Verified

There's 100's of talented designers available. Yet, companies are struggling to hire designers. Thoughts as to why: - Companies want "end-to-end" product designers because they need more bang for their buck. That's the reality of the economic environment we're in, budgets are being squeezed. - Hands-off managers who don't want or can't execute IC work to a high level. In my world of working with VCs, these people will not work at early-stage companies. You need to be doing the work and leading. - Non-design hiring managers can't determine which designer will be a long-term fit. i.e. you will need a different type of designer at seed stage to series B. The founding designer role IMO is the toughest role to get right. - The return of "hybrid". London is a vacuum for top designers who want to be in the office 2-3 days a week.

UX recruiting in 2024: (From a company hiring on LinkedIn) - Senior UX Designer - £36,000/yr - £42,000/yr - United Kingdom - On-site, mid-senior level - 97 applicants Who's applying for this? it cannot be a "proper" senior UX person. UX recruitment is broken. We have to fix this. - Companies paying 36-40k for a senior. - Another company paying 90k. - Poor matching of quality candidates. It leads to unsuccessful design teams, junior people in senior roles, spreading through the market and breeding a culture of average. Everything starts with bringing in the right people. 36-40k will not get you a proper senior UX person in the UK. Note: 36-40k out of the tech world is the average salary. Simply using figures to show you the confusion in hiring the right UX talent currently.

What defines the top 1% of designers? (It’s not how great at Figma you are) A few thoughts: Authenticity. What makes you who you are, and how do you align that with what the world needs? Genuine curiosity is the defining attribute of the top 1% of designers. When you become curious on how the world works you start to see the interconnectedness, you realise you have an opportunity to shape and improve at all scales. Designers who are asking why things work the way they do, and finding ways to improve them. Design is a way to improve realities. The best designers isn't how good in Figma you are, but more how they utilize their skills to make a difference to the world. P.S. what defines the 1% for you?

Thoughts on the design talent market in 2024: → The "biznification" of UX is real. → More designers moving into product. → Crazy long interview processes, even ICs. → True CDO's on the market for the first time. → Desire among designers to diverse income. → The death of IA continues at a rapid speed. → *A lack of design literacy hurting companies. → Rise in player-coach roles not going anywhere → Design people managers are the least in demand. → Designers want to remove "design" from their title. → Senior ICs have been most in demand for companies. → Leaders took jobs 2 levels below, simply to pay the bills. → Increase in design leaders moving into other roles, i.e. HR. These are all great challenges to solve. Big year in 2024. It's not doom and gloom, it's time to get resourceful. The future is bright for the design world.

#1 way to attract great designers: Show the work. The best talent care about: - The work - The work - The work - The work - The work - The work The best talent want to ship work that impacts millions of people, looks incredible, work on hard projects. Stop hiding your work. Start showing the community. Your inbound rate will shoot up.