How would you hire creative people?

A checklist for an interview

Prepared by J. Scott Armstrong (details on him at jscottarmstrong.com).

Please inform Scott about errors and also make suggestions (armstrong@wharton.upenn.edu)

Scott has taken these slides from adprin.com, a site that he founded. That site contains interactive versions of these slides, along with linked references, videos, and webcasts, all in PPT and PPTX format that you can download.

Adapted from AdPrin.com

How would you hire creative people?

Write down three ideas, then go to the next slide for suggestions.

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1. Ask for portfolios or other evidence of creative work prior to a personal appearance (Persuasive Advertising p 280)

- Consider having an administrator screen out irrelevant resume information such as religion, race, age, gender, and nationality

2. Use pre-specified evidence-based criteria (e.g.,on personality or cognitive skills).

- If they will be working in a group, look for “task-related” diversity instead of “bio-demographic” diversity (Horwitz and Horwitz2007 in Persuasive Advertising p 280)

3. Give a test that is a sample of the job they would do.

4. Do not meet the person until after deciding (Michael Lewis, Moneyball).

For more information, go to AdPrin.com

Based on this exercise, write a small application step for yourself,and set a deadline, preferably within one week. If you areworking with someone else, share your application plan and theresults of your application.

• For example, when forming a group, consider “task-related”diversity instead of “bio-demographic” diversity.

Adapted from AdPrin.com