Hire entry-level creative talent with more confidence.
Practical guidance to help you hire, assess and develop entry-level creative talent with more confidence.
Five stages to hiring emerging talent well.
The Employer Launchpad is structured around five clear stages, from understanding the landscape to retaining the talent you hire.
Understand
Understand the current early-career employment landscape and the challenges facing emerging talent.
Define
Understand what a genuine entry-level creative role actually looks like.
Hire
Learn how to identify, assess and interview emerging creative talent.
Develop
Learn how to onboard and develop junior talent.
Retain
Understand how to create an environment where early-career employees can progress and stay.
The current employment landscape.
The environment for emerging creative talent is shifting. Understanding these trends helps employers make better, fairer hiring decisions.
4.3 million
filled jobs in the UK creative economy in 2025, 12.4% of all UK jobs.
Source: DCMS Economic Estimates: Employment in Creative Occupations, 2021 to 2025
8% drop
in graduate hiring year-on-year, yet 93% of employers still recruit the quality of graduate they need.
Source: ISE Student Recruitment Survey 2025
140
applications per graduate vacancy on average, making competition for entry-level roles intense.
Source: ISE Student Recruitment Survey 2025
47%
of employers now require a 2:1 degree, down from 71% a decade ago, signalling a shift toward skills-based hiring.
Source: ISE Student Recruitment Survey 2025
The experience gap.
Many emerging creatives are caught in a cycle: no experience, no opportunity, no experience, rejection. But previous employment is one form of evidence, not the only form.
This cycle prevents talented emerging creatives from ever getting started. The solution is not to ignore experience, but to recognise more forms of it.
Candidates can demonstrate capability through many forms of evidence beyond paid employment:
University projects
Personal projects
Freelance work
Portfolios
Placements
Volunteering
Student societies
Competitions
Self-directed learning
Transferable employment experience
Previous employment is one form of evidence. It isn't the only form of evidence.
Assessing emerging talent.
The Lab assesses emerging creative talent across six areas. The goal is to help employers assess potential as well as experience.
Creative ability
Can they produce strong work?
Thinking
Can they solve problems and interpret a brief?
Communication
Can they explain their ideas?
Adaptability
Can they learn and respond to change?
Commercial awareness
Can they understand the purpose and audience of the work?
Professionalism
Can they collaborate, take responsibility and respond to feedback?
Ask not only "What have they already done?" but "What could this person become?"
Why The Lab has a salary guarantee.
Entry-level does not mean low-value. The Lab believes a genuine entry-level opportunity should provide real work, real pay, and a real path forward.
A real role
Genuine responsibilities, not just admin or shadowing.
A real salary
Fair, transparent compensation that reflects the role.
Meaningful responsibilities
Creative work that contributes to real projects.
Development and progression
A clear path to grow within the role and the team.
The salary standard exists because The Lab's mission is to launch creative careers, not to sustain them at the starting line.
This is an explanation of why the platform operates this way, not a criticism of employers. Employers who share this approach are the ones The Lab works best with.
What emerging talent wants you to know.
We are gathering genuine, verified perspectives from candidates and students. This section will feature their real responses to the questions below.
What makes finding your first job difficult?
Genuine candidate responses will appear here once verified research is complete.
What do you wish employers understood about emerging talent?
Genuine candidate responses will appear here once verified research is complete.
What makes an entry-level opportunity attractive?
Genuine candidate responses will appear here once verified research is complete.
What makes you want to stay with an employer?
Genuine candidate responses will appear here once verified research is complete.
The Lab does not fabricate testimonials or quotes. This space is reserved for authentic candidate research.
Ready to go deeper?
Explore 15 practical employer guides covering everything from defining a genuine entry-level role to retaining junior creative talent.
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