How to hire creative talent in Indonesia
Indonesia has a large young creative population concentrated in Jakarta, Bandung and Yogyakarta, with a design culture that has grown quickly on the back of the domestic digital economy.
What the creative pool in Indonesia actually looks like.
Graphic design and illustration are particularly strong, with a distinctive local illustration scene. Motion design and video editing are widely available. Bandung and Yogyakarta both have strong art school traditions.
- Graphic design
- Illustration
- Motion design
- Video editing
Language, hours, contracts and getting paid.
- Indonesian. English is common in Jakarta and in the digital sector, more variable elsewhere.
- Six to eight hours ahead of London depending on the region, so the overlap is the UK morning.
- Wise and Payoneer are both widely used.
- Most agencies engage people here as independent contractors on a monthly retainer, which does not require a local entity. The contractor invoices you and handles their own tax locally.
The boards people in Indonesia actually use.
Job hunting is local. The global boards you already know have almost no audience here, and the sites that do are not in English and mostly will not take a posting from a company without a local presence.
Young, digital-first audience with strong design and marketing supply.
Largest general job platform in Indonesia.
Applicant platform with solid coverage of creative and startup roles.
What catches foreign agencies out.
The country spans three time zones. Confirm which one somebody is in.
Illustration talent is stronger than the international reputation suggests and is worth looking at specifically.
Or skip all of it and post once.
Everything above is doable on your own. It takes a local number, a local entity on some boards, a translated description and somebody to read applications in Indonesian. Elsewhere does that part for you. You write the role once in English, pick your markets, and upload examples of the work you want. We translate it, post it to the local boards, pay the posting fees, and score every applicant’s portfolio against your references before you see them.
- One job description in English, plus examples of the work you are looking for.
- Translation into Indonesian, posting to the local boards, and the fees they charge.
- Applicants ranked by how closely their portfolio matches the work you uploaded.
Do I need a local entity to hire someone in Indonesia?
Not to engage a contractor. Most agencies engage people here as independent contractors on a monthly retainer, which does not require a local entity. The contractor invoices you and handles their own tax locally. Employing someone on a local payroll is a different question and does normally require an entity or an employer of record.
What language should I write the job description in?
Indonesian. English is common in Jakarta and in the digital sector, more variable elsewhere. Elsewhere translates your English description into the local language automatically, so you write it once.
Which job boards should I post on in Indonesia?
The boards that matter locally are Glints Indonesia, Jobstreet Indonesia, Kalibrr Indonesia. Elsewhere posts to them for you and covers the posting fees.
How much overlap will I get with my working day?
Six to eight hours ahead of London depending on the region, so the overlap is the UK morning.
How do I pay someone in Indonesia?
Wise and Payoneer are both widely used.