How to get a job with a progressive employer

This year the way we work changed almost overnight, and the job market is still feeling the effects of a global pandemic. As competition for roles increases, we caught up with with some of our favourite employers who have recently hired new team members. 

We wanted to get their take on hiring in the current environment and what can make an applicant really stand out from the crowd.

First, Let’s Meet The Employers...

Beth Toms, Head of People @ tiney

A global tech-led company, building a digital marketplace for childcare, to better support parents, practitioners and, most importantly children.

Rachel Hirsch, Head of People @ Taptap Send

A VC-backed startup with an app-based solution that lets immigrants send money back home to emerging markets instantly and at very low prices.

Lewis Jenkins, Chief Operating Officer @ Generation

An innovative charity working to recruit, train, and place unemployed young adults into career-launching jobs.

Firstly, what's it like to work at your organisation?

Beth @ tiney - We’re a team of 35, from tech startup backgrounds and early years education experts. We all genuinely care about making early years education better so that we can make an impact on our society for years to come. 

Internally we're putting the foundations into place to build a high performing, mission-focused and inclusive team (whilst doing everything we can to live our values each and every day, like play is a superpower!) 

Rachel @ Taptap Send - We are a small mission-focused organisation with employees who roll up their sleeves to do what it takes to achieve our big hairy audacious goals. We remind ourselves that our users are at the centre of who we are. 

While our employees come from varying backgrounds and experiences (fintech, NGOs, professional services, Fortune 500), what draws us together is the value of impact first.

Lewis @ Generation - Good fun, intellectually challenging and emotionally rewarding. We operate with the pace of a startup, we have the heart of a charity and we came from McKinsey (a management consultancy). That means there are a lot of smart people here trying to make a difference with good humour and ‘fire in their belly’ to do the right thing. 

What’s your pet peeve when it comes to job applications and speaking to candidates?

Lewis @ Generation - The scattergun approach. We can tell in 10 seconds if someone is just firing CVs out to any role that’s going. Even a brilliant CV won’t get you an interview on its own. In this market, it’s better to apply to one job thoroughly and thoughtfully, with a careful cover letter, than send out 20 CV’s a day. It’s tough I know, but employers want to feel special too.

Rachel @ Taptap Send - Showing up late… If a candidate can’t be on time for a job interview, then it’s hard to know if we can rely on them as a member of the team.

Beth @ tiney - I’m not sure I personally have pet peeves. There are things that might look 'bad' in recruiters eyes but I'm a big believer that it's because you haven't done a good enough job to provide the candidate with the right environment for them to perform well. For example, if a candidate doesn't ask you any questions about the company this might be because; they don't think you could answer their questions, they haven't enjoyed the conversation, they haven't found enough out about the company just yet or are worried that their question would be seen as a 'bad question'. 

A lot of Escapees are interested in a career change. Have you hired someone who was changing their career? How did they stand out?

Beth @ tiney - Yes! We’ve hired a few people recently who’ve had a complete career change. For example, a physiotherapist turned customer advisor, to a digital marketing account manager who’s now an engineer after going to coding boot camp. To truly disrupt early years, we need people with real intellectual flexibility who love learning! 

What stood out? Their motivation for the mission of tiney, their first principle thinking and their natural curiosity shined throughout the whole process. 

Rachel @ Taptap Send - Multidisciplinary people are a huge strength in a fast-growing team. Our Head of Ops started out as a lawyer. Our Head of Eng was an economist! While subject matter expertise always helps, we love when candidates bring different experiences to the table. 

If you’re making a switch, have a great reason why and point to experiences where you can prove the needed skillset, even if you didn’t own the role full time.

How often are you approached by people who want to work at your organisation outside of responding to a job advert? How do you feel about it?

Rachel @ Taptap Send - Not often enough! We are trying to build an organisation of mission-focused engaged teammates, so when someone approaches us outside of traditional channels because they are connected to what we are doing we love it! 

There isn’t always an immediate role open, but as things change quickly in a startup, you never know when it may make sense to get back in touch.

Beth @ tiney - We love it - we want to speak to passionate people, for roles now and in the future!

Have you ever employed someone who did not directly apply to a job advert? How did that come about? 

Beth @ tiney - Yes, in the early days we didn’t have a careers page so we brought in people we knew. There are real positives in doing this and we are always keen to speak to new people who care about what we’re building! 

However, from a diversity and equity point of view, this is something we want to be conscious about to make sure we're providing equal opportunities to everyone.

What do you think makes a good job interview?

Beth @ tiney - Someone who is themselves, someone who’s not afraid of talking about what they want to learn next and someone who’s curious about what we’re building. 

Rachel @ Taptap Send - When the applicant has an understanding of what the company is trying to achieve and how he/she can fit in, it’s always helpful because it helps the interviewer envision how the applicant could make an impact.

Additionally, it’s great when candidates share their personality a bit. It helps humanise the whole process and allow the interviewer to see what it would be like to work together. 

What do you think the future of work at your organisation looks like? (e.g. Roles you may be planning to hire in the near future, the impact of coronavirus on your workplace, new ways of working etc.)

Lewis @ Generation - None of us saw this (COVID-19) coming but we can see the road ahead. The future of our work is flexible, technical and predominantly remote. Generation works to make the future of work fairer too.

In terms of power, work is too white, too male and not accessible enough for those without the means to complete increasingly expensive and impractical university courses. With BLM, rising unemployment and the BCorp movement there is a change afoot in the role of education and a chance for employers to step up and help.

Our bootcamps help people who haven’t had life’s advantages, they are mostly technology focused and custom build to what employers need - we are partnering with the likes of Amazon and The Prince’s Trust to train 1000 young people into employment next year.

We are participating in the new kickstart scheme too, both as an employer and (applying to become) intermediary for other small to mediums who want to take part. We aim to help get even more people into meaningful employment. As a charity, it’s why Generation exists. 

Rachel @ Taptap Send - As our employees are currently working from home, we recognise that a return to the office may not be immediate and so we are investing in and experimenting with engagement for our remote teams - group events, 1:1 touchpoints, town halls, L&D. We are confident that no matter when we return to the office, this investment will pay off for our teams. 

While a remote environment can be challenging, we are also seeing some benefits (no more commute!, increased focus, flexibility to work different places, increased global teaming) and hope to channel these benefits as we transition to a more permanent state. 

We are growing (and thus hiring) faster than ever. We are looking for great people in almost all of our teams - operations, growth, business development, product/eng, legal.

Looking Forward

We wanted to thank Beth, Rachel & Lewis for taking the time out to answer our questions. We hope they’ve given you a bit of guidance and encouragement for getting a new job this Autumn.

If you wanted to see opportunities from progressive employers like Generation, Tiney, Taptap Send and more you can check out the Escape the City Job Board. 

You can also sign up to get 10 remarkable job opportunities, every Monday, straight to your inbox. Maybe one might inspire you to Do Something Different before the year is out >>> Top 10 Remarkable Opportunities