The Loop is the new kid on the block in the online portfolio hosting space in Australia. It also gives companies searching for creative talent some innovative new ways to search. I recently interviewed The Loop co-founder Pip Jamieson to find out more about this fantastic new site, chat about taking the entrepreneurial leap, what creatives can do to market themselves or to land that dream job, plus lots more. I hope you enjoy the interview and take the time to visit The Loop.
1. Pip, Welcome to Design Droplets. Thank you for taking the time to chat, could you please give a quick introduction on yourself.
Yeah sure. After years of working in media for fantastic brands like MTV and the Brit Awards I recently took the entrepreneurial plunge and launched an online creative portfolio site call The Loop. We’ve been live for just over two months and the sites community is already well over 2000, with traffic doubling week on week. I must admit I still can’t quiet believe how fast it’s taken off.
2. You are one of the founders of The Loop, a brand spanking new site for connecting creative people, companies and jobs. What inspired you and your business partner Matt to start The Loop?
Both me and my partner in crime, Matt, used to work at MTV; Matt in Digital and me in marketing. The idea for The Loop was born out of my frustration in finding fresh creative talent – we were overly dependent on word of mouth and incredible people were slipping through the net.
On the flip side Matt, being the digital guy, was constantly being asked by other creatives for advice on the best way to build their own websites to showcase their work online and promote themselves to potential employers and clients.
We brought these two frustrations together and The Loop was born.
3. What value does The Loop provide to creatives that they can’t get by using sites like Behance.net, Coroflot, Carbonmade etc?
I’m actually a massive fan of international portfolio sites like Behance, Coroflot, Carbonmade etc. They’re great places to showcase creative work, facilitate collaboration and networking. However, what they all lack is connectivity to local employers and local job opportunities, which is the core aim of The Loop. We wanted to provide a platform that not only allows people to showcase their creative work online, and connect with other creatives, but also puts that work directly in front of local employers and clients, with the eventual aim of securing our users that dream job.
Unlike international sites Australian companies can also create profiles on The Loop and showcase their work to the creative community. People can easily search and identify that perfect company to work for. You can search anything from industry to location right down to whether they have a dog-friendly office or flexible working hours. In the end it’s all about improving connectivity in the Australian creative industry.
4. There’s a sea of creative portfolios on The Loop and across the web on many other sites. What advice would you give to creatives to make sure they can grab employers attention amongst this vast sea of creative work?
It an obvious one but keeping your portfolio current and relevant is key. It’s hard as creatives are notoriously overworked so finding the time to keep portfolios up-to-date can be difficult. I guess that’s one of the reasons we launched The Loop. We wanted to create a place where it was quick and easy for the time poor creative to upload new content with minimal hassle. Gone are the days when you had to update a physical portfolio and send out endless cvs and showreels; it’s all there on the site being viewed by potential employers on a daily basis.
I think another trick is to keep your portfolio professional but also approachable. While great content speaks volumes employers are also trying to identify if you’d be a good fit for their company. So writing a good bio and cv can put you ahead of the game.
Finally taking the time to work on personal creative projects that are a good reflection of your skills and the type of work you want to be doing is always a good idea. Unless you are one of the few creatives that has complete creative license over your work, including personal projects in your portfolio – and if you are I salute you – it’s a great way of showing what you are capable of and securing those jobs you want, not those jobs you need.
5. While networking and self-marketing online can be highly effective, what ways do you believe creatives should be networking and self-marketing offline?
While The Loop is a great way to showcase your work, build a contact list, apply for jobs and market yourself, it’s only part of the puzzle. Nothing beats face-to-face networking. Attending industry events like Agideas and Semi Permanent are a fantastic way to meet a tonne of like-minded people and companies, but they can be a bit pricey. Saying that some of the best contacts I’ve ever made is getting on the beers after an industry event, made the ticket price well worth it.
Doing short courses like those offered by AWARD, are great for building contacts and up-skilling at the same time. You can also join networking groups, there are a tonne of them out there, while getting out and about to creative events is a good way to build your profile.
We’ll shortly be introducing new functionality on The Loop that will allow users to set up their own networking groups and events – eventually I want The Loop to become a community both online and off.
6.The various creative industries are highly competitive areas, what practical advice would you give to creatives who are chasing a dream job with a particular employer?
Before you even start chasing and applying for that dream job make sure you have all your ducks in a row. A kick ass current portfolio, a well-written cv (tailored for the employer), some great references up your sleeve and some research on the company is a must. That way when you apply for the job your already leagues ahead of the pack.
If the company you want to work for isn’t currently advertising then taking the initiative and contacting them direct is a great way to go. Chat to whoever’s responsible for HR, try and get a meeting, send them a link to your portfolio and cv and ask them to contact you if an appropriate job comes available. This is actually how my business partner Matt got a job at MTV. He approached them direct and six months latter he got a call back, magic. That’s the great thing about online portfolio and cv sites, they’re always current so when a job does come up an employer has instant access to current skills and projects.
Something unique on The Loop, that we introduced specifically to ensure people don’t miss out on that dream job opportunity, is “Company Alerts”. For example if you’re desperate to work for a company on The Loop – and there are a heap of good ones: Frost Design, Moon Communications, Discovery, MTV, Animal Logic and loads more – and they’re not currently advertising jobs, you can set up a job alert for that company. That way when that company advertisers a job you’ll be the first to know.
7. From an employers point of view, how has the web changed the way companies source and recruit creative talent? What are the pros and cons of this level of accessibility to creatives through sites like The Loop?
Historically Word-of-Mouth has dominated as the key way of securing creative talent. Something like 90% of creative jobs never get advertised and some incredibly talented individuals are not getting their foot in the door because they didn’t go the right university or they don’t have a mate or a relative that works at a great company.
The web is starting to change this. The introduction of online jobs boards like Seek, gave companies a cheaper platform to advertise jobs and recruit talent so increased the amount of positions advertised, but mainly for more corporate jobs like accounting, engineering etc.
For creative positions it’s slightly harder as the convention applications process and specifically the traditional cv doesn’t cut it. Employers need to see portfolios and the time involved with collating and reviewing portfolios has meant word-of-mouth is still dominating.
The Loop will hopefully change all this by giving employer an affordable and time efficient platform that they can use to search for and identify perfect candidates, with the aim of increasing the amount of jobs advertised in creative fields. That’s the plan, and it looks like it’s working with employers already advertising jobs that wouldn’t have normally advertised.
8.You have come from a corporate environment and now taken the leap to be an entrepreneur by starting The Loop. What were/are the biggest challenges in taking this leap?
The hardest part was making the leap and resigning from jobs we both loved to start the site. We knew we’d have to do without a salary for over a year while we developed and launch the site while at the same time sinking our entire life savings into the project. I can’t tell you how scary that is! Especially as we resigned at the start of the GFC and job advertising revenue was plummeting. Everyone thought we where nuts, and there where moments we did too!
But to be honest it’s the best decision we’ve ever made. I now get emails all the time from users who have found work through the site, I can’t tell you how amazing that feels, to know not only is the site up and running, but it’s working – people were getting jobs! It makes the months of eating canned tuna kinda worth it!
9. What are your thoughts on the current state of creative industries within Australia?
The Australian creative industry is going from strength to strength. Growth is outstripping most other industries and we have more and more students graduating in creative minded subjects than ever before. But with this growth comes a greater amount of competition, both locally and internationally. It’s becoming increasingly important to develop networking and marketing skills to ensure you keep developing your skills and seize opportunities.
10. Pip, thanks for taking the time to talk with us here at Design Droplets. Do you have any final thoughts or advice for Design Droplets readers?
The sites now been live for just over two months, and I pinch myself daily on how well it’s all going! We’re about to roll out a whole heap of new functionality; like messages boards, allowing people to follow other peoples ‘ work, appreciate that work and make comments etc. However, it’s still really early days so if you’re readers have any suggestions or feedback on ways we can improve the site we’d love to hear from them. Just email me direct at pip.jamieson [@] theloop.com.au.
Oh and cheers for the interview Raph, I really enjoyed it!
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