Introducing PLACEMENT

We started PERMANENT on the existing foundations of our previous design studio and a recruiting agency that we had already built after realising that both of these practices belong together.

If you’re already familiar with our model, you know that finding designers and convincing them to join a company before it’s obvious has been part of what we do since the beginning. Mostly because we believe that respectable companies will always bring design in-house as soon as they can. If it weren’t as hard as it is, we wouldn’t have a business, and that’s okay.

But clearly it IS hard. And so we’re actually doing a lot of work talking to designers, understanding what they do best and what they look for in companies, all in service of placing them there. When we reach the necessary momentum with a company we’re designing, we also help them think through their needs, consequent roles, and hiring strategies and processes. By the time we know we need to hire, we can then look at a network of people we can vouch for and pair them with a company we know is ready for them.

All the work we put into getting to know people, though, is helpful for many more companies than we can take on as customers. So we’re introducing PLACEMENT.

So what’s PLACEMENT?

Designers are sought after. There may be people that have an incentive to convince you that they’re soon out of a job, and I do realise I am biased, but in my experience designers are the kind of people you want to have on your team.

That makes them worth engaging with early. The ones that you might want on your team when you actually need them usually aren’t looking or already busy doing work they care about. They aren’t applying to a ton of roles through LinkedIn, and they also won’t respond to a generic message on there.

What they will do, though, is entertain an idea that reaches them at the right moment and through the right channels, especially if it’s from a trusted person.

PLACEMENT is a service built on our relationships with a lot of designers. Keep in mind, we talk to tons of designers every day, and it’s part of PERMANENT’s business to do so.

We’re now opening up access to these relationships for more companies, their founders, and those responsible for design hiring. People we’ve met, sat with, and would put our name behind on both sides – and then we curate the introductions that might lead to a hire (oh, and, we’ll help with that part, too).

If you want to learn more, you can do so here:

placement.is PLACEMENTCurating introductions between designers and founders.

Leon, our co-founder, has been heading the People side of our business since we started PERMANENT. He’ll remain in his role, but will continue to build out PLACEMENT as a separate business.

Everything we have always done is built on the idea that design is the function that turns a business from “technically works” into “people want this, trust this, remember this, and keep paying for this.”

This is the next entry.

Niclas ErnstCEO and Co-Founder