How to hire a media designer

How to hire a media designer, step by step

Here's a step-by-step media 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 media designer job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new media designer
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a media designer do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a media 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

   Hiring the perfect media designer also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   This list shows salaries for various types of media designers.

   Type of Media Designer	Description	Hourly rate
   Media 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.	$18-35
   Digital Media Internship	In a digital media internship, an intern participates in various creative projects while under the supervision and guidance of a supervising manager or staff. They usually perform support tasks to gather industry insights and experience, which typically includes creating digital content according to project guidelines and themes, conducting research and analyses, utilizing client feedback, and handling digital platforms, such as websites and social media pages... Show more	$11-19
   Graphic Designer, Marketing	A graphic designer of marketing specializes in developing creative imagery as part of a company's marketing efforts. Their responsibilities typically revolve around coordinating with the marketing team to share insights and strategies, conceptualizing designs in adherence to objectives and deadlines, and preparing presentations... Show more	$16-33

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Graphic Design
   • Animation
   • Motion Graphics
   • Video Production
   • JavaScript
   • Adobe Creative Suite
   • WordPress
   • Photography
   • Digital Marketing
   • UI
   • Facebook
   • Instagram
   • Dreamweaver
   • XML

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage and develop a stream line Intranet site for better communication purposes and quicker access to documents and company information
   • Create and design an online asset management tool using CSS, PHP, and MySQL.
   • Create UI design elements for the simulation.
   • Design web graphics for social media platforms, such as Facebook.
   • Create and maintain web sites using HTML, Java, and SQL programming.
   • Develop innovative concepts for both UX to UI layouts base on customer brand and functionality needs.

   More media designer duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your media designer job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. A media designer salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, media designers' average salary in south dakota is 48% less than in district of columbia.
   • Seniority. Entry-level media designers earn 47% less than senior-level media designers.
   • Certifications. A media designer with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in a media designer's salary.

   Average media designer salary

   $54,018yearly

   $25.97 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level media designer salary

   $39,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 24, 2025

   Average media designer salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	Massachusetts	$67,082	$32
   2	Washington	$65,123	$31
   3	New York	$63,677	$31
   4	California	$63,512	$31
   5	Alaska	$59,307	$29
   6	Connecticut	$56,977	$27
   7	Maryland	$56,890	$27
   8	Pennsylvania	$56,610	$27
   9	Colorado	$55,263	$27
   10	Virginia	$54,941	$26
   11	Oregon	$54,758	$26
   12	Arizona	$54,051	$26
   13	West Virginia	$52,815	$25
   14	Illinois	$52,696	$25
   15	Texas	$52,326	$25
   16	Hawaii	$50,079	$24
   17	North Carolina	$49,177	$24
   18	Wyoming	$48,951	$24
   19	Montana	$47,909	$23
   20	Ohio	$46,951	$23

   Average media designer salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	McKinsey & Company Inc	$76,107	$36.59
   2	Cengage Learning	$71,684	$34.46	133
   3	Qualys	$69,181	$33.26	1
   4	Ford Motor	$67,536	$32.47	16
   5	Boston Public Schools	$66,208	$31.83
   6	Allegheny College	$66,103	$31.78
   7	New York University	$64,105	$30.82
   8	TownNews	$63,515	$30.54
   9	University of Hawaii Foundation	$63,039	$30.31	1
   10	Lockheed Martin	$61,966	$29.79	34
   11	Davis Elen Advertising	$61,917	$29.77	3
   12	BRMi	$61,441	$29.54
   13	PepsiCo	$60,745	$29.20	3
   14	Pacific Architects and Engineers	$60,422	$29.05
   15	Peraton	$58,522	$28.14	16
   16	Kore1	$58,358	$28.06	2
   17	Kelly Services	$57,365	$27.58	2
   18	Just Energy	$57,016	$27.41
   19	System One	$56,878	$27.35	82
   20	Logistics Management Institute	$56,832	$27.32	4

4. Writing a media designer job description

   A media 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. To help get you started, here's an example of a media designer job description:

   Media designer job description example

   • Professional interactive designer/developers shall deliver interactive applications that demonstrate sophisticated, industry standard design, scripting, and navigation. Products may include interactive apps, animations, web pages/sites, narrated visuals with video content, or mobile products. These products must clearly present complex subject matter to diverse audiences, including executives in the USG and Intel Community.
   • Create professional finished intelligence and other graphics products to convey complex subject matter to diverse audiences, including IC officials.
   • Manage the most complex and demanding interactive products; communicate directly with customers; facilitate design conceptualization and brainstorming sessions; identify and clarify customer expectations for content and style; develop production timelines; plan and coordinate development of interactive products within project guidelines; mentor less experienced interactive designers; share software expertise and visual tradecraft best practices.
   • Ensure quality control and interactive product usability, delivery, and archival of final products to include conformity to production standards and compliance with process and procedures, including copyright laws, internal workflow procedures, and production standards.
   • Simultaneously manage long and short-term deadlines in a fast-paced and deadline driven environment.
   • Manage and prioritize deliverables based on the department's prioritization framework; effectively manage multiple projects and prioritize work without missing critical deadlines.
   • Become familiar with customer needs, mission, and organization charts in order to understand production priorities.

   Qualifications

   • BA/BS and 3+ years of experience or no degree and 9+ years of experience
   • TS/SCI with Poly level clearance is required
   • Desired knowledge: Java, HTML/CSS, Angular frameworks
   • Experience in the following areas: graphic design, cartography, GIS, interactive design, 3D animation

   Peraton Overview

   Peraton drives missions of consequence spanning the globe and extending to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. As the world's leading mission capability integrator and transformative enterprise IT provider, we deliver trusted and highly differentiated national security solutions and technologies that keep people safe and secure. Peraton serves as a valued partner to essential government agencies across the intelligence, space, cyber, defense, civilian, health, and state and local markets. Every day, our employees do the can't be done, solving the most daunting challenges facing our customers.

   An Equal Opportunity Employer including Disability/Veteran.

   For Colorado Residents Colorado Salary Minimum: $77,900
   Colorado Salary Maximum: $189,100
   
   The estimate displayed represents the typical salary range for this position, and is just one component of Peraton's total compensation package for employees. Other rewards may include annual bonuses, short- and long-term incentives, and program-specific awards. In addition, Peraton provides a variety of benefits to employees.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find media designers for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   To find media designer candidates, you can consider the following options:

   • Post your job opening on Zippia or other job search websites.
   • Use niche websites that focus on engineering and technology jobs, such as dribbble, authentic jobs, working not working, coroflot.
   • Post your job on free job posting websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting media designers requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.

   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 media designer

   Once you've selected the best media designer candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

   It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new media 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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