I’ve made a special ISSUU about it. But To view directly The Hudson Report results and analysis, please click here.

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The Hudson Report Quarter Four, 2009

“Hiring expectations continue to rise at an accelerating rate. Overall, expectations are higher than they were a year ago and it now seems that the ‘green shoots’ are here to stay.”

Mark Carriban, Managing Director – Asia

Highlights include:

• Hiring expectations are rising sharply and this survey of nearly 500 executives across key business sectors shows that 35% forecast headcount growth in Quarter Four (Q4) 2009, up from 22% in Q3;
• Hiring expectations are rising faster in Hong Kong than in the other markets surveyed in Asia;
• Across all the sectors surveyed, respondents say that talent development and improving staff retention are their key HR priorities for 2010;
• One-third of respondents say they would employ someone who has been out of work for more than a year;
• Where employers are prepared to hire the long-term unemployed, previous experience and track record are given as the principal reasons;
• Respondents in the Consumer, IT&T and Manufacturing & Industrial sectors are more confident about finding local talent for senior positions than those in Banking & Financial Services, Legal and Media/PR/Advertising.

Mark Carriban
Managing Director, Asia
Hudson

From 5 possible media in the 80′s, we moved to digital age!

What about your company…?

Advertising media

You want a “creative” person for your company; that is a clever point.

But… What for? Exactly? And, do you know what makes the difference between TWO creative?

| First, you (we) need to agree on what is creativity |

What is creativity?

First let’s take a look on the WIKIPEDIA definition.

Creativity (or creativeness) is a mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations between existing ideas or concepts. From a scientific point of view, the products of creative thought (sometimes referred to as divergent thought) are usually considered to have both originality and appropriateness. An alternative, more everyday conception of creativity is that it is simply the act of making something new. Although intuitively a simple phenomenon, it is in fact quite complex. It has been studied from the perspectives of behavioural psychology, social psychology, psychometrics, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, philosophy, history, economics, design research, business, and management, among others. The studies have covered everyday creativity, exceptional creativity and even artificial creativity. Unlike many phenomena in science, there is no single, authoritative perspective or definition of creativity. Unlike many phenomena in psychology, there is no standardized measurement technique.

Creativity has been attributed variously to divine intervention, cognitive processes, the socialpersonality traits, and chance (”accident,” “serendipity“). It has been associated with genius, mental illness and humour. Some say it is a trait we are born with; others say it can be taught with the application of simple techniques. Although popularly associated with art and literature, it is also an essential part of innovation and invention and is important in professions such as business, economics, architecture, industrial design, science and engineering. environment,

Despite, or perhaps because of, the ambiguity and multi-dimensional nature of creativity, entire industries have been spawned from the pursuit of creative ideas and the development of creativity techniques. This mysterious phenomenon, though undeniably important and constantly visible, seems to lie tantalizingly beyond the grasp of scientific investigation.

“Creativity, it has been said, consists largely of re-arranging what we know in order to find out what we do not know.”

George Kneller

For our concern, we are talking about creativity (and being creative) in Advertising, Communications, Marketing and Design services.

So what is [a creative] in these topics?

As a Creative Director in-house, the purpose is to ensure the highest possible success of projects in supporting the company’s objectives. To ensure the highest possible success of projects by developing and presenting proposals, liaising with Clients, managing project work flow, supporting design team quality and efficiency, and solving problems.

The main Responsibilities:

• Ensures optimal client fulfillment by developing and defining client vision and business needs into project proposals; collaborating with Sales Team to close sales; presenting proposals, progress and final project deliverables; establishing and maintaining effective creative liaison with clients, managing client expectations, cultivating trust, rapport and proactive client care throughout the project cycle
• Maintains work flow by monitoring project progress and resource usage; assisting in troubleshooting “log jams”; facilitating change orders; collaborating with the Office Manager to schedule facility use; ensuring early meeting of milestones and deadlines
• Resolves and Prevents Problems by immediately analyzing and soothing any client concerns and implementing remedial solutions; conferring regularly with Sales Department and Design Team to discuss, understand and address any sources of stress; carefully observing and checking in with clients to intuit and discover even the smallest source of dissatisfaction they may feel and taking corrective action
• Ensures information utilization standards by ensuring accurate and timely input of all ISIS data including activity slips, project status, project specifications, quotes and estimates; and following file management procedures
• Ensures project quality by working collaboratively with Management Team to assign project resources, support and assist in training of Designers and Artists, monitoring project quality and profitability; communicating and exemplifying organization standards
• Ensures availability of project resources by adhering to resource rules and procedures; working collaboratively with other managers to optimize utilization of resources; alerting Management Team to any resource problems
• Ensures team effectiveness by assisting in the training of new Multimedia Artists, monitoring productivity, cultivating team rapport, anticipating needs, proactively assisting, providing constructive feedback and guidance to Multimedia Artists; performing in the capacity of a Multimedia Artist when necessary; creating and implementing ideas that support team members’ ability to maximize client satisfaction
• Improves company profitability by creatively assisting management team in identifying new potential product or service offerings, working closely with management and Sales Team to understand and meet sales objectives, and identifying and implementing strategies for improving general efficiency and effectiveness of the Media and Technology department
• Maintains professional and technical knowledge by participating in personal and professional development opportunities; reviewing professional publications; benchmarking best practices; participating in professional society
• Enhances the work environment by dealing openly and directly with team members; acting with integrity and respect; exhibiting a positive attitude

There is an excellent article from HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW ONPOINT, talking about creativity:

(by Thomas H. Davenport, Laurence Prusak, and H.James Wilson)

[Who’s bringing you hot ideas and HOW are you responding?]

“There’s an UNSUNG HERO in your organization. It’s the person who’s bringing in new ideas about how to manage better. Mind you, we’re not talking about product and service innovations. The people who cook those up-and they are heroes of the orgnization, too-are celebrated loudly and often. We’re talking about the person who. for instance, first uttered the phrase “intellectual capital“in your hallways, believing that better management of knowledge assets could yield a competitive advantage. Or perhaps it was the notion of “real options” as an antidote to overly risk-averse capital investment analysis. Or, depending on how long the person has been around, maybe it was even “total quality management”.

Exactly who are these people in your particular organisation? You probably already know.

• It’s the middle manager you called when you decided to include something about process redesign or balanced-scorecard management in your letter for the annual report.
• It’s the smart executive who advised you on which consulting firm to employ for help with e-commerce and who seemed to know all about each one’s strengths and weaknesses.
• It’s the first person who comes to mind when you need a strategic thinker to do a special project.

Come to think of it, it’s that manager who just sent you a conference binder on a topic you’ve expressed some interest in.”

Here are some extracts (so true…) of the Harvard Business Review (spring 2007): The Creative Company

{ We’ve got one creative person here, and he makes everyone nervous. }

{ Creativity can’t be shoehorned between the hours of nine and five. The Muses don’t always show up on time for appointments. }

{ Again, creating such teams requires managers to have a deep understanding of their people. They must be able to assess them not just for their knowledge but for their attitudes about potential fellow team members and the collaborative process, for their problem-solving styles, and for their motivational hot buttons. Putting together with just the right chemistry – just the right level of diversity and supportiveness – can be difficult, but our research shows how powerful it can be. }

{ Supervisory encouragement. Most managers are extremely busy. They are under pressure for results. It is therefore easy for them to let praise for creative efforts – not just creative successes but unsuccessful efforts, too – fall by the wayside. One very simple step managers can take to foster creativity is to not let that happen. }

{ The connection to intrinsic motivation here is clear. Certainly, people can find their work interesting or exciting without a cheering section – for some period of time. But to sustain such passion, most people need to feel as if their work matters to the organisation or to some important group of people. Otherwise, they might as well do their work at home or for their own personal gain. }

{ By contrast, managers who kill creativity do so by either failing to acknowledge innovative efforts or by greeting them with skepticism. In many companies, for instance, new ideas are made not with open minds but with time consuming layers of evaluation – or even with harsh criticism. When someone suggests a new product or process, senior managers take weeks to respond. Or they put that person through an excruciating critique. }

You should prepare a nice nest for “your creative”.

He/She won’t be like others, only concerned by themselves, no, he/she will take part at 200% in your project and be happy when you will win a budget, sad when you will loose a competition. Sensible or sensitive? Concerned. Without that, no creativity is possible.
You should let “himher” take more leave days than others; “heshe” works with” herhis” brain, don’t forget. Heshe must be happy to create, in a GOOD atmosphere to create.

Generally, creative are not good in money or account, they prefer to dream or to find crazy ideas than talk about reality. Reality is boring, sublimating, rejuvenating is their job.

They see things that you even don’t know it exists. In one word you say, they will see a new campaign, a new product. In full color, they will see a new concept; so, please, prepare a nice nest for them, they will be more fragile than others; don’t forget, they live in an other planet than you, this is why they are… Creative.
When I have to recruit a creative in my team, I’m choosing the one who seems to be more “concerned“, the one who will say “us” instead of “me“, the one will think all the time “what is the best to do for my company? How should I have acted if it was mine?
Concerned. Proactive. Humble, always searching for the latest trends, someone with a “global culture”, could talk about surf, business, luxury trends, architecture, opera, video, cinema, sociology…

Someone definitely open mind.

http://www.jcdecaux.com.hk/bobawards/winnerlist.html

Dear recruiter, headhunter, HR,

I’d like you to help me to understand how you work…

• …as I don’t understand:  why, despite companies and clients say I’m very creative, I can’t manage to have any appointments in your offices and meet any clients?

• Why when I finally got one that it’s only “one shot”? (means I was enough good for ONE company but not for any others?)
  Why sometimes the recruiter interviewing me doesn’t understand what exactly my job is? (“oh you are a multimedia designer?”)
• I have some questions to ask you and it will be great if you could answer!

Because, WE, candidates, (just) want to understand…

THANKS A LOT…