This article was originally published in Design View in late 2005. As I continue to find job listings like the ones below from a host of ad and interactive agencies, I present this article again for those who missed it the first time around.
…Qualified applicants will possess the following: Exceptional design ability Exceptional communication ability Design leadership ability Professional competency with Photoshop Professional competency with Illustrator Professional competency with Flash, including animation, interface design and Actionscripting Strong storyboarding skills Team design coordination experience Project coordination experience Basic HTML skills Other desirable skills include: Advanced Flash Animation Advanced Actionscripting Professional 3D production Sound production Advanced HTML skills PHP experience Other scripting experience. [sic]
Or this:
…Emphasis on Website design and digital publications. Must have experience with Dreamweaver, Flash, QuarkXPress, Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, MAC and PC. Strong typographic and formatting skills, ability to gather, interpret, organize, and edit information in a consistent and graphically effective manner to capture desired corporate or client image. [sic]
Fine. But where are the requirements that describe actual competence? These requirements above are merely for tool skills and craft familiarity. What about your agency obtaining the ability to move into the 21st century with design and development technique? What about requirements for semantic coding skills or accessibility and Web standards understanding? What about requiring the things that make all of that design work properly under different circumstances on the users’ end?
Why are the vast majority of agencies looking merely for people who know how to use certain tools? Why aren’t they looking for people who know how to produce modern product and truly functional results?
Check yourself before you wreck yourself
Agencies, right now you’re asking for second–rate employees and this will rise up and bite you in the butt one day. Right now you’re building crap websites and they’re trashing up the internet and building a reputation for your agency. Is this the reputation you want?
There are a host of skilled and talented designers and developers out there who understand these things and know how to appropriately apply them to your clients’ projects. When are you going to start hiring them?
Time marches on. Web technology changes every single day. Internet–using habits change a little bit every single day. Web users’ expectations change a little bit every single day. Web users’ demands become more important to your livelihood every single day.
Agencies, ask yourselves: How are you changing every single day? How many new technology, coding or approach developments did your staff bring to your attention this week? How did your actual design and development approach change this month? How many standards– and accessibility–savvy developers did you hire this year? How many semantically coded sites did you deliver to clients this year? How many of your sites need to be redeveloped in order for a successful SEO campaign to be implemented for them? How many types of usability and accessibility issues does your product typically account for?
Or do you develop merely for people ages 16 to 35, with perfect eyesight, who only use IE6/7 with a mouse, and have JavaScript enabled on a broadband connection?
There are a host of skilled and talented designers and developers out there who understand these things and know how to appropriately apply them to your clients’ projects. When are you going to start hiring them? If you don’t, eventually your competitors will.
But to find them you have to ask for them. You have to ask for the right qualifications in your job listings. You have to let them know you care about these standards for your own work. Your employees are your agency. If you’re employees are not up to speed on these important matters, neither is your agency – nor your product. Are you satisfied with being left behind and out of touch?
