When you are in the role of a candidate within the recruitment process, there are a plethora of questions that can emerge. For example, what kind of interview do you have to prepare for, is it one-on-one or a group setting? Will you have to work on a presentation, or complete an assessment task? Will you have the bulk of your interviews virtually, or in-person? With all of these ‘what if’s’, it’s enough to make anyone’s head spin; no matter if you are a seasoned professional or looking for your first work experience.
You may have had several job interviews, have gained some professional experience, and feel confident about navigating the recruitment route ahead of you. On the other hand, you could be unsure of how to present yourself in this recruitment process since you may have just started your career. But don’t worry, we’ve all been there. Gain some peace of mind by realizing that every recruitment process is slightly different, as there are always various individuals and factors involved. Due to this, it’s almost impossible to perfectly prepare for an interview. So take a deep breath, relax, and keep reading.
At SimScale, we focus on adding value through the consideration of varying backgrounds, personalities, and experiences that every potential and existing employee brings to the company. We aim to share these values with candidates who are eager to join our team by making the application process and what we are looking for as transparent as possible. In our previous blog post, we outlined the steps involved in our recruitment process.
For each of these four steps (conversation with a recruiter, assessment task, technical interview, and on-site day) as well as before an actual application starts, we want to share valuable tips and recommendations for people applying to SimScale.
Before Applying to SimScale
The application process begins with you, the candidate, discovering a job advertisement that appears to match your interests and qualifications to a ‘T’. Before applying, it is always encouraged to dig a little deeper below the surface of your CV, far within your repertoire, and pull out a few unique things to send along with your application. What makes you, you; a recruiter will be eager to get to know what makes you tick. Once all of your ducks are in a row, it’s time to send over your application. At this stage, it is also recommended to:
- Carefully go through the job posting to see if it really is what you are looking for and if it matches your background as well as technical skillset.
- Do some research in regards to the company, product, potential responsibilities, and the work culture at SimScale.
- Work on your resume as it will be your very first impression, ideally try to keep it short (two pages max), but relevant and tailored to the job you are applying for.
- Double-check and proof-read your application before you send it out.
Have you ticked the above checklist items? Great! Then it looks like you’re ready to apply.
The Virtual Meeting with a Recruiter
Congratulations, you made it to the first round in the recruitment process! At SimScale, this is a meeting with a recruiter on Google Meet. Before the virtual meeting, it is important to once again familiarize yourself with the job advertisement. Usually, this meeting takes about 30 minutes and allows both the recruiter to get a first impression of the candidate, and the candidate to get an opportunity to ask questions and identify whether this role would actually be a good fit. For this conversation and first conversational step in the recruitment process, our tips are:
- Outline what your background, your skillset, and your experiences are while drawing parallels in regards to how they align with the position you applied for at SimScale.
- Share with us what excites you about the role, the responsibilities that come with it, and tell us why you would like to join our team.
- Show us your real personality, don’t be afraid to tell us something interesting and non-work related.
- It’s not just about us asking you! Ask questions about SimScale and try to get as many first insights into our company as possible.
Working on an Assessment Task
The assessment task is a great chance to really show what you are capable of! Whether this involves showing off your programming skills in a coding challenge, the opportunity to work on a product management task, or even a creative writing exercise. We usually provide a full week to work on this task so that every candidate gets the same amount of time. When you find yourself in this stage of the recruitment process, so things to consider are as follows.
- Work on delivering a valuable solution that allows an evaluation of your technical expertise.
- Try to understand the business, the requirements, and focus on the impact your decisions may have on SimScale.
- See it as a chance to convince the team in a practical way how your skills align with the job requirements.
- Show how your approach can benefit SimScale and how you would implement your solutions.
The Technical Interview
Once you have successfully submitted your solution for the assessment task, our team at SimScale will invite you to a second interview based on their evaluation of your work. In this stage of the recruitment process, you will be able to talk with the hiring manager and/or future coworkers more in-depth about your approach to the assessment task. In order to prepare for this step, we suggest that you:
- Take another look at your assessment task, think about your background and experiences, and consider in what ways they can be relevant to the position of your interest.
- Prepare yourself for the audience by finding your interviewers on LinkedIn. This allows you to get a first idea of who you will be talking to and might ease your nerves a little bit.
- Go into more detail in regards to your technical skills. Justify, demonstrate, and confidently pitch what your ideas are as well as the choices you made in the task.
- A key factor in every step along the recruitment process besides talking about your technical knowledge is honesty, and showing why you think joining the team at SimScale would be beneficial for both you and us.
Meeting the Team in Person
You have reached the last and final step in the recruitment process! It’s time to get even more excited as you are about to finally meet the team in person and get a real feel for what it is like to be part of SimScale. Don’t worry, we ensure that all candidates get our help in regards to their travels and accommodation for the ones who travel from further away. Once you are in Munich, we cannot wait to welcome you to our office:
- Don’t worry about a dress-code at SimScale; we want you to feel as comfortable as we are. Check out our ‘Life at SimScale’ Instagram for inspiration.
- Prepare yourself to meet several team members across departments who are curious to find out more about you.
- Once again, show us who you really are and let your personality shine through. Relax, show us your passion, your willingness, and share with us why you want to spend part of your future working with us.
- See this as an opportunity to find out what you are curious about, ask us all the questions you may have, and get to know SimScale inside out.
Did These Tips Get You Started With Your SimScale Application?
We encourage you to focus on the positive aspects of your application, and technical skillset. Here at SimScale, where we challenge the status quo on a daily basis, we really look for team members who are thrilled and eager to work for a company that is innovative, gets going when it gets tough, and is passionate about simulation and what our platform enables users to achieve!
Show us what motivates you, what gets you excited, and why SimScale would be a great fit for you. If this sounds exactly like what you are looking for, then you should explore our current job openings or simply send an initiative application: https://www.simscale.com/jobs/
Learn More About SimScale…
- SimScale’s Approach to International Recruiting
- 5 Unique Ways to Keep Remote Workers Engaged
- 8 Superb Reasons to Work at SimScale
- My Life at SimScale: Application Engineer David
