Interviewing: in house vs agency
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- odinie
So I'm interviewing on Wednesday for an in house design position at one of the biggest craft beer breweries in the US. My only previous experience comes from a large agency in Seattle that is very well respected in the Pacific NW. Since moving back to my hometown for family illness reasons this is one of the few potentially decent design opportunities available.
Anyway, so on to my question. Has anybody had experience interviewing for these two types of positions? I'm curious about how much my "big city agency" experience will impress an in house group. I'm also interested in differences that I may not be aware of between these two types of jobs since I've never been an in house designer.
Some background. The agency I worked at was very fast paced and designers had a lot of creative freedom, though, at times, the clients weren't the most exciting. I got some good work out of them though and some of my best is in the craft beer category. The brewery I am applying to doesn't have the most inspiring design, but I feel very passionately about the brewery as I grew up in this town. The brewery is an amazing employer (almost Google status) and they got over 200 applications for this job. I'm honored to be granted an interview.
The job itself could be considered a lateral move at best. The job description was a little ambiguous, but it feels as if it's going to be more about production and extension than original design. I almost didn't apply, but I thought if I can impress them and there is good potential to grow I may have a chance at making an impact there and moving up to get more actual creative responsibility.
Maybe I still have soul searching to do about the job, but if you have in house experience, how has it worked for you? Has anybody been in a similar situation to me? In an ideal world, I'll impress them to such an extent in the interview that I'll be somebody they can see promoting after I prove myself at the current position. Oh, and sorry for the long post.
- bulletfactory0
You may find this article of interest...
http://www.aiga.org/jumping-in-f…
- mikotondria30
No experience as such for your particular case, but fwiw you seem excellently verbose and well presented - it would be great if you spoke with the same clarity, balance and precision at your interview. You seem to have it all covered; there is always the element of a crapshoot about them though, isn't there ? You might just get a dick interviewing you or they might just have seen their 'perfect candidate', or someone who's got in through nepotism or an outside allegiance.. Nonetheless, you seem to know exactly what they'll be looking for for the position, so you're several 'good questions' ahead. Try to work out what it is they love about their company and ask proper questions about the company's positioning and vision of itself. Be pleased by their answers - if they're nice people, they'll want to please you even more, and that'll please them and they'll like you. It's all sales, they're selling you and vice versa, so matching people's tone and pace and mirroring their body language is all good. If you ask them a good enough question that they get genuinely excited and happy, 'anchor' the moment by either scratching your chin, or making a specific movement with your hands, put one on one knee, etc. Then when you want to positively influence them, redo that action and they'll feel good but not know why. Ask lots of questions that they can answer with a positive, happy 'yes'.
Best of luck :)
- odinie0
Thanks for the response. My biggest fear is coming off as arrogant and like I'm too good for their posted job, which isn't the case. I'm happy to do some drudgery for a while if there's good long term potential. I've had friends crash and burn in interviews because they were too blunt about things, but I also don't want to beat around the bush. It's hard to get the right mix of directness (?) and professionalism. And you're right, it does come down to whoever is interviewing me and factors such as their personality, ego, etc.
- fourth0
You need to look at this as more of a "regular" job interview instead of a design job type interview. If that makes any sense. So be prepared to sell yourself to an HR representative (they will ask you typical filter-out-the-idiots job interview questions), the head of marketing (try to not step on his/her toes even though they know nothing about design but will ultimately be your boss), the social media person (apparently this new position puts these people above designers on the totem pole), and even surprised designers who have no idea they were hiring help and really don't want to waste any time talking to you (I had an interview with a fortune 500 co. that threw me in a room with their in house designers who pretty much stared at me, I asked them a ton of questions, they kind of just sat there and I excused myself).
- monospaced0
They will spend a lot of time talking to YOU about how in-house is different from your agency experience. Just be prepared to listen. They're probably scared you won't be happy on one brand, so a lot of the time they'll be trying to sell you on the position, not the other way around. Good luck, and don't stress it.
- UKV0
Hey, I do some freelance work with a few pretty big craft breweries. Feel free to email me and I'll see if I know anyone there. They tend to be pretty great opps with really distinct cultures.
And congrats on the interview, those are coveted spots.
- fourth0
Also, you need to interview them in a sense. Talk to and put all the people you will be working with under a microscope. These 3-6 people are your new clients and you're stuck with them for your whole term. Try to get a sense of their attitudes towards design. Trust me all it takes is one "I got a free design certificate with my marketing degree so shut up, make the logo bigger, spruce it up, make it pop, & fill the negative space" personalities to suck the soul out of your job.
- bulletfactory0
I think coming from an agency will be a benefit for you out of the gate. One thing that I rarely see as I interview designers for various in-house positions at my company is energy. Most lack energy to a point of seeming lethargic (due to nervousness, or maybe they're simply too junior to be an effective interviewer).
Mark Horstman, a former recruiter who has interviewed thousands of candidates and is now an interview consultant says, "Recruiters will accept 90% less ability if someone possesses 10% more positive attitude."
You seem knowledgeable, well-spoken and genuinely passionate. If those qualities can come out in the interview, you'll have no worries.
Good luck.
- odinie0
Thanks for all the thoughtful responses, everyone. I'm feeling much more empowered.
- d_rek0
I went in-house for a fortune 500 after almost 3-years at a small agency. The biggest difference for me was adjusting to the bureaucratic nature of company life.
It seems like it takes just a little bit longer for things to get done in house. Mostly because there are so many layers and personalities to deal with.
Also, decisions are rarely ever made by one individual. Decisions, for better or worse, are typically made by consensus. So be prepared for that.
Fourth was right on when he said you need to interview them as much as they interview you.
The reason I joined the in-house group here was because we all had common backgrounds and I respected the teams talent immensely. Even a few of the executives I interviewed with seemed very much into design and producing good work. However, as I learned over time, the rest of the company doesn't always feel the same about design or even about producing quality creative work in general. Ironically, the company is largely made up of engineers who simply can't rationalize creative input sometimes, no matter how hard they try.
Anyway, I hope that helps a little. Sounds like a fun gig. If nothing else ... free beer!
- fourth0
odinie,
to answer your question, I guess I'm "ok" with the in-house experience. The positives are it's easy– you are simply using the same two logos, the same three colors, etc. The downfall is there really is no challenge. Depending on the company most of the cutting edge work will go to an outside studio and your job is to follow suit on the lower level stuff. Dealing with the bad apples sucks tremendously because you can't get rid of them– you have to deal with them everyday. But you are home at 5pm, have health and dental insurance, and have your weekends.
- cannonball19780
all these posts: tl;dr