Unlocking Talent Excellence - Tips for Senior Managers to Hire the Best Talent

As a design leader, your ability to hire exceptional talent directly impacts your organization’s success. Whether you’re building a design team or strengthening existing capabilities, hiring requires a combination of strategy, empathy, and foresight. Here are key considerations, structured interview strategies, and negotiation tips to ensure you attract and retain the best candidates.

Define the Ideal Candidate Profile

Start by defining what success looks like in the role. Use frameworks like the "T-shaped skills" model to balance depth in core expertise with breadth across complementary skills. Research from Harvard Business Review highlights the importance of "hire for attitude, train for skill," which means prioritizing adaptability and a growth mindset over ticking every technical box. Assess candidates in the context of your team’s strengths and opportunities—what unique value will they add, and how will their cultural and soft skills enhance team dynamics?

Equally important is identifying who not to hire. For instance, if your team needs someone enthusiastic about iterative work, ensure the candidate demonstrates proficiency and thrives on such tasks. Hiring someone who excels in other areas but finds iterative work uninspiring will lead to misalignment and inefficiencies.

Some things to consider while hiring for design roles, seek individuals who combine technical mastery, collaboration, and the ability to excel in multidisciplinary environments.

Actionable Tip: Develop a competency matrix that outlines must-have skills, nice-to-have skills, and cultural fit criteria.
Go Deeper: Harvard Business Review’s article on hiring for potential vs. experience.

Build an Inclusive Job Description

Language matters significantly in attracting top talent. Research by Textio shows that gendered or exclusionary language can deter qualified candidates, particularly those from underrepresented groups. To ensure inclusivity, leverage tools to analyze job postings and remove bias.

Remember that this document begins with your ability to sell yourself and your organization to the candidate. Depending on your industry, use a friendly and engaging tone. Think of this as the first introduction—akin to a matchmaking site—where how you represent yourself and the company plays a pivotal role in attracting potential candidates.

Beyond phrasing, highlight your organization's commitment to diversity by explicitly stating your values and efforts toward creating an equitable workplace. A thoughtfully crafted job description sets the tone for the kind of team culture candidates can expect and helps them visualize their potential fit.

Actionable Tip: Use phrases like "We value diverse perspectives" and emphasize flexibility in skill requirements.
Go Deeper: The Inclusion Hub, DEI Hiring: How to create inclusive job descriptions,

Structure the Interview Process

A well-structured interview process reduces bias and ensures candidates are evaluated consistently. Here’s a recommended structure:

• Screening Call: Assess cultural alignment and enthusiasm for the role. Use this opportunity to set the tone for the process by asking open-ended questions that reveal the candidate's core motivations and values. Key questions include: "What about this role excites you?" and "How do you see your skills aligning with our team’s goals?"
  
  Please pay attention to how well they articulate their understanding of the company’s mission and how they demonstrate genuine enthusiasm. This step also allows you to introduce the organization’s culture and ensure that the candidate's values align with your team's. For best practices, keep the conversation concise yet impactful, focusing on mutual fit rather than a full skills assessment at this stage.

• Portfolio or Case Study Review: For design candidates, evaluate problem-solving, storytelling, and impact. This review is a critical tool for understanding the candidate's thought process and ability to communicate their work effectively. Encourage candidates to frame their portfolios as a narrative, focusing on the challenges they faced, the steps they took, and the results they achieved. Remind the hiring committee that this exercise concerns the work presented and how the candidate articulates their role and contributions.
  
  Over the years, many new managers have turned away great candidates because their portfolios lacked flashy or "sexy" projects. What truly matters is the thought process and the ability to solve real-world problems—not just the work's aesthetics. Not every candidate can share recent work due to confidentiality agreements or proprietary projects. In such cases, provide alternative prompts, such as asking them to walk through their process or create a hypothetical case study. This flexibility ensures you evaluate their skills and thinking without unfairly disadvantaging them.

• Behavioral Interview: Use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to explore how candidates handle challenges but go beyond it to dig deeper into their thinking and problem-solving approach. Consider incorporating questions that require on-the-spot reasoning and creativity, such as the Golden Gate problem (“How would you estimate the number of cars that cross the Golden Gate Bridge daily?”). These questions cannot be rehearsed and provide insight into the candidate’s analytical and strategic thinking.
  
  Additionally, unconventional questions like “What is your spirit animal?” can glimpse how candidates approach ambiguous or unexpected situations. Follow up on STAR responses with deeper probes like, “What would you do differently if faced with a similar challenge in the future?” or “What factors influenced your decision-making?” These techniques help uncover the candidate’s adaptability, reflection, and learning process.

• Panel Interview: Include cross-functional stakeholders to assess collaboration skills. This is an opportunity for the candidate to interact with potential partners they will work with regularly, such as engineering leads, product managers, or marketing professionals. The diversity of perspectives helps gauge how well the candidate can navigate cross-functional dynamics and foster collaboration.
  
  Structure the panel into scenario-based discussions or problem-solving exercises that simulate real-world challenges. This approach assesses the candidate’s ability to communicate effectively across teams and allows them to envision their role within the broader organization. Emphasize to the panel the importance of focusing on how the candidate’s thinking, communication, and adaptability align with the team’s needs.

  Actionable Tip: Incorporate scenario-based questions, such as "How would you redesign a process to improve efficiency?" or "How do you advocate for user needs in cross-functional teams?"

  Go Deeper: Google’s guide to structured interviews.

Enhance Candidate Experience

The interview process is a reflection of your organization. Ensure every touchpoint—from communication to interviews—is respectful, timely, and engaging. This process can be incredibly stressful for candidates, so humanizing their experience is crucial. Start by creating a welcoming environment with friendly icebreakers or informal introductions to help candidates relax. Please provide a clear agenda for each interview step, outlining who they will meet, the topics covered, and the expected duration.

During interviews, acknowledge the effort it takes to participate and give candidates ample opportunity to ask questions about the role or organization. Avoid rigid, high-pressure formats; instead, foster a conversational tone to allow candidates to showcase their best selves naturally. Follow up promptly with constructive feedback, regardless of the outcome, to demonstrate respect and professionalism. These best practices put candidates at ease and leave a positive impression on your organization, increasing the likelihood of attracting top talent.

Actionable Tip: Provide candidates with a clear agenda before interviews and follow up promptly with feedback.
Go Deeper: Gallup’s insights on candidate experience.

Craft a Thoughtful Offer

Negotiations are not just about salary but also about aligning mutual goals. Understand the candidate’s motivations—career growth, work-life balance, or innovation opportunities.

Actionable Tip: Highlight unique aspects of your organization, such as mentorship opportunities, flexible work policies, and long-term vision.
Go Deeper: SHRM’s guide to salary negotiations.

Close with Purpose

Once a candidate accepts the offer, ensure a seamless transition by maintaining regular communication during the notice period and crafting a comprehensive onboarding plan. Early engagement is vital to fostering retention and building trust. Best practices include scheduling periodic check-ins to answer questions and share updates, introducing the candidate to key team members virtually, and providing resources that help them prepare for their role. Consider sharing a welcome kit with company materials, an agenda for the first few weeks, and a clear roadmap for their onboarding journey. Utilize tools like Trello or Asana to create an interactive onboarding timeline.

Actionable Tip: Share a welcome kit with resources, team introductions, and a 30-60-90-day plan.
Go Deeper: Harvard Business Reviews: A Guide to Onboarding (For first-time managers)

Final Thoughts

Hiring is more than filling a role; it’s about finding individuals who align with your mission and can contribute to your vision. By focusing on clarity, inclusivity, and candidate experience, senior managers can build high-performing teams that drive innovation and growth.

Explore resources from the Design Management Institute (DMI) for more insights on hiring and team-building.