Hiring creatives can be tricky. A designer with great portfolio does not always equal a great hire. In the same way, hiring a person with a great heart for the Lord but who lacks design qualifications is not a great solution for your church ministry. Unfortunately, this kind of thing happens way too often. Here’s the scenario:
You have a volunteer in the church that is really good with media and has created some great media for you. The leadership begins to realize the important role that media plays in the way your church is doing ministry. Rather than paying the volunteer to continue doing projects as a freelancer, you jump the gun and offer them a full-time position. For one reason or another, that person turns down the offer. No problem. Everybody knows Photoshop these days so, in theory, you should be able to search within your church and bring one of your own members onboard. As the end of the year approaches, you still have not found that perfect individual. We all know that if you don’t hire before the new year starts, you will lose that slot in your budget. So, it’s now or never.
Hiring the wrong person for the right position is costly and often avoidable. Ask yourself some of these questions: Are you looking for someone to fulfill your creative vision, or are you looking for someone to bring their creative vision to the table? Many times that perfect person is not obtainable. So now what? Here are some very broad categories of creatives you may experience during the hiring process and some suggestions of how each can be utilized best within your ministry.
(Note: This information is written in the context of hiring a single person that will create your custom media, mainly graphics-based media, not video shooting/editing. As your team grows, you may need to find more specialized talent to collaborate on projects of a larger magnitude.)
1) Volunteer—“This designer is not great at design but I have no other leads and he/she has a great heart for ministry.” This is usually the case. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Believe me, I understand. One of my best friends since junior high is the Media/Worship/Kids/Maintenance Pastor at a church of 150. He’s just glad to find someone—ANYONE—who will volunteer to help out. Keyword: Volunteer. Too often, churches will hire the wrong person for the right position and then wonder why it didn’t work out. If you have approval for a paid position, only pay someone who is qualified. If you cannot find someone qualified, you may need to hire a program assistant that sets up your services using stock media. You will not be relying on their personal design skills at that point and you can easily request media be swapped out at the last minute.
2) Beginner Professional—“This designer is good but will hopefully improve.” Move slowly on this one. Freelance might be the best option here. It will allow you to continue the hunt for the right person. If you decide to hire, you must be willing to invest in that person. Pay for training and allow time during their workweek to improve. Don’t have unrealistic expectations. (By the way, if this person is not relatively new to design but you still feel this way about their work, don’t hire them.)
3) Skilled Professional—“This designer is very good but will need some direction.” The designer has moments of greatness but also has some creative disasters. This person is a good hire but can also whip something out that makes you wonder if their design skills were left at home that day. An approval process should be set up along the way. Sketches, examples, brainstorming, and colors are very easy to approve early in the process. In fact, that’s a good practice regardless of the designer’s skill level.
4) Expert Professional—“This creative is great and will lead our church visually.” This person has a long portfolio of outstanding work. You have freelanced with them before and it was a great experience. Don’t hire a designer that is amazing but that doesn’t fit in with your style or direction. What you see is what you get. While it is very possible to switch styles and be versatile in this digital age of design, there is still a theme that carries throughout a person’s work. You can tell if they will or will not enjoy the projects you are going to allow them to do. Do not hire in hopes that they will no longer create in that style. Hire this person because you love what they are capable of and want them to lead your church visually. The wrong fit only makes for a frustrated designer and leadership team. Find the right person with the right eye for your ministry, and then enable them to do their job.
Understanding your options as the decision maker to hire is important. You don’t want to hire someone with a strong creative direction if you aren’t willing to give him or her that freedom. Likewise, you don’t want to hire someone without an excellent portfolio and sense of direction if you are expecting them to lead the way in terms of design.
The lines can be blurry between the distinctions I have made, but do your best to be discerning. Serious tension occurs when you hire a Volunteer and expect them to perform like a Skilled Professional. Or if you hire an Expert Professional and don’t enable them. Your creative team will be miserable if you don’t understand where the individuals are in their skill level or where you want them to be. The issue is a misunderstanding of what you really want from your new hire as well as what that new hire is capable, or incapable, of achieving. Ultimately, each individual will be a unique experience and require some insight on your part for the final hire, but hopefully these broad classifications will help you articulate the kind of designer you’re looking for and help you distinguish between applicants. If everyone’s needs, skills, and expectations are understood when you hire a new creative, you’ve successfully removed a major obstacle to team contentment and ministerial effectiveness.
Barton Damer is a Creative Producer at Igniter Media and he maintains a personal blog at AlreadyBeenChewed.net.