutes to think aboutyour day. Clearing your head before the day starts is a great way to help you stay productive throughout the day. Focus on being present and what’s happeningright now, not what’s going to happen in the later morning or afternoon or evening. If it helps, use an app to guide you through a morning meditation.Some will even help you focus on a particular area, such as reducing anxiety or improving creativity.
2. Exercise. Getting in even seven minutes of exercise and a few minutes of stretching can go a long way towards improving your physicalenergy. If you have time, getting in a full workout before the
3. Eat healthy. Starting the day off with a healthy breakfast is a surefire way to give your body the fuel it needs to get through theday. It’s also a way to continue focusing on your morning and make sure that you get a moment to eat, especially if you have a busy day. Try blending greenstogether in a smoothie for something quick, or focus on healthier fare like greens, lean protein, and complex carbs.
4. Focus. Instead of looking to your to-do task for the day and stressing out over it, take this moment to look ahead. What do you wantto achieve? By knowing what’s coming up, you’ll be able to map out your to-dos for today more easily. For example, if tomorrow is a big deadline for aproject, you can plan ahead so your work day helps you get done anything you need to help reach that deadline.
5. Don’t Plug-in! Instead of immediately checking social media profiles or emails, try to resist the urge to “plug in”. Use this time to focus
~Nadia Osman for Artisan Creative
How to Make the Most of Brainstorming Sessions
Collaboration is key for creative teams. Here ere are a few tips to maximize your productivity in group brainstorming sessions:
- Define a goal before the meeting. Send out an agenda in advance to let team members mull over the purpose of the session so they have time to come in with a few good ideas.
- Set ground rules. If all ideas are good or you’re going for a “blue sky” atmosphere, let everyone know that so they feel confident to share. Whatever your ground rules are, state them at the top so everyone understands, and feel free to chime in if the rules are being broken.
- Encourage openness. Sometimes, brainstorming sessions fail because team members feel pressured to conform to certain ideas on the spot. Set a tone of non-judgement and invite all ideas to be voiced in a comfortable setting.
- Don’t discuss or problem solve ideas. Set this as one your ground rules. Problem solving will hamper the creative free flow of ideas and eat away at the timelines. Capture all concepts first and then explore further.
- Assign a facilitator or scribe. This person can capture all the ideas on the board. They will be facilitating and not part of the brainstorming itself and can ensures all team voices are heard equally. They can helps the group on track, take notes, assign follow up and next steps.
- Set timetables. Give everyone thirty seconds and go around the table and capture one word ideas or one phrase ideas. Go around the room as often as possible to capture as many ideas as possible within your set time parameters.
- Get creative. If your group needs help to get started, play improv games, doodle, stand and walk while pitching, or create mood boards to help the team get out of their heads. Encourage everyone to offer their own ways of busting out of a creative rut, and apply it to the group dynamic.
- Don’t decide on the spot. Plan for reflection time for the team to think and react to the ideas they heard, then ask them to share their top choices. If scheduling a second meeting is not possible, then take a 10 minute-break. Allow the team to stretch their legs, get some fresh air and reflect, and then come back together to discuss decision and executing on the chosen ideas.
What are some of your tips for making the most out of a brainstorming session?
Artisan Creative is celebrating our 20th year staffing and recruiting Creative, Digital and Marketing roles. Please visit Roles We Place for a complete listing of our expertise.
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How to Create a Strong Workplace Culture
Although managing a team might come naturally to some, retaining a team is another story. Building employee retention in a creative environment is key to keeping a strong creative team together. Happy and engaged employees are motivated, productive and have a positive impact on company culture. Below are some best practices to foster a good workplace culture for creatives:
Cultivate shared values and a strong mission. Hire and work with people who demonstrate your shared company values. Doing so helps support your company culture and gives employees a stronger sense of investment in their jobs. This is especially true for the millennial workforce, who want to know their work makes a difference. Have a purpose that’s bigger than the company, and be mindful of seeking to do good when you can.
Allow for employee empowerment. Micromanaging doesn’t help solve problems. Give your team the autonomy to resolve issues and express themselves. Consider an open-door policy so everyone’s ideas feel respected, and each team member can impact the company in a positive way. Besides, you never know when the next big idea could come to someone!
Give — and ask — for feedback. Yearly reviews are fine, but weekly, monthly, or quarterly check-ins can help prevent your creative team from feeling disconnected. A regular check-in can help smooth over any miscommunication, improve workflow procedures and create overall engagement. In addition to giving feedback, ask for some of your own. It’s a commitment to honesty and transparency that’ll open up communication between you and your team.
Engage with each other. If you’re quickly growing or offer the opportunity to work remotely, it’s essential that your team interact via Skype, GChat, Slack, or some other form of daily or weekly communication. Not only does this strengthen connections, it also helps everyone contribute to the overall mission. Team collaboration and engagement is key to creating a positive, open work environment.
Embrace your team’s passions. Encourage team-building opportunities. For instance, have an “art sale” for your graphic designers and let them share their work with the rest of the company, or start committees that bolster community and show off skills, like a baking club, community service opportunities, employee-led fitness classes, or a meditation group.
Celebrate successes. If your team wins, celebrate! Everyone wants to feel a sense of accomplishment when they achieve goals. Recognition, and an opportunity to celebrate a colleague is key to building a strong team.
Perks are great, but there is more to creating a happy work environment. Listen to your team, nurture their passions, and support the company culture to keep creatives on board for years to come!
Looking for great creative talent? Talk to us and we can help!
10 Tips for Active Listening
Between texting, phone calls, emails, tweets, LinkedIn posts, Slack messages, Pinterest boards, Gchat, and so on, communicating with each other is at an all-time high. However, communication requires really, truly listening — and active listening is a skill that tends to get lost in the sea of technology noise.
The good news is that anyone can improve their active listening skills. By doing so, everyone can build better relationships, resolve conflicts, and understand issues, whether in the workplace or elsewhere. In short, becoming a great active listener can yield amazing benefits for your career and relationships.
The most important thing to remember is to try and NOT problem solve on the fly. Try and quiet your problem-solving mind. When you are thinking ahead to the answers, or what to say next, you are no longer truly listening!
Read on for 10 tips to help you develop and hone active listening skills:
1. Maintain eye contact. Don’t be distracted by the ping noise of your phone, or scan the room to see what else is happening. Give them the courtesy of your full attention. Better yet, put your on airplane mode when in conversation with someone in front of you.
2. Relax. On the other hand, paying attention to someone simply means that: pay attention. It doesn’t mean you need to maintain a serious or fixed stare. Carry on as normal, nod, but remain attentive by being present.
3. Be empathetic. The soul of active listening is empathy. If the person you’re listening to is sad, happy, fearful, or angry in your conversation, put yourself in their shoes. Pay attention to power words and repetitions such as, “I was really, really upset” or, “I was ecstatic to get my promotion”.
4. Look for nonverbal cues. Their cadence, tone of voice and body language can offer a lot of information. Look for small signs of nervousness, enthusiasm, or anxiety for example in their mannerism, gestures, and posture to help determine how they really feel.
5. Create a mental image. If you’re having trouble following along or paying attention, paint a visual image in your head to help stay focused.
6. Avoid interrupting. Sometimes, it seems like a good idea to finish someone else’s sentences, especially if you think you know what’s coming. Yet this can derail their train of thought or come off as impatient. Moreover, interrupting can also come off as aggressive or competitive, as though you’re trying to “win” the conversation. Slow down to their speed so you can listen attentively.
7. Stay in the moment. It might seem like a good idea to jump ahead mentally and plan what to say next. However, doing so means you’re not actively listening and only listening only to part of it while devoting mental energy to your next move. Rehearsing and listening at the same time doesn’t work, so give your full attention to the other person.
8. Wait for pauses to ask questions. If you don’t understand something, ask for an explanation, but, wait until there’s a pause. Additionally, if your question takes the conversation off-topic, gently help steer it back on the right track.
9. Offer feedback. “Congratulations!” “What an awful ordeal!” “You must be excited!” show that you understand their feelings. You can also just nod along and show your understanding with facial expressions that match their emotion, like a smile or a frown.
10. Don’t judge. Even if you feel like something they said was alarming or should be pointed out, resist the urge. Likewise, don’t jump to conclusions. A story with a rocky start may indeed have a happy ending!
Does a Huddle Help?
Several years ago when we took our company virtual, we were initially concerned with losing that face to face connection. For a small company back in 2009, IM, dial in conference calls, and Skype were the tools we had access to. Knowing the importance of keeping our personal connections dynamic, we tried a lot of different communication tools over the years, and settled on Zoom, and we still use IM for the quick inquiries. So while the distances between our team members was a lot farther than the offices we used to occupy, the concept of daily short huddles and 3x a week more in depth huddles, remained intact.
The above image was taken at a sports event using teenage volunteers. One can easily differentiate between those that are paying attention, vs. those that had other things, (such as lunch) on their minds. Even in face to face huddles, distractions are commonplace.
Earlier this week, while waiting for my turn to go through the airport body scanner at 5:00 am, I looked over to my right and saw a TSA group doing their morning huddle. I’m sure they’ve done hundreds of these on a regular basis, yet you could sense that each one knew this huddle was important. Somehow I didn’t think I should photograph this group.
What I took away from observing these two huddles:
Huddles create connection
All teams use them in some form
They allow the leader to set the tone
Huddles create a quick forum to review the plan for the day/event/competition
Huddles block out noise and help bring focus inward to what the leader/coach is saying
During your huddles:
Create a pulse check, are they present or not
Ask what each person will do next to bring the team closer to goal
Have an accountability check-in
Just a few minutes is all that’s needed
Post event huddles
Allow the team to redirect and recalibrate
Ask what worked and what didn’t for that day
Set the expectations for the next one
How do you huddle with your teams? What tools do you use? Can you share a success with huddles you’ve participated in?
Jamie Douraghy – Founder at Artisan Creative
Managing Finances as a Freelancer: Five Tips to Better Manage Your Income
As a freelancer, part of your job is to keep on top of your money and your financial plan. Managing finances may not be part of your job description but it’s obviously an important part of leading a successful freelance career. How do you manage your income? Are you leaving it up to a third party or an accountant or perhaps you’re taking each week as it comes? We’ve compiled a list of best practices for you to better manage your income and keep you money in order.
Create a Budget
Make a list of everything you need each month, both business and personal and keep track of what you’re spending. Mint has a great free resource for budgeting and they even send alerts to let you know how you’re doing. Make sure you pay yourself and budget for your own personal allowance. If you have a few months where you come in below your budget, you may need to rethink your freelance strategy or take on more work.
Manage Expenses
Here’s where the bookkeeping comes in. Familiarize yourself with a program to help you track expenses with ease. We recommend QuickBooks or a similar software program — when it comes to tax season, it makes everything that much quicker. Apps such as DocScanner are a wonderful little tool to upload documents from your phone and help you to de-clutter your office space. Ana Rubio, Artisan’s Financial Controller states, “Tracking income and expenses can also be easily done on a spreadsheet listed by each week so you know where each check is going ahead of time. Keep track of all cash expenditures for a month so you know where your ATM withdrawals are going!”
Save, Save, Save!
You may be working now, but what happens at the end of your current contract? Unless you’re very lucky, there may be gaps between jobs so having some kind of backup emergency fund to keep you going is the key to longevity. Try to have at least a few months of savings based on your monthly budget – by doing this it will mean you can afford to choose the next freelance job that you actually want, not one that you need.
File Your Taxes
Tax season can be a pretty confusing time, especially if you haven’t been too organized throughout the year. It can take hours to file so keep all of your 1099 (for independent contractors) or W2 forms (for temp employees) saved. Clients should send these out by January 31st so start chasing them if you haven’t received yours by February. If you’re able to pay your taxes quarterly, take advantage of being able to pay off small chunks throughout the year to avoid being hit with a big bill when April comes around. If it’s within your budget, hiring an accountant can save you a lot of worry and time but it does come at a price.
Open a Business Account
By keeping personal and business accounts separate, you can avoid overspending and keep track of your income more easily. Pay yourself from your business account to your personal account so you have a dependable and steady income.
What advice would you share with freelancers? Have you learned from any mistakes? Share your thoughts with us on Twitter @ArtisanUpdates.
Laura Pell – Recruiter at Artisan Creative
Leadership and the Story of Ernest Shackleton
“Men Wanted: For hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.” – Ernest Shackleton’s ad for crew members
At the turn of the last century, a crew of 27 set sail for Antarctica with illustrious leader and explorer Ernest Shackleton. The First World War was looming and tensions were high. Endurance, their mighty ship set sail to navigate the icy waters. No one would hear from the crew again for almost two years.
Their ship became trapped in ice floes during winter and Shackleton gave the order to wait until summer when the ice would melt. It didn’t. The ice eventually placed so much pressure on the ship it began to slowly sink. With Shackleton at the helm, he gave orders for the crew to take refuge on an ice pack and to setup camp. Despite the harsh conditions, the men began to enjoy their new life on ice. They played games, exchanged stories and became accustomed to their new routine. However, with freezing temperatures and minimal food, the men had to eat penguins, seals and dangerous sea lions they’d caught with their bare hands.
Ploughing through snow at one mile per day, they shifted from ice pack to ice pack in order to survive. They traveled places that had never been crossed; where the world’s most dangerous currents and waves were found. It was one of the most uninhabited places on earth. They sailed in two lifeboats just 22-feet long. In order to find help, Shackleton led a team of 5 across the sea for almost 800 miles in one of these boats. They faced whales, gigantic waves, a leaking boat and soaking wet clothes. But they continued with their goal in mind, to find help. Failure was no option for Shackleton and he had a duty to lead his men to safety.
Leadership
You may find yourself asking what this has to do with creative, recruitment or careers. It has everything to do with achievements, perseverance and goals and nothing to do with sailing the dangerous seas. We won’t ruin the ending for you but we will share what we took away from this incredible journey.
Artisan Creative’s Founder, Jamie Douraghy shared his thoughts from Shackelton’s story and the value it added to his existing leadership skills:
“Endurance” gave me a new perspective on the importance of the right kind of leadership skills needed to address extreme hardship and to persevere against the odds, especially when others might believe all hope is lost. I learned that unless you focus on the task at hand (no matter how small or insignificant it may seem at the time), you’ll never know the difference it will make until you see it through to the very end.”
Whether you’re choosing to take a leadership role or you’re following your own personal goals in life, take it one step at a time. Had Shackleton took to the boats without careful planning and preparation, he would not have succeeded.
Sometimes we have to take chances, change our course and motivate others. Shackleton spent two years leading and encouraging men who were idle at the best of times, but he also kept spirits high and as he often said, “laughter was in our hearts.”
Laura Pell | Talent Acquisition | Artisan Creative
9 Tech Gadgets to Spruce Up Your Work Desk
The majority of us spend a good chunk of our 8 hour workday sitting at our desk crunching numbers, writing emails, and staring at the screen. With so much time spent in one spot, why not deck it out with some cool desk gadgets to help spruce up the livelihood of your workspace?
Check out these 9 fun and (mostly) useful tech gadgets to add to your work desk!
Android Humidifier
With the dry winter air just around the corner, you’ll want this handy dandy guy around to keep your nose breathing right. Say Hello to the Android Humidifier and your newest desk buddy! One fully loaded humidifier works for 10 hours without a mechanical drive, no noise or pollution and low energy consumption. Bonus plus? Rotate his arms up and it will be like he’s cheering you on all day.
Cable Clips
If your desk looks anything like ours, it most likely has a web of wires collecting on the floor waiting for you to untangle when you happen to need one. Guess what? There’s a very simple solution and extremely affordable fix for that! These adhesive colorful cable clips help keep all your wires organized and ready to use at a moment’s notice.
Desk Cycle
Looking for a way to burn calories and improve your mood while at your desk? You might want to invest in a DeskCycle. Specifically designed to be used in the work environment with its smooth and quiet operation, this convenient equipment is a great workout alternative for those busy work days where you just can’t escape to the gym.
Digital Smart Pen
If you find yourself furiously jotting down every word at meetings or during phone calls, this pen may be the perfect solution. Livescribe’s Echo Smartpen records everything you write and hear, replays your meetings for later review, searches for words within notes, and much more allowing you to actually be present and focused on the meeting at hand. With Wi-Fi accessibility, this is truly note taking of the 21st Century!
Laser Projection Keyboard
Is there anything wrong with your existing keyboard? Probably not, but how much cooler would your desk look with one of these laser projection virtual keyboards! Compatible with your smart phone, tablet or laptop, this device projects a virtual keyboard onto your flat desk surface through Bluetooth technology allowing for not only more space but a futuristic desk sure to turn a few heads.
Play More Notepad
What this next must-have desk item lacks in tech points, it makes up for in creative inner child glory. Notepad paper that looks like a sports ball when crumbled up is just pure genius and an awesome way to add some fun into your workspace. Turn your next brainstorming session into a friendly ball game!
iPhone Handset
Add some retro fun to your desk with this cell phone handset. Compatible with most phones and tablets, this accessory is both functional, charming and perfect for those who use their cell phone as their main work phone, too.
Mug Warmer
Keep your cup of coffee or tea warm throughout the day with this small desk size mug warmer. With a convenient on / off switch, you can enjoy a warm cup of your favorite pick me up any time of the day. Similarly, run a quick search and you can find a beverage chiller to keep your favorite refreshers cool all day as well.
Office Putty
We can name a handful of things on your desk that are a magnet for dust and small debris. This cool Cyber Clean Putty squeezes into the most stubborn and small crevices to pull out last week’s bagel crumbs and office dog hair to reveal a clean and spotless desk.
Jen Huynh – Recruiter Artisan Creative