You may know it’s time to make a hire—but what kind of help you need? Here’s how to find the employee who will change your firm for the better.

You are overwhelmed with work, and you need help. For many designers, that much is a given. Figuring out what shape that help should take, on the other hand, is often rife with uncertainty. There is no easy shortcut or cookie-cutter strategy here. After all, no two design firms are structured in the same way. What positions you add to round out your firm will depend on your business’s size, age and needs, not to mention your likes and dislikes, goals for growth and approach to delegating. But universally, designers who have grown their teams say the secret to success is outsourcing tasks so that the principal can spend more of their time on what they do best: design. So where to begin? First, make a list of everything you do. Next, circle the things you’d be eager or willing to hand off to a new employee. Then, consult this handy guide to the types of roles employees can fill. Your next hire just might surprise you.

Ploog recommends hiring designers as assistants and allowing them to grow within the company. That mentality has helped his Houston-based firm execute large-scale projects—like this refined monochromatic office in a sprawling family home.Courtesy of Benjamin Johnston Design