Hiring designers
Stop hiring for availability; hire for fit
How to approach designers who are already working, understand their motivation, and build a hiring process around fit.
Guidione Machava
The World Class Design blog
Better decisions about designers and design work.
11 articles
Hiring designers
“I know a great designer” is not enough
A referral is a starting point. Define the problem, company stage, and working environment before deciding who fits.
Guidione Machava
Hiring designers
Stop treating “high craft” as a logo
Evaluate design craft through decisions and shipped work instead of borrowing confidence from a previous employer’s name.
Guidione Machava
Design research
What my 2026 job-posting analysis says about AI in design
What AI mentions in 29,348 job postings can tell us, what they cannot, and how designers can respond without chasing hype.
Guidione Machava
Design careers
Why design candidates get ghosted
A practical look at broken hiring communication and how teams can close the loop with design candidates.
Guidione Machava
Design careers
Culture fit is two different hiring realities
How to distinguish clear working expectations from vague rejection feedback, and what to ask during interviews.
Guidione Machava
Hiring designers
Who actually makes the design hiring decision?
Make the hiring manager’s role, committee input, and decision criteria explicit before the interview process begins.
Guidione Machava
Design careers
Read the job description before sending your portfolio
A practical checklist for matching your portfolio evidence to the problem a company is hiring a designer to solve.
Guidione Machava
Hiring designers
What I learned interviewing Eastern European designers
Reflections from one hiring project on widening the search, understanding contract preferences, and assessing each designer individually.
Guidione Machava
Hiring designers
Ask about overlapping roles before judging the CV
Overlapping dates need context. Ask about commitments, capacity, consulting work, and transitions before drawing conclusions.
Guidione Machava
Hiring designers
Portfolios don’t show how designers handle feedback
How to assess a designer’s response to challenge without confusing independent judgment with resistance to feedback.
Guidione Machava