How to hire a creative services designer

How to hire a creative services designer, step by step

Here's a step-by-step creative services designer hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a creative services designer job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new creative services designer
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a creative services designer do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a creative services designer, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A creative services designer's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, creative services designers from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   Here's a comparison of creative services designer salaries for various roles:

   Type of Creative Services Designer	Description	Hourly rate
   Creative Services Designer	Graphic designers create visual concepts, using computer software or by hand, to communicate ideas that inspire, inform, and captivate consumers. They develop the overall layout and production design for various applications such as advertisements, brochures, magazines, and corporate reports.	$26-53
   Designer	A designer is someone who creates a master plan of the look or workings of something before it will be made. It could be tangible or intangible objects, products, procedures, laws, events, games, graphics, services, and even experiences... Show more	$21-46
   Visual Designer	A visual designer is someone who creates designs for a variety of platforms such as Internet and intranet sites, games, and wearables. The duties of visual designers depend on the specific project or industry in which they are working... Show more	$24-68

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Graphic Design
   • Design Process
   • Design Projects
   • Autocad
   • Adobe Creative Suite
   • HTML
   • Photography
   • UI
   • Adobe Photoshop
   • CSS
   • Brochures
   • Mac
   • Web Banners
   • Creative Design

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Lead & design all creative content stemming from apparel design to web identity.
   • Design graphics and content for business cards, brochures, presentations.
   • Construct HTML e-mail announcements, and electronic newsletters.
   • Provide comps and PDF proofs to clients and account reps.
   • Train several other employees on QuarkXpress software and Macintosh system.
   • Design service fire protection systems using AutoCAD 2012 and Autosprink v10.

   More creative services designer duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the creative services designer job description is a good way to get more applicants. A creative services designer salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for a creative services designer in Kentucky may be lower than in Washington, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level creative services designer. Additionally, a creative services designer with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average creative services designer salary

   $79,164yearly

   $38.06 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level creative services designer salary

   $56,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 27, 2026

   Average creative services designer salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	Washington	$106,773	$51
   2	California	$106,676	$51
   3	District of Columbia	$101,774	$49
   4	Virginia	$96,083	$46
   5	Maryland	$95,536	$46
   6	Massachusetts	$85,963	$41
   7	Oregon	$85,797	$41
   8	Utah	$85,412	$41
   9	New York	$83,852	$40
   10	Colorado	$81,678	$39
   11	New Jersey	$81,248	$39
   12	Illinois	$80,779	$39
   13	Pennsylvania	$79,174	$38
   14	Connecticut	$77,348	$37
   15	Wisconsin	$73,977	$36
   16	Florida	$73,432	$35
   17	Georgia	$71,836	$35
   18	Michigan	$71,616	$34
   19	Minnesota	$71,581	$34
   20	Texas	$71,224	$34

   Average creative services designer salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Apple	$138,630	$66.65	59
   2	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	$107,350	$51.61	126
   3	Globant	$105,578	$50.76
   4	Sutter Health	$97,111	$46.69	9
   5	Mayo Clinic	$95,943	$46.13	19
   6	Capgemini	$90,903	$43.70	37
   7	American Red Cross	$90,885	$43.69
   8	Amazon	$86,943	$41.80	312
   9	Sentinel	$86,104	$41.40	1
   10	American Chemical Society	$84,523	$40.64	1
   11	Firstservice Residential California, Inc.	$83,682	$40.23
   12	Front	$82,800	$39.81
   13	Capital One	$82,715	$39.77	56
   14	Sentinel Technologies	$81,450	$39.16	1
   15	Eleven	$78,260	$37.63
   16	Tufts University	$78,215	$37.60	3
   17	Salesforce	$78,211	$37.60	23
   18	Rebellion Defense	$77,729	$37.37
   19	Aegon Usa	$77,518	$37.27
   20	Edward Jones	$75,503	$36.30	4

4. Writing a creative services designer job description

   A creative services designer job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. Below, you can find an example of a creative services designer job description:

   Creative services designer job description example

   cx Loyalty, a division of JPMorgan Chase, is looking for a Service Designer who is highly motivated, passionate about human-centered design, and has a proven track record for designing excellent end-to-end experiences in collaboration with clients and partners.
   As a Service Designer within the Experience Research and Design team, you will be a key contributor,
   
   working across departments and teams to design impactful end-to-end experiences. You will help empower our Customer Service team so that they are equipped to deliver exceptional service; both for happy paths, as well as service-recovery scenarios.
   
   While the primary focus will be on customer support touchpoints and tools, you will also consider how additional functions like digital products, program, data, insights, and clients contribute to ensure that we build holistic and connected end-to-end service experiences.
   
   Responsibilities (Practice skills, Collaboration, Communication/Soft skills) Create process and user flows, journey maps and interaction models, resulting in low to high fidelity prototypes, artifacts, and tools to inform longer-term pivotal initiatives and shorter-term roadmaps for digital and non-digital experiences Uncover user needs through research, develop deep insights, generate concepts, and craft how people will interact with the products and services we design Work in close collaboration with Customer Support, User Research and Digital Product Design, and clients to inform customer goals and identify high-impact opportunity areas Alongside individual contributor work, you'll also play a role in shaping the service design practice and inspiring others to deliver high-quality end-to-end experiences Advocate for the customer through human centered design methodologies (like design research, service blueprinting, collaborative work session design and facilitation, rapid prototyping, and frameworking) to strategically define ideal experiences across in-person and digital touchpoints Design within existing - and creating new - standards to contribute to our internal design system, best practices, and guidelines Collaborate effectively with cross-functional peers and nurture positive relationships Explain and discuss experience design decisions eloquently and give design feedback Deliver and support effective storytelling and presentation of visual concepts to various stakeholders What you will bring Passionate about creating experiences that fuse physical and digital through research, analytics, design and delivery Clear demonstration of service design methodology application and mastery of techniques (e.g., Service blueprints, trend and market analysis, user journey maps) to tie external and internal experiences together Understanding of areas of specialization within the greater design landscape, including but not limited to Digital Design, Design Research, and Content Design Familiarity with rapid prototyping methods, ranging from paper sketching to digital prototypes Knowledge of current and upcoming experience design trends with a high aptitude for learning An understanding of how experience design choices translate in development and operational procedures Ability to naturally engage with people at a deep level whether observing or interviewing customers, working with fellow team members, clients and channeling the inner creative Critical and creative thinking while maintaining close attention to detail Ability to adapt to a wide range of project types and timeframes A natural inclination towards and passion for customer experience and service design Demonstrated interest and aptitude in service design methods Impeccable design sense with a keen eye for detail Solid instincts about when to hold the line on methodological rigor, and when to adapt to the changing demands of a project
   
   Qualifications 1+ years' experience with each of the following: Interaction Design and/or Service Design across varied users, business problems, and devices creating experience maps, user journeys and service blueprints, interaction models, flows, and wireframes rapid prototyping methods, ranging from paper sketching to digital prototypes requirements gathering and communication between design teams, workstreams and clients A background in Experience Design, Industrial Design, I/O Psychology or some combination A strong portfolio that reflects a range of projects and demonstrates high-quality service design outcomes
   
   cx Loyalty, a subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase, is a leading provider of loyalty technology services with rewards content in relevant categories including travel, gift cards, merchandise and incentives while using data and analytics to personalize, optimize and deliver a world-class customer experience. We have more than 40 years of experience designing, administering and fulfilling market leading loyalty programs for our respected clients and their customers. Based in Stamford, Conn., cx Loyalty has more than 1,700 associates and provides services to consumers located in 14 countries.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find creative services designers for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any creative services designers they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level creative services designers with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your creative services designer job on Zippia to find and attract quality creative services designer candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as dribbble, authentic jobs, working not working, coroflot.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with creative services designer candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new creative services designer

   Once you've found the creative services designer candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new creative services designer. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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