Hiring A Professional

Let me start with the quote from Red Adair that states, " If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur."  

In the 1990s there were two main corporate training companies in London, Productivity Point and Executrain. I was the Graphics instructor for both companies. I also taught for Fanshawe Cont Ed, Fanshawe Design, Western FIMS and Continuing Studies, and for lots of companies in London and throughout Southwestern Ontario.

London used to be a vibrant hub of corporate training. Yes, really! With the advent of desktop publishing, companies, required people from their marketing department to suddenly create in-house flyers, ads, and other designs. I was brought in to help them understand the software and design process and to make them successful. Every one had their own computer set up, whether it was a stand alone, Mac or PC, or on a network.

I remember teaching scanning techniques at 3M. Discussions of what the proper resolution for print and presentation of scanned images were at the forefront. Yes, we needed two folders, one for high res and one for low res images going to their proper output, either print or presentations respectively. 

I get it that the entrepreneurial attitude is to keep costs low and do everything themselves. What they don't realize is that if they need to speak to a designer or printer, they may not have the tools to talk to them in a meaningful way.  Having a professional that has experience in hundreds of different configurations of how software and hardware is used can cut through the time needed and come to point of clarity in a much shorter amount of time for the client. 

At a networking meeting before Christmas attended by graphic designers and marketers, I sheepishly told them how I wanted to restart teaching design to the masses and I got an overwhelming "YES. PLEASE", with comments of their frustration of working with companies that had no idea about colour space, resolution or grids. 

In my previous post, I stated that there is a form of amnesia in London as to the validity of corporate training. I have found myself explaining this phenomenon to people I meet who end up being slack jawed and slightly glassy eyed, not being able to understand the concept. I have some work to do.

I have my own experience of going to Toronto for training. I taught a 2 day Illustrator course for a very large graphic training company in the early 2000s. I was very successful there and they wanted me back but I did not enjoy being away from my family and they had to put me up at a hotel. I got the feedback from my clients later that they too did not want to go to TO and were very happy that I could help them locally. 
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Since this post is getting too long, I will continue in a new post soon as to my effectiveness as an instructor and how it doesn't have to be a long term commitment. I will also discuss how the concept of learning online can be very ineffective. 
Cheers!

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