23 Ways to Stay Employed (Translated from 23 Ways to Get Fired)

A fellow designer recently told me to check out Andy Epstein's article, 23 Ways to Get Fired on AIGA's site.

After reading through the text, I recognized various creative people with whom I have worked over the years. And, embarrassingly, I also recognize myself in past lives. Even if you don't happen to be in a 'creative' role in an ad agency or marketing firm, these rules are good ones to note.

I've taken the liberty of turning Andy's Way's around. Because in these times of low unemployment, I actually think that staying employed is more to the point:

Befriend your clients.

1. Take client calls.

Respond to client e-mails. Talk to them when you see them; have lunch with them. Make real attempts to communicate whenever possible.

2. Be courteous and patient in every client communication.

Use proper salutations and manners. To show respect, use proper grammar and spelling. Identify yourself in voicemails and e-mails, giving your contact information. Give them your full attention when communicating with them.

3. Pay attention to clients when they’re giving direction or feedback.

Value their insights. Make eye contact and take notes so they know you are paying attention.

4. Meet deadlines.

5. Say yes as much as possible.

6. Say only positive things about your clients.

Find and build on the positives, even in a tough client relationship.

Befriend your fellow designers and managers.

7. Make it all about the team.

Share credit as much as you possible. Bonus tip - Participate in any team building events, departmental social gatherings or new staff welcomes or leaving staff send-offs.

8. Only work on company projects on company time.

If you aren't busy enough, ask your manager for more brand communication assignments. Offer to take on a long-term project such as archiving all the company's stock images.

9. Praise your peers by catching them doing things right, including fellow designers, managers and staff in other departments.

10. Do your fair share of the work no matter how senior you are to the team.

11. Keep only work related files on the company workstation and respect intellectual property rights by using only software that belongs to the company.

12. Hand off files that are completely organized to your production artists.

Always package working files, including fonts and images. Use high-res images and include correct dimensions and colors, etc.

13. Allow for the possibility that you may not always be right.

This applies to your company, your co-workers, fellow designers, managers, upper management, and clients—and for added value, apply it to your family and friends too! Nothing you can do is more effective at making people like you and making you a strong team member (resulting in keeping your job) than recognizing that other people often may have a better idea or a clearer vision than you.

Adopt good design habits.

14. Balance audience considerations with brand considerations.

It’s not all about the logo and the brand style guide. Your design has to resonate with your client’s customers too.

15. Be concerned with the the ability of your work to be produced—and talk directly with developers and printers or your company's producers to assure that it can be.

It is not always necessary to push the envelope to affect needed change within your company. There are ways to work within the system to advocate for change and, at the same time, to demonstrate your ability to be a team player. Use good judgment. How would you want to be treated in situations in which change is needed?

Work from within to make HR policies more design-appropriate.

16. Though it is always easier to ask for forgiveness than permission, in the long run, it doesn't always build relationships.

You need to build trust within your company in order to be able to affect real change. So weigh forgiveness vs. permission carefully.

17. If you have special space requirements, ask for them in a way that is appropriate to the big picture.

Since the design process is a uniquely collaborative one, use your collaboration skills to find creative solutions to your storage, meeting and collaboration needs. Might there be some things you can give in return for flexibility from others?

18. Use rewards that fit within the corporate culture.

Companies often restrict managers’ options to reward their staffs for hard work. Creatives are frequently called upon to work late hours to meet deadlines, but their managers are not permitted to compensate them for those hours. Work with your manager to develop creative ways to compensate these special efforts. Would bonuses, better assignments, or freedoms of another kind help to compensate? Would these employees be able to track their extra hours and take off hours here and there when they have downtime? Different corporate cultures accept different types of rewards. Talk to your manager about helping you optimize your team's morale by work with their motivators and the corporate culture to create the best possible solution.

19. Use common sense.

If you sense that you may have to circumvent some low level corporate policies in order for your team to do what it is required to do (for instance, staying late, bringing food in, meeting off premises), make your manager your partner and advocate by planning ahead and generating ideas together rather than springing last minute surprises on him/her.

20. Work with Purchasing to find the best vendor for the job.

If your company has an approved list of vendors and you have identified a better choice, work with purchasing to get them on the list. Enroll your clients as allies to advocate you working with the best vendors available for their projects' needs. Consider a phone call or meeting between you, your manager, purchasing and even your client to work out reasonable supplier options. Money can be an important consideration. Be fair to your vendors. If money is limited, let all bidders know that before they engage in a lengthy process only to be kicked out due to price.

21. Work with Accounts Payable to assure vendor payment.

If your company doesn't pay vendors in a timely manner, it will soon become difficult for your department to find good vendors to complete the work. This, in the end, hurts your company's bottom line. Have a good relationship with someone in Accounts Payable so you know who to call upon to assure reasonable payment. If necessary, have them work out a payment plan if lump payment is not possible. A reasonable effort to pay in full is recognized and appreciated by most vendors.

Be a part of the solution.

22. Partner with HR to assure competitive salaries for your team.

Befriend your HR department by sharing with them AIGA and other professional organizations' design salary research so that they are informed about the industry norms for creative salary levels. Make them your partner in helping your company to be competitive within the industry to attract the best talent.

23. Use, or at least amend, HR-mandated interview processes when staffing your team.

The standard questions for determining good mid-level managers in Finance, HR, Compliance and Manufacturing may have some relevance to the practice of design. Discuss the primary functions and skills of designers and other creatives on your team with your HR staffing specialist and compare them to the corporate interview process and to the job descriptions of other roles within the company. Negotiate for changes in those areas in which your ability to determine appropriate design hires would be maximized.