Org Design for Design Orgs: Building and Managing In-House Design Teams

by Peter Merholz

When reaching out, be concise and clear about the opportunity. Find a sweet spot between being too vague and brief, and verbose and long-winded. Don’t: Hi! I saw your profile on LinkedIn. We’re looking for a Senior Product Designer, and I think you could be a fit for the role! Apply here: http://companyexample.com/careers/spd Do: Hi, I’m John Doe, a Senior Product Designer at CompanyExample. I saw your portfolio and really dug your work on that mobile ticketing app. I also noticed that we have Samantha Jones and Colin Yang in common. We have a Senior Product Designer role open here, to lead work on our Android App. We’re looking to embrace Material Design, which you’re clearly very familiar with. I really like working here, and would love to talk to you more about it, if you’re interested. If not you, maybe you know someone I could reach out to? Remember, designers are getting hammered by such inquiries. Give the person a week to respond. If they don’t, follow up with one more outreach. Then let it go.