How to hire a creative strategist
Hiring a creative strategist comes down to testing judgment rather than reading a résumé. Ask for the ad account rather than the case-study deck, make every candidate answer the same process question about a losing account and one week, day by day, require numbers with a baseline, and finish with a live working session on a real account instead of a take-home. Most candidates who read well on paper fail the working session, which is why it should come before the offer, not after.
The process, in order
- 01
Decide fractional or full time first
It follows creative volume, not revenue. Under roughly twenty new concepts a month, a fractional strategist a few days a month is the better buy. Past that, coordination cost exceeds the salary saving.
- 02
Ask for accounts, not decks
A case-study deck shows the winner and hides the ratio. Ask which ads were theirs specifically, what they changed, and what the account looked like on either side of it.
- 03
Give everyone the same process question
“A brand hands you a losing ad account and one week. Walk me through exactly what you do, day by day.” Vague answers are the fastest disqualifier there is. A strong answer is sequenced, specific, and has decision rules.
- 04
Require a baseline on every number
“3.4 ROAS” means nothing alone. What was control, what beat it, over what spend and what window? Round, unbaselined numbers should lower your confidence, not raise it.
- 05
Run a live working session
One hour, a real ad account, no take-home. Watch them diagnose in real time. This is the only gate that reliably predicts the job, and it is the one most hiring processes skip.
What goes wrong
- Hiring on portfolio polish
- The best-looking reel often belongs to the person who briefed it least.
- Screening for tenure at a known brand
- Big-brand experience frequently means they inherited a working account rather than fixed a broken one.
- Using a take-home project
- It filters for free time, not judgment, and the strongest candidates decline.
- Interviewing without an account open
- Abstract questions get abstract answers. Put a real account on the screen.