over 8 years ago from Colin Keany, Product Designer at GitHub, previously MongoDB, DigitalOcean - www.colinkeany.com
What do you like to see on a company's careers site? Is there one thing that piques your interest over other things? Any examples you've seen recently that you think are worth sharing?
*Remote work allowed
I wish I could upvote this a million times and then upvote my upvote.
as someone who has worked remotely for over seven years as a contractor (even for Apple) I can also say for a moment as a total devil's advocate that I relate to companies that don't allow it or vastly prefer you being in the office. Especially for design involving a number of people over 3, it gets a lot easier.
I can also say for a moment as a total devil's advocate that I relate to companies that don't allow it or vastly prefer you being in the office. Especially for design involving a number of people over 3, it gets a lot easier.
Ditto. See my comments on https://news.layervault.com/stories/39305-why-arent-you-remote-by-now ;-)
THIS. (to the original Remote Work comment)
I don't know why but so many companies forget to put this on their jobs page and force you to dig through the about, contact, etc to deduce where the office is.
Honesty and a lack of self-righteousness stand out to me. There are so many companies recently that act like they're saving the world, when really they're just a service for sending self-destructing pics to friends or something equally inane.
I'm a fan of Palantir's hiring page. It matches the scale of their vision, but remain down-to-earth and unpretentious. They're not talking about changing the world; they're talking about creating tools that enable others to do so.
Everything about Palantir gives me the hebee geebees.. Also the "Not talking about changing the world; they're talking about creating tools that enable others to do so."
usage of the words "ninja," "rockstar," or "guru" is an immediately closed tab.
This is the prequel to when you work there and you hear feedback like "I'll know it when I see it" and "Make it pop, make it fun!!!"
Massive red flags.
The leadership either doesn't care how hiring works (very bad) OR the leadership itself thinks this sort of communication is ok or relevant to the potential employee (also bad).
A sense of the company's workplace culture and diversity, mostly.
Ooh, and perks. Perks are always nice.
Culture is extremely important to me. I want to know what it's like to work in the office. Do you celebrate with your employees? Do you go out for drinks every Friday? Little things like that stand out to me.
When you spend more time with your co-workers than your friends and family, you want to know that you're going to enjoy being around them :)
Lots of great insights here so far, so no need to parrot.
One thing I saw on a career page (can't remember whom it was) was a $250 / mo stipend for electronics purchases & gadgets. Something about this was so intriguing to me.
It'd be incredibly simple to just add $3k to someones salary - instead they offered something that 1. attracted the kind of gadget-hound-culture / early adopter lifestyle the company had and wanted to continue to have and 2. applied some creativity and actually offered something different.
Free lunch and busses and yes yes yes, we get it. This one was a little different and I just personally liked it. :)
I'm usually wary of places with a ton of openings relative to their size -- it usually signifies either rapid growth, which means huge growing pains and mild chaos, or lots of people jumping ship.
Having been recruiting a lot recently and simultaneously working on a design refresh of our website, I've become aware of at least one common thread besides the obvious perks: most candidates want to know that they'll have a voice or make a difference to a company. No knowledge worker wants to feel like an anonymous cog in a machine. However I wouldn't suggest emphasizing this unless your company legitimately does have a flat structure where everyone takes on their fair share of responsibility!
"No knowledge worker wants to feel like an anonymous cog in a machine."
Nailed it!
ha thanks!
nothing. and even job openings don't appeal to me – the product does.
https://carbonmade.com/jobs/uiengineer
Culture and remote are big factors for me.
One of the best written job descriptions I've seen – I'm very attracted to companies who know how to have fun while also shipping great stuff.
Really like the carbonmade aesthetic.
Does it bother you that their 'Apply' button is just a link to send an email directly, rather than a form with a list of questions? I've always felt like linking to an email address leaves it a bit too open ended for the person applying.
Not him, but I definitely prefer some kind of form or jobvite page than just a mailto.
Yeah a bit. I think Dropbox actually has the best application submission experience that I've found (if you actually use it) – you put in your name, email and then upload your resume via Dropbox. SO simple.
http://jobs.etchapps.com/developer.html
Tone of voice is really important as it gives a sense of the company / people you'll be working for / with.
I like this page because it's art directed, shows the team you'll be working with and where.
We just made this: http://daskreativehaus.db-n.com/
It shows the different teams and what they do in our agency. Job titles are not standardized – I think explaining teams and team structures helps in understanding the inner workings of a potential employer. It looks nice, too.
Culture, and what would be cool is like 3 or 4 of the people who are the same team. So you can see what people that are and get some perspective in how the teams are built.
something like you will be working with Paul, Frank, and Lisa on project X
Diversity & Culture
It is nice to get a glimpse of the people who work for the company and read all those small personal bits they have decided to share on the 'About' page.
A sense of the culture is so important. As well, I like being able to get a sense of the people I'd be working with, whether it be blog posts, Twitter links, etc. If I'm going to be spending minimum 8 hours a day with a group of people, I want to know what kind of atmosphere I'm signing up for.
The product matters a lot too. I want to work somewhere I am proud of and excited about.
I feel like to each his own some people are enticed by talk about changing the world and others think they are just full of themselves. Personally I like a companies that works on projects I would be interested in, isn't too obsessed with hierarchy where your opinions can be voiced and listened to. Companies who like to have fun and are interested not only in their own growth but that of its employees. "Getting Stuff Done" but also leaving time to actually interact with one another and work on personal connections. Options to work remotely and "unlimited vacations" are also a huge plus. Basically a Company that isint too full of itself to think of the people who are holding it up there. Considering this will be a place you'll be spending a large majority of your time you should like the environment and the people who make it up.
http://neverbland.com/careers does a nice job.
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