PORTFOLIO CREATIVE BLOG

Business Vision 101 – The Top 5 Things We Want You To Know

By Catherine Lang-Cline Why am I talking about startups? Because recently the Women’s Small Business Accelerator asked me to talk to a group of small businesses and startups about goal setting. It reminded me of some of the goals that Kristen Harris and I set before we even opened our doors. That made me think, with all of the startups popping up, maybe we can help. If you prefer listening to reading, here is a link to our podcast, Illumination Bureau, that we did on the topic. All of you

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Looking to Hire? Make Them An Offer They Can’t Refuse

By Catherine Lang-Cline Let’s face it, all of the great people are already working. Is this new? No. But as businesses flex, hire, and lay off, it is all about timing and the very best people getting picked up first. And once they are hired, the smartest companies try and keep them happy. So how can you get an opportunity to get the best people? Make sure that you have the best offer. The definition of “the best offer” has changed a lot in the last couple of years. It’s

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New Year, New Year…Is It Time for a New Job?

By Kristen Harris Every time the calendar turns over, we get inundated with the “new year, new you” online inspo. But there is some wisdom to the power of new starts, fresh beginnings, and triggers like a new year that push us to make a change.  There are many reasons people change jobs–focus on the ones that matter the most to you. This year many people are considering a work-related change. How can you determine if that’s right for you? Here are ten areas that could lead you to consider

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Rethinking Resolutions

By Catherine Lang-Cline Can we all right now just admit that we are exhausted? If we do it all together we can start this year in a place that makes every single one of us aware that we are all trying to function a bit broken. We have learned a lot and carried on this past 2 years, which is why I think we need to rethink New Year’s resolutions.  Sure, you can say, “You are right. I am tired and I am not making any resolutions.” That is your

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3 Ways to Protect Yourself From a Job Search Scam

By Catherine Lang-Cline Yes, job search scams are happening. Just when you think people can’t get more terrible, criminals are preying on people looking for work. They are also misrepresenting actual companies. We are hearing about this more and more. People are gathering your information to file for unemployment, get your social security number, or credit card numbers. While not foolproof, here are at least 3 ways to detect if it is a scam: A job posted on a job board is not seen on the company website. While some

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Synchronous vs Asynchronous: Leveraging Time to Maximize Productivity

By Kristen Harris We’ve been helping clients hire for and elevate their marketing teams since 2005. Saying the structure of work has changed since we started is a major understatement. Remember when you were hired for a job and assumed that you would be going to that company’s office every day to work? Yeah, me too. For many roles, especially in the creative industry, that is no longer the case. Whether you’re adding someone new or deciding how your current team will work going forward, there are so many questions

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Beyond Diversity: Equity and Inclusion Drive Retention

By Kristen Harris We help companies elevate their marketing teams and firmly believe that a more diverse marketing team leads to better outcomes. Not only do we want to live in a more equitable and inclusive society, but the importance of having a diverse marketing and creative team has been proven repeatedly. I can think of several situations where a more diverse and inclusive point of view could have saved the company from embarrassing public failure.  For a few strategies on improving diversity through your hiring process, check out Inclusive

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How Not to Piss Off the People That You’re Interviewing

By Catherine Lang-Cline Talent is always a challenge to find and sometimes you find “the one” only to end up getting “ghosted” or ignored. What happened? There are a lot of explanations, such as; they changed their mind about looking or they got a better offer. More often, another company moved quicker or you simply pissed them off in the interview process. Here are a few ways that you can claim that person it took you so long to find. Include the salary range in the posting. Having candidates apply

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Post-Pandemic Hiring Trends: Remote Work and Employee Expectations

By Kristen Harris As experts in creative hiring, we work hard every day to help our clients find exceptional marketing talent that elevates their team. To keep doing that well, we’re constantly elevating our team too. One way we do this is by attending the American Staffing Association’s annual conference, Staffing World.  While there was a variety of content at the conference, I heard three things in every presentation–remote work, the talent shortage, and leveraging technology. We’re not out of the woods (yet) with this pandemic. But clearly, it’s going

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A Day in the Life: Q+A with Fariha Tayyab

Hi y’all – I’m Fariha. I’m a storyteller and transplant from Texas! I’ve been self-employed as a writer and photographer for a few years. Check out my website here. I reside in Northwest Columbus with my spouse, foster son, and two kitties. Among other things, I’m a lover of language and culture. A lot of my creation as an artist, educator, and community builder revolves around equity, social justice, and radical reimagination. Morning: My morning schedule is manifold! I wake up for pre-dawn prayer and may spend the dim-lit hours

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The War on Talent Continues

By Catherine Lang-Cline If you are thinking that you can just wait out the frenzy to find great talent, you might be waiting a long time. All signs are pointing to the “war on talent” to continue into 2022, as reported in a survey by Staffing Industry Analysts.* According to their survey, “73% of employers are having difficulty attracting employees, up from a similar survey last year that found only 26% were having difficulty. It’s also up from 56% in a survey earlier this year. And 70% of employers expect

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A Day in the Life: Q+A with Terry Cline

Worked too long on the assembly line at Whirlpool building microwave ovens. Discovered OSU had a film school so I stopped shooting screws and learned how to shoot film and video. Graduate of The Ohio State University, Department of Photography and Cinema. BFA should be an MFA; certain classes only being offered every three years. I am an independent producer/director/writer: CHALLENGE Productions/CHALLENGE Aerial Imaging. Even though I live in Marion, Ohio my work has taken me to all points of the compass in the U.S. For the past eighteen months,

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Are You Following Me?

By Catherine Lang-Cline Jobs open and close quickly. Once they appear, if you are not submitted within the first week, chances become less likely that you will be selected to interview unless they are struggling to fill it. How can you make sure that you know ASAP that a job is open? Follow your recruiter. It seems very simple but if you are working with a recruiter or with a company of recruiters you will see almost every job they are trying to fill if you follow them. You may

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Four Steps to Winning in a Tight Candidate Market

By Kristen Harris We’ve been through plenty of hiring cycles as recruiting and hiring professionals but have never seen one quite like this. Despite still-high unemployment rates and lower-than-expected job growth reports, companies continue to report extreme difficulty hiring the people they need.  We keep hearing (or saying) “it’s a tight candidate market,” but what does that mean? It means that this is a hiring market with plenty of available jobs, rising pay levels, frequent counteroffers, and all moving extremely fast. Highly sought-after talent has the upper hand right now;

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Stacks and Stacks of Resumes

By Catherine Lang-Cline September is international update your resume month! And while we spend a lot of time with our talent getting their resumes ready to stand out, we wanted to have a little conversation about what it is like for YOU to get some of those resumes. A LOT of those resumes. In most circumstances, when we approach a potential client, we are wanting to know if we can help them with their next marketing search. Most try initially to do it themselves and that is perfectly okay. Post

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A Day in the Life: Q+A with Rich Lewis

I’m a mindful mentor, a creative leader, an Addy-winning designer & a certified UX professional. I believe in selflessness, fostering collaboration & inspiring those around me to be better than I. As the Creative Director for Eat’n Park Hospitality Group, I run an award-winning, full-service, in-house ad agency based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Morning: Each morning, I start my day around 5:45 with my dogs, brew a pour-over pot of coffee with this freshly ground beans, make a healthy breakfast for my wife and kids (Shakshuka is a fan favorite), do

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Diverse Hiring: Exploring the Edge Effect to Find New Talent

By Kristen Harris As a firm that recruits marketing and creative professionals for our clients, we are constantly expanding our talent network and broadening our search efforts. We’re always looking for new talent in new places.  Now, more than ever, companies (including our clients) are focused on building marketing teams that reflect their customers and the population as a whole. When looking to attract new and more diverse talent to your team, it’s helpful to remember that if you keep looking in the same place, you will keep finding the

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The Great Resignation

By Catherine Lang-Cline Portfolio Creative has been finding marketing talent for our clients for over 16 years, so we are very familiar with making every work situation work. What we are amazed at right now is “The Great Resignation.” “The Great Resignation” is what people are calling the huge shift happening right now with employees. People are leaving their jobs and work situations based on how their companies worked with them through the pandemic and they are working with them now. It is a movement as people are evaluating what

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A Day in the Life: Q+A with Hilary Buchanan

Illustration by Jill McClurg Hey, I’m Hilary Buchanan! Some things that almost sum me up are – I’m an Enneagram 3, I practice adult gymnastics, I’m a Creative Director for Pixel Park (working in the creative industry is my 2nd career – I started out in the non-profit sector), I got married during quarantine, and I really, really like people and learning all about their life experiences. Morning: Morning! Welp, I have a senior dog who rises and shines around 6:30am so you better believe I do too. Then, there’s

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Okay, Everyone, We’re Going Back to the Office! Or Maybe Not.

By Kristen Harris At Portfolio Creative, we’ve been helping clients find and hire marketing talent for over 16 years. Before that, my partner and I both held marketing leadership roles where we hired and managed teams of people. All of that to say that we’ve hired, managed, and worked with A LOT of people, and we’ve never seen anything like the current talent market. What’s so unusual, you ask? All expectations of how and where people work have been turned upside down. Due to COVID-19 precautions, in the spring of

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