How do experts in the IT industry choose an employer?
After ten or more years of experience in the IT industry, you acquire the status of an almost mythical being. It seems that every company that has ever come in even the slightest contact with the technology for which you are an expert in fighting for your favor and a positive response to a business proposal, which in your case, and without exaggeration, they arrive on a daily basis.
And while recruiters and marketers are finding new ways to bring you closer to the company culture of this or that company, it seems that the community is united in one question: how to hire a person who in his current position (and in any other, he would choose) has everything: from fulfilled financial expectations to benefits tailored just for him/her?
In the gaming industry, things get even more complicated for companies, and the scale rises one shade higher, by the very fact that there are significantly fewer colleagues with senior titles. That's why we asked the Art Director of Playrix RS, Anna Zanozina, among representatives of the gaming industry, for an answer to the question of how experts in the IT industry choose an employer.
What will I be working on?
With eight years of experience in gaming, working for some of the biggest names in the global gaming scene, Anna is the perfect conversationalist.
I believe that when you reach a higher level of experience and have the opportunity to choose between offers, the project becomes the most important thing, begins Anna. When a project interests you, you ask yourself: would it be interesting to participate in its development or not? In addition, the opportunity to directly influence the development of the project is of great importance. If you like the project, you see that you can significantly influence its development, you ask yourself: do I have an opportunity to make it better?, she explains.
If the answer to all three questions is yes, Anna advises paying attention to the approach to project development within the company - when the whole team has the same goal: to make something, not necessarily quickly, but necessarily of the highest quality possible, it is very motivating. In addition, a clearly defined position and respect for other people's expertise is what you want to see in a company that offers you a job - it's nice to work in a team where everyone knows their area of responsibility and where you can do what you do best, completely unhindered.
Necessary but not sufficient conditions...
Apart from the project and functioning within the team, it seems that employees in senior positions expect a set of benefits that will meet their expectations, but the set of benefits will not prevail in favor of employment.
I would say that benefits for seniors are a necessary, but certainly not sufficient condition for accepting a job offer. As I explained earlier, I think it is much more important that the project is promising, Anna Zanozina, art director of Playrix RS company, is honest.
Who are the people I will be working with?
How many times have you heard that a company allowed potential employees to go to lunch, spend part of the day, or in any way get to know their future colleagues and, before the new colleague's first day at work, understand if they are a good fit?
Let's keep in mind that a new employee spends half of his waking life with the people he will work with, not with the company and not with the project. On the other hand, it is also important that the team is satisfied with the reinforcement, because only then the efforts of the recruitment team will not be in vain, and Anna Zanozina used the opportunity to explain how important the team is when it comes to choosing a new position.
The team is another important criterion. Unfortunately, it's rare that you get a chance to get to know everyone before you accept an offer. However, you will conclude a lot in communication with people you are in contact with from the very beginning - recruiter, executive director, in the gaming industry, and producer. If you find common ground easily, that's a good sign and an indication that the company's corporate culture matches what you're looking for. In this case, you feel the desire to continue the dialogue, says Anna and notes the importance of the HR team.
Advice for recruiters
For experts, making a decision seems simple - if there is a good, challenging project to which you can contribute, the freedom to do what you do best and a great team to support you, of course with a set of benefits that make you feel good and relieved at work, there is a possibility that you will seriously consider the opportunity to change jobs. However, the competition is getting stronger in the race for candidates whose mail and LinkedIn inboxes have been flooded by recruiters of the world's largest companies, so the question arises: how to attract their attention?
That's why recruiters have been finding alternative ways for some time to bypass the "crowd in the inbox" and thus fight for the attention of candidates. In gaming, this effort is particularly important - candidates with experience in specific fields are very few and it is extremely important that they have a completely personalized approach when it comes to selection and recruitment.
It is important that the recruiter adapts the approach to each candidate. This can sometimes mean attending conferences where the target group gathers, knowing the specifics of programming languages, studying portfolios, and building a strong network of contacts in competing companies.
A serious but not unattainable challenge
The challenge is always the same: there are more open positions than there are top candidates to fill them, so competition among companies is fierce.
Playrix RS succeeded in that! Anna's arrival significantly contributed to the further development of the company and the overall results they achieved together as a team. Judging by their experience, it is not impossible, but it is certainly very difficult and challenging. And not only to bring in an expert in the gaming industry but also to keep him/her! Because the offers arrive every day, the competition does not give up and the company has to keep up with the expectations of the top candidates. How they do it in Playrix RS and what kind of projects they work on, see on their website.
