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Don’t Forget! You Saw it in the
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November 2021 #13268 Page #86
From the Road... What’s Next in the Ever-Changing Designer Hiring Saga? By Thomas McAnally
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hen the Great Recession took away a generation of new designers between 2007 and 2012, hiring basic and intermediate level designers became an issue. The average years of experience for designers rose from 8 to 12. Designers who held on through the downturn were mostly re-hired in 2011–12, and new designers have entered the field since then, but available design candidates have become scarce, thanks to a booming housing economy and higher wages. Whatever happened to the pre-Great Recession designer who changed jobs and relocated to better their career? Time and a family happened! During the Great Recession, designers got older, got married, started having kids, and settled down. The decision to relocate became harder when a family was involved, with school, the spouse’s job, and social circles making the choices even more difficult. When new job offers were either lateral or barely increasing from post-Great Recession highs, it was even harder to choose to move. In addition to the Great Recession affecting older designers, the overall mindset of the new generation of designer had changed. The ‘00’s ended badly for many of their parents who had lost homes to foreclosures, and many parents were forced to relocate to remain in their field. Relocation became a penalty, not a reward. Even if it wasn’t your family, you probably knew someone who went through difficult times, lost friends, had to downsize, relocate, and learned relocation risk was less valuable, even when coupled with career advancement opportunities. Adding everything up, the bond between family and friends became greater than the desire to advance through relocation. Design jobs go remote: When design and project management software, and the ability to work in the cloud, started to improve, designers were among the first in our industry to leave the office and work from home. It may have started with a few days a week, but eventually many designers were working from home on a full-time basis. Still, many employers did not embrace the work from home ethos. Design Managers resisted the move to let designers work from home, stating logistics and access by other departments for questions made it too difficult to manage. Enter COVID lockdowns: Everyone who can is working remote now. Entire design departments transitioned to remote, including the design manager. If any are left in the office, it is a limited basis or working with sales and production on repairs, design issues, and cutting. The industry has adapted to lockdowns by creating workable systems that not only allow designers and others to work remotely, it allows them the freedom to consider relocation as a reward again. Continued next page
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