Hunting digital natives

Since starting August, our Melbourne-based digital agency, in 2005, we have grown our team from a humble trio to a respectable contingent of 15 and growing. 

From creatives and developers to project managers; we’ve interviewed our fair share of job hopefuls and watched a few ‘dog and pony’ shows, in our quest to find the right candidate.

Given the nature of our industry, I have the expectation that most of our job candidates will be media and tech-savvy ‘digital natives’.

However more than just end-users, I’m impressed by job candidates that are fully immersed in the digital space and can do more than just rattle off the latest trends, buzz-words and cool web apps they use. 

I want to hear your thoughts and opinions. Tell me about the real-life applications of web technology in your life.  What do you think works, and what doesn’t.  Who or what are your design inspirations? Are you following the leaders in the digital space?  Can you identify how and why they excel?  

Show me your passion
I am unashamedly passionate about digital, and I want you as my prospective team member, to share my enthusiasm. 

Perhaps you get so excited about your growing Twitter following that you accidentally spray the words at me across the table, or maybe even a little bit of wee comes out in the excitement.   Don’t be embarrassed. 

I get it. No I won’t laugh; I will recognise you as a kindred spirit. This is an exciting, dynamic industry and we live in interesting times. Passion and enthusiasm have fuelled our best innovations and creative concepts here at August, and likewise I look for people who can channel that energy into results.

I want to hear about your failures
While the main focus of any interview is for the candidate to promote themselves (and I will give you ample opportunity to do so) I also want to hear about your most spectacular failures. 

Tell me about those gut-wrenching, egg-on-your-face moments. What went wrong? How did you find yourself in that situation?  How did you rectify your mistakes, and more importantly what lessons have you learned? Without mistakes there is no innovation. Too frequently people underestimate the power of mistakes to teach us better ways of doing things.  

I can tell you that one of my own most spectacular mistakes was in fact a recruitment decision, made in haste.  In the early stages of growing the business, I was so focussed in filling a junior design position that I failed to recognise that the job candidate under consideration was not up to the job. Were there warning signs? 

Man, there was a symphony blaring in my ear! From poor presentation to being considerably late to the interview – this candidate was clearly below par. The person in question didn’t last long. Suffice to say I have not repeated that mistake.  Lesson learned.

Can you bend it like Beckham?
Perhaps above all else I value a job candidate’s ability to be responsive and flexible.  Natural selection has shaped the digital native into an agile and adaptive beast. The digital space is constantly evolving, with new ideas, strategies and methods, quickly rendering existing ones obsolete.

Are you open to these new ways of thinking? I want you to convince me that you can withstand the pace; and that you are prepared for the role and function of your position to be considerably different in 12 month’s time.

ABCs for your digital CV
A word about CVs…I take a dim view of anyone who has not taken the time to develop a coherent CV that is well structured and spell-checked. And as for creatives, you lose marks if your portfolio is poorly presented or organised. More than anyone, designers should understand the importance of image and that first impressions are lasting!

What the experts say
According to digital recruitment specialist, Peter Shandon of search2retain, digital recruitment is actually more challenging than other professions, because you need a candidate to be tech savvy, but equally in possession of superior communication skills. It can be tricky finding these diametrically opposed skills in the one candidate.  He also stresses the importance of cultural fit in digital recruitment.

“We need to become experts in assessing how well a potential candidate will fit into organisation or team, and to do this we need to hone our interviewing and assessment skills,” says Shandon.  

His advice to job hopefuls is to look for jobs within their skills capacity and not one that they merely aspire to.

“We recommend that candidates find out as much as possible about the culture of the organisation by asking a lot of questions.  Also be prepared to answer lots of questions, openly and honestly.  Remember, mistakes are extremely costly for the employer and for the employee,” explains Shandon.

And lastly…
Remember the advice your Mum gave you - be on time and wear nice, clean clothes.  This old-fashioned advice still holds currency, even in the digital age!

Zoe Warne is co-founder of Melbourne-based digital agency, August, where creativity and technology are used intelligently to integrate online and offline campaigns.   In 2009 August snared two AIMIA nominations and won ‘Best in Class’ at the Interactive Media Awards. zoe.warne@august.com.au.