Finding the right talent for design needs can make a big difference in the success of a business. As we move through 2024, more companies need skilled designers, and it’s a strategic move to learn how to find them.
Graphic design recruiters are the link to finding these design professionals. They have the resources and connections to find designers that are the right fit for your business needs.
These graphic design recruitment agencies leverage those resources and connections to find the best designers out there that are fit for their clients. By keeping a pool of design talent at the ready, they’re able to make selections based on the criteria their clients give.
But what about finding the right design recruitment agency for your needs? The options are endless, but we’re here to help.
In this blog, we have curated a list of the 12 best graphic design recruiters so you can find the right fit in the sea of options.
This post will also go into the things you should think about when picking a graphic design recruitment agency and the alternative solutions, such as Teamtown’s design as a service, that could be a better option.
How do Graphic Design Recruiters Do Their Job?
Graphic design recruiters are pros who help companies find the best graphic design talent out there. These recruiters are professionals at finding, evaluating, and matching designers who have the experience and creative talent that you are looking for.
Here’s what graphic design recruiters do:
- Candidate Sourcing: They look for top graphic design talent by using their networks, job sites, and experience to find the best designers.
- Screening and Evaluation: They check the skills and portfolios and look into references. This ensures that the designers are the perfect candidates.
- Present Candidates: Once they have completed their candidate search. They show these designers to you and highlight their skills, work history and explain why they are the perfect fit for your company.
- Negotiation and Placement: The design recruitment agency will also assist you in finalizing job terms, prices, and contracts. Typically, a recruitment agency will charge a commission based on the pay of the designer you are hiring.
Teaming up with creative staffing agencies can save time, lower the chances of picking the wrong person, and give you access to the creatives you need.
Before we get into the list of top graphic design recruiters, here are some things to think about when making your decision.
What to Think About When Picking Graphic Design Recruiters
When analyzing the list of design recruiters, there are a few key points to keep in mind. An agency should have experience in the design world and primarily focus on providing designers rather than other services. This will mean that they have a talented pool of designers to choose from.
One of the most important things to look at is their previous success rates and testimonials. Read about what other clients have said about them and if their quality of work can be trusted. If they have provided good work before, it’s a good sign that they will do the same for you.
If a graphic design recruitment agency has a strong track record, reach out and ask them questions. This will give you the opportunity to assess how the agency talks to you and if they are responsive to your needs.
Once you have reached out to a few agencies, you should have a good understanding of how much their design services cost compared to each other. Make sure the agency's price range matches your budget and is a fair price for what you will be getting.
By thinking of these key points, you can choose the best possible option for your business.
Top 12 Graphic Design Recruiters in 2024
Now that you know how to navigate your options, here’s a list of the top 12 graphic design recruiters in 2024:
Option 1: Robert Half Staffing
Robert Half is a creative staffing agency specializing in the fields of accounting, finance, technology, administration, and marketing/creative design.
Robert Half has a proven track record and has received numerous awards. In May 2024, they were ranked number one on Forbes' list of America's best professional recruiting firms.
Rating: 4.8/5
- Top Recruiting Skills: As a staffing agency specializing in finding top talent, Robert Half knows how to recruit the right people for various jobs and industries.
- Extensive Talent Network: Has a large pool of candidates that have been pre-screened and vetted. This makes finding your next graphic designer easier.
Option 2: Creative Niche
Creative Niche is an executive search firm that has become a trusted recruitment agency for businesses looking for graphic design talent. They use their industry knowledge and creative professionals to deliver talent that can fit into clients' creative teams.
If you are looking for direct hire or contract workers to help with your graphic design projects, they would be a good option.
Rating: 4.7/5
- Personalized Service: They assign a dedicated team to each client. Giving you support throughout the hiring process.
- Diverse Talent Pool: They have over 15,000 placements and work with over 800 clients.
Option 3: Aquent Talent
Aquent Talent is a leader in the world of finding and hiring marketing and design professionals. They have a proven track record to connect the right people to the right jobs and build solid relationships. They have placed many of their workers at Google and Disney+.
Aquent offers many different services, including marketing, advertising, and graphic design.
Rating: 4.7/5
- Global Talent Network: Aquent Talent has a huge group of over 2 million people, so they can always find the right person for the job.
- 110% Guarantee: If a customer isn't happy with their Aquent Talent, they'll get their money back plus an extra 10%.
- Diverse Talent Solutions: They have different ways to help businesses fill the creative positions they need. They can find temporary workers, direct hiring, and others.
Option 4: Korn Ferry
Graphic design recruitment agencies like Korn Ferry specialize in staffing services. They provide value-added services such as candidate screening, skills assessments, and onboarding support. This ensures a smooth and successful hiring process.
Rating: 4.5/5
- Global Reach: Korn Ferry has offices worldwide, which allows it to tap into its country-wide connections and helps find the best people for clients.
- Recruiting in Specific Fields: They've got tons of experience and knowledge when it comes to finding graphic designers. This helps them spot and bring in top talent from their creative circle.
Option 5: Muse Search & Inspire
Muse is a graphic design placement agency that mainly works with small local businesses or mid-sized rising organizations and corporations. Their goal is to find the correct fit for both the client and the candidate.
Muse is able to find talent in many practice areas. They can fill roles in accounting, supply chain, IT, manufacturing, sales, customer service, and graphic design.
Rating: 4.4/5
- Structured Candidate Placement Process: Muse Search & Inspire uses a "5x5 Search Process" to place talent.
- Charitable Giving: They give 5% of all their profits to the charity of their customer's choice.
Option 6: Artisan Talent
Artisan Talent is a creative staffing agency that offers both freelance and full-time opportunities. They have a unique and interesting take, and they believe that it’s their job to make your job easier. Their saying is, “We may not be scientists, but we know chemistry.”
This showcases their interest in providing your business with the best-skilled graphic designers, art directors, and other creative professionals. They have a deep understanding of the creative industries and can help you find the right hire.
Rating: 4.5/5
- Training and Professional Development: Artisan Talent provides ongoing training and support to its creatives.
- Talent Match: Works closely with clients to find a good fit for their creative needs.
Option 7: Craft
Craft is a design recruitment company that has a main goal of being your eyes and ears in the marketplace. They have experience in many different industries and want to find the right people for your industry specifically.
Craft is able to find staffing solutions for industries such as IT and engineering, with their main focus being graphic design.
Rating: 4.6/5
- Flexibility: Creative staffing agency that offers flexible solutions and is able to adapt to the client's changing hiring needs.
- Efficient hiring process: Great screening processes to ensure you get the right talent.
Option 8: Randstad
Randstad was founded in 1960 in the Netherlands, and has been a leading staffing agency ever since. It has expanded to five continents and 38 countries and offers temporary staffing, permanent staffing, permanent recruitment, and HR support.
Randstad can provide you with skilled labor in many different industries ranging from accounting and finance to marketing & PR and more.
Rating: 4.6/5
- Expertise in Finding Talent: Businesses can find the right professional to fill roles that are part-time, full time or temp.
- Proven Track Record: They have a successful history of helping people find jobs as well as finding the right fit for clients.
Option 9: Adecco
Adecco is another recruitment solution that connects businesses with a talented workforce across many different fields. They have over 25,000 employees and have completed over 660,000 assignments.
They can provide you with creative professionals in areas such as marketing and design.
Rating: 4.7/5
- Global Reach: Adecco works in 62 countries, with thousands of clients around the world.
- Diversity and Inclusion: They have a strong focus on building diverse and inclusive teams.
Option 10: Mondo
Mondo helps both businesses and job seekers by offering their recruitment services to both. They have a pool of top graphic design talent for businesses that are looking for skilled designers.
They are a design recruitment agency that specializes in finding the correct talent in Tech, IT, and digital marketing. It aims to use an approach that will create meaningful impacts in the shortest amount of time.
Rating: 4.6/5
- Flexible Talent Solutions: Clients are able to find talent, whether it be contract or temporary placements.
- Ongoing Support: Provides support to both placed candidates and clients. Making sure of a smooth onboarding process.
Option 11: Toptal
Toptal was founded in 2010 and has become one of the biggest remote workforces, serving over 25,000 happy customers. It is a global talent network that links businesses with top-talent freelancers.
Their speciality is giving quick access to a handpicked pool of freelancers in many different fields. Toptal has freelancers in software development, graphic designers, marketers, product managers, project managers and finance experts.
Rating: 4.7/5
- Skilled Talent: They hire the best 3% of people and can find a good match 98% of the time in just a day.
- Quick Hiring: Toptal makes it easy to hire - you tell them what you need, they find someone who fits.
- Clear Prices: Toptal shows their prices upfront. You pay $500 at first, but you can get it back. Hourly rates are between $80- $150. But some people say it costs more than other recruiters.
Option 12: Onward Search
Onward Seach takes a personal approach to the hiring process and this helps them maintain a strong track record of successfully placing talented designers for creative jobs.
This creative staffing agency connects businesses with graphic design talent across different industries.
Rating: 4.6/5
- Specialized knowledge: They understand different skills and requirements for specific jobs and can identify the best fit for your business needs.
- Good Leadership and Insights: They regularly publish insightful content, like their Salary Guide 2024. This can give clients valuable industry knowledge and trends.
Is There a Better Option to Meet My Graphic Design Needs?
To put it bluntly, yes!
Traditional graphic design recruiting agencies can be helpful and effective, but there is a better choice for your design needs. That choice is graphic design as a service.
This design service offers a different way to access talented designers. It is more specialized, flexible, and much more affordable than traditional recruitment agencies.
Services like Teamtown that offer design subscriptions have a large pool of talented graphic designers who are highly specialized in different areas of graphic design.
Instead of hiring a single person, you can work with a team of designers, which gives you more steady and reliable design help. You will also have access to multiple design services, such as social media design, pitch deck designs, branding, and ad creatives. Plus, you can pause or cancel your subscription anytime depending on your current design needs.
Recruitment Agencies VS Design as a Subscription
If your primary focus is on graphic design, it’s beneficial to understand why design subscriptions may be the better option for your needs.
- Better Design Experience: Recruitment agencies can find candidates, but subscription-based design services are essentially adding their in-house designers to your team. This means you’re working with designers the design service already has experience directly working with, having already handled the onboarding, training, skills development, and other HR-related activities you would otherwise have to take on.
- Cost-Effectiveness: Subscribing to a design service is often cheaper. You pay a flat monthly fee with no hidden costs. This is often more predictable than recruitment agency pricing models.
- Brand Consistency: Working with a dedicated design team ensures brand consistency across all your marketing materials. These designers become very familiar with your brand guidelines and visual identity. This will result in a cohesive brand experience.
- Easy Process: Design subscription services have loads of experience and robust design operations already in place. When subscribing, you also gain access to these processes that make a design subscription service work.
- Growth Opportunities: Going with a recruitment agency would mean you need to hire more people as your needs scale. Design subscription services scale with you by using a flexible monthly model.
- Turnaround time: You can get your designs completed quicker with design on subscription. Most design services like Teamtown offer a 24 hour turnaround on most designs.
Final Thoughts
When you’re knowledgeable about graphic design recruiters and the top agencies to keep an eye on, you can handle the hiring process more effectively and make sure your business gets the best designers out there.
After reading this article, you should have all the information you need to make an informed decision on the right recruitment agency for your business.
No matter what you pick, don't forget that getting the right people to do your designs is important for making your business grow and succeed while keeping your marketing team happy.
