We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Liz Magura a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Liz, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about growing your team – how did you recruit the first few people, what was the process like, how’d you go about training and if you were to start over today would you have done anything differently?

Over the last two years in my Creative Director role, I’ve had a huge opportunity to build a robust UX/UI creative team. As the organization became more focused in a product-centric state, we needed Design Leads in place as a key team member for any user facing product team. As we scaled the product teams, that meant we needed more Design Leads and Writers in place as soon as humanly possible. In the state of the current market due to companies quickly pivoting and adjusting because of COVID, we had the opportunity to begin our recruiting outside of the Phoenix market. Going from a strict in office culture to quickly being completely remote, it was time to find the right talent anywhere in the U.S. Before the team growth, I was responsible for 2 web designers. During that time we would work on our marketing website and a few pieces for our online application as necessary. Otherwise we would work with vendors or outside parties when in need of larger digital experiences. It then became apparent that if we didn’t adjust the way we operate as an organization, it would be incredibly difficult to maintain innovation. As the organization was ready to move into product, it was go time to find the talent we needed. There were several openings that we activated to being our searches. Between our internal talent sourcing team, LinkedIn, encouraging our teams to send referrals, and my own network, the search was on. It was fascinating to see the level of talent we’d receive based on the positions we were looking to fill. Some resumes and experience certainly fell short of what we were looking for, but every few resumes we’d find a true gem. Many of those team members we had great confidence in as a collective team. Our interview process we tried to keep pretty slim because if things became drawn out, those candidates would take another offer. We quickly realized that was not going to work. We had candidates meet for a quick conversation with myself and maybe another Creative Director, otherwise that individual would get passed onto the product team, the team the candidate would be working with on a day to day basis. It was important to make sure those individuals could see themselves working together, solving great problems and producing work together. I’d like to say we have a pretty good process for interviewing and hiring, a few things we could do better. Ultimately what we really need to work on in the training and onboarding processes for these new hires. If I were starting today, I think that’s what I would look at with a fine toothed comb to make sure all new hires were coming into their new roles with the right info and trainings that would quickly be able to get them up to speed and confident in the work they were about to embark on!

Liz, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m Liz Magura, currently a Creative Director overseeing UX/UI creatives within the Student, Careers and Professional Development experiences at University of Phoenix. We mainly focus on serving our students as they work towards desired career outcomes and opportunities, which encompasses student portal, career tools and resources, and a shopping experience for short courses that would support the growth of individuals in their careers. Being in higher ed, it’s been most rewarding to serve a team that serves our students. I have been most proud to build a team to come in to support product teams in solving problems and crafting some amazing solutions to produce, while instilling the value of design.

I got started in my career after finishing my Studio Art degree at Loyola Marymount University. Due to the 2008 recession, I moved back to Phoenix where I did anything and everything I could to find a design job or project to build my resume, including several years of volunteer hours with the AIGA Arizona chapter and Phoenix Design Week. It wasn’t an easy journey, but I did have several varying experiences that has led me to the role I”m in today and the continued curiosity I had to better myself as a creative and have the ability to help people accomplish something. It wasn’t until I was with University of Phoenix that it really felt like I was doing work that mattered and that was encouraging people to better their lives.

Overall, I’ve had some extremely valuable experiences through the last 14 years of my career, the journey wasn’t easy by any means, but it has been rewarding to look back to where I’ve been and how I came to where I am today.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is truly solving a problem. I love being able to hear from customers about their experiences and understand how that can play in to solutions or ideas that can solve a customer’s problem. If the solution is a success, awesome! But that’s not always the case. As we know and hear often, fail fast and often. You’ll even learn so much more. Being a creative can really build strength, confidence and resilience.

Any advice for managing a team?

Managing a team is no easy feat, but I greatly enjoy overseeing team members and providing guidance to them in their careers and the work that they’re doing in their current roles. Maintaining morale is always a great question, especially in a remote setting for the unforeseeable future. We’ve put a lot of work into the activities and touch points each day whether it’s a discussion about design system components, giving each other feedback on a project, learning about one another personally. Ultimately, fostering a space where people feel empowered and welcomed.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lizmagura.design/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizmagura/

Image Credits
Julianne Marie Photography (portrait)