by Alina Mudra
Today, I will tell you about our unique approach to recruiting from our team at Burny Games and the culture we foster within. If you anticipate a monotonous sequence of number-crunching and dull interviews, we will prove that you can be wrong.
It's important to know that we're all a bit quirky with what we do, so comparing us to players, I'd say we're in an RPG genre where everyone is a real superhero with their unique superpower. We do not only complement each other, but we create an incredible team and synergy that can do anything. Like all characters, we share one mission we approach daily, completing various tasks and subtasks. Of course, there are failures, but we all have enough HP to overcome them.
Of course, besides the mission, we are united by values based not just on some corporate marketers but fully reflected in our work and interactions and followed by everyone, starting with our CEO and COO. I trust you know our core values, but do you work with them?
Number one for us has always been honesty. It's not about telling each other who didn't pay their utilities on time or what they did on weekends. It's about direct and open professional interaction, where no one is afraid to discuss working processes even when unsure of their actions or decisions. It's about the ability to trust each other and understand the consequences. If, during the interview, I realize that someone doesn't match our expectations, I won't waste their time, pause, and send out standard letters that everyone is tired of reading. I always provide feedback and help the person understand why now it's not the best choice for all of us and why everyone needs to move on.
Another valuable quality we look for in every new team member is an ability to deep-dive approach to working processes. Each of us has an idea of how our units work. We don't separate from each other, and when faced with a challenge, we do everything possible to delve into it, learn everything, and successfully implement the set task. We believe that being passionate about what we do and constantly craving development and new knowledge helps us become a top-notch company in everything we do. That's why our motto is "top-notch daily."
A typical Burny Games employee is mentally mature, professional, and easily motivated for achievements. Such a person is not afraid to communicate and be open at all stages. Now, I want to talk about the stages of our recruiting process and how we shape our unique team, which we are so proud of.
For me, the recruitment process is primarily about networking. We always treat each candidate with respect, appreciating the time and effort of each one. The forms that serve as the basis for our communication are essential components that steer our interactions.
The success of hiring at Burny Games consists of four ingredients:
Preliminary research. Even before prescreening, lots of work is carried out — monitoring social networks, analyzing CVs, work cases, and companies where the person worked before. Through my experience in the Ukrainian market, I know almost all well-known and not-very well-known companies and their top managers. It helps me imagine the future candidate's experience and the environment in which they worked and form an understanding of this person's work style. I keep all this information in my notes and carefully check it during the interview.
A lot of questions. This principle helps me establish a connection with the candidate and better understand them and their needs. Usually, 15 minutes of conversation is enough to realize how well this person fits our professional needs and their chances of matching our corporate culture.
Feedback. Even during the recruiting, we convey our readiness to provide and receive feedback. It helps us better understand each other and forms the basis for improving our work processes. It also makes it easier for me and the candidate, saving time and effort.
Close contact with the board. We have a great recruiting stage, which, I believe, will always be — communication with the CEO and COO. They invest their time in people and always see great specialists. At such meetings, candidates reveal themselves, and communication is very personalized. Everyone understands each other's goals and needs, and corporate culture becomes more understandable.
I don't have any flashy hiring style and no stressful interviews. I am as human as possible. The interview is just our acquaintance, a calm conversation. Tricky questions can only close people off. My style is building a network. I build long-term relationships with each specialist because I believe people are growing and gaining experience and one-day becoming cooperation. I love the moment when we find our person and realize that we will continue together, and the company's goals become our goals with a focus on personal development during this journey.
Challenges I see now lie in the fact that there is no single platform where you can find all the specialists we are interested in. There is no single ecosystem that we would like to create. When I search for specialists, I use several resources, post vacancies, or search for specialists on social networks, sometimes through acquaintances. I dream of creating this system and having a map of all gaming employees in Ukraine across different units for closing vacancies with great specialists as quickly as possible. I am confident that we have managed to build a strong team with people who match each other, and we share all the same values and charge each other €with humor and a light atmosphere. I also want to believe that our future game developer or great manager is reading this text now, or maybe it will be a person for whom we will have a separate vacancy over time.