It's easy, in a bad economy, to think that you as the employer have the upper hand. It's often true that the job market will be sluggish enough that potential employees seem to need you more than you need them, and it can be easy to turn into a tough guy during the hiring process. Best advice: don't do that.
In the first place, if you're hiring, it's because you need people. And if you're smart, you want the best people (or at least, the best people you can afford). In creative fields you are often looking for specialists with unique skills, so those who are the best and are the perfect fit for you will also be in demand by your competitors. Putting people through a condescending hiring process is likely to turn them away and into the arms of other firms. Good Creatives just don't need the hassle, and you may not have as much power as you think. And it doesn't help you to get a bad reputation as an employer, either.
Depending on how the job market is, you may still get them to sign on, but then you have to wonder about their loyalty. If they feel they're being treated poorly even before they begin work then they'll bolt as soon as they have the chance...if you don't seem to respect them then you can't reasonable expect loyalty. It's likely they'll still be looking for a new job once they're with you and you can bet that as soon as another opportunity turns up they'll be out the door.
What are some ways in which a hiring process can be bad? Well, confrontational interviews are an easy example. If you consistently challenge an applicant's resume or question their skills, or perhaps put down a former employer of theirs, that sets a bad tone for any future working relationship. Displaying any kind of negative attitude about your firm ("only the strong survive here") makes them wonder if they really want to work there...many people would rather keep waiting for a good-though-less-than-perfect job than take something that's reported to be bad by the folks who already work there. Even something as simple as not responding when a resume or application comes in can be a bad thing. Unless you're getting thousands of applications it really doesn't take much effort to just shoot out a "we received your application, thank you for your interest" e-mail. I recently applied for a new position to start later this year but didn't even get a reply for two months that they'd received my resume (whether or not I'll get called for an interview I won't know for "a period of weeks") and to be honest, by that time I'd pretty much put this place out of my head. Creatives with unique skills often have opportunities out there despite the current economic problems, so don't think you can treat them with a lack of simple courtesy and expect them to still want to work for you.
That's not to say that a tough hiring process isn't appropriate, but it needs to be relevant to the job. Many Creatives appreciate a firm that can do things a little differently, in a way that demonstrates something about their corporate culture. Google's use of an algorithm posted on billboards that applicants had to solve and Microsoft's unique, out-of-the-box questions ("How would you move Mt Fuji?") are tough but fair.
Being a jerk just because you think you can, however, is not. So play nice during your hiring process, or you're going to lose out on some creative talent.
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