We’ve introduced in almost 30 new teammates within the final yr, and for every of these hires, we’ve carried out 15 to 25 values screens. So over the past yr, I’ve carried out a minimum of 400 values screening calls and I all the time flip the decision over to the candidates to ask no matter questions they’ve for me.
I’ve been requested some actually insightful questions over the previous yr, and I’ve seen some developments emerge. Listed below are the highest ten questions I get requested and my responses.
At a look:
- What has saved you at Buffer for thus lengthy?
- How do you construct tradition in a completely distant atmosphere?
- What does profession progress appear to be at Buffer?
- What do you want least about working at Buffer?
- What would make somebody profitable on this position at Buffer?
- What does a typical day appear to be?
- Do I’ve to vary my schedule to a sure timezone?
- How did the pandemic have an effect on or change the corporate?
- Does the 4-day workweek apply to everybody?
- Why is that this position open now?
What has saved you at Buffer for thus lengthy?
If I needed to guess, this has been requested in about 4 out of each 5 interviews I’ve carried out this yr. It’s a staple one, and for a very good purpose. It’s the muse behind the idea of a “keep” interview (the other of an exit interview when somebody leaves your organization.)
Right here’s how I reply: (and it’s a typical sentiment I hear from Buffer teammates time and again) I’m right here as a result of the group is wonderful. The persons are all real and care deeply for the work they do and the individuals they work with. And I significantly admire how wonderful our group is at what they do. Everybody strives to lift the bar, and that sentiment drives me to be higher and to work more durable every single day.
Moreover, I discover a number of pleasure and success in how Buffer is consistently evolving as an organization. As a result of I began in 2014, I’ve been particularly privileged to look at us develop from 25 to now 85. A lot of the day-to-day adjustments, and since we now have an emphasis on progress and experimentation, we’re in a position to attempt new issues, push the boundaries and make errors.
Maybe one of many greatest issues that has impacted me as an individual and is certainly one of my favourite issues about Buffer is the angle we now have that if we do that and it fails, a minimum of we are able to write an Open weblog about it and what we discovered.
How do you construct tradition/camaraderie in a completely distant atmosphere?
Additionally included this: How do you do team-building throughout numerous time zones and in a pandemic?
This can be a enormous query, so I’ll default to sharing a number of weblog posts (together with this new one!)
The quick reply is that it begins with our basis in a shared set of firm values, and an emphasis on tradition from the second you apply at Buffer. We display for values alignmentand we pair all new hires with with a tradition buddy to assist share insights round our firm tradition, historical past, and inside jokes. (We actually have a Buffer vocabulary information for referencing the distinctive phrases and gifs and memes we use quite a bit.)
We now have a number of day by day and weekly actions to maintain informal dialog flowing and group engagement as a spotlight: curiosity teams on Slack, weekly rotating pair calls, peer masterminds, informal hangouts on Zoom, small-group breakouts throughout All Arms, and extra.
What does profession progress appear to be at Buffer?
This can be a difficult one in some respects: we now have profession frameworks and clear expectations for progress inside areas (each deeper in your position and what it appears to be like prefer to progress into administration), however there are occasions the place we would see decrease turnover and thus administration alternatives are much less out there. Conversely, I’ve seen many phases at Buffer the place we’ve been in a position to transfer teammates from one division into a completely new division. (That is far much less frequent nowadays at our present measurement.)
However what I all the time reply with this query is that those that really hunt down and resolve enterprise wants at Buffer are seen and rewarded ultimately. Typically it is likely to be a number of months or years down the street, however Buffer really goals to reward the trouble put into the corporate.
What do you want least about working at Buffer?
This one is probably an easy-out, however the factor I like least will not be having extra in-person collaboration time with the group.
Even apart from the realities of a world pandemic, we’ve had troubles getting all teammates collectively due to the worldwide distribution of our group. Lacking a yearly retreat (once we nonetheless had them) meant maybe two years between seeing your teammates in particular person. I nonetheless imagine the trade-offs of distant are far price it and that we’re in a position to push the bounds of synchronous work with our habits of written communication and defaulting to transparency.
What would make somebody profitable on this position and at Buffer?
As I discussed above round profession development, the teammates I’ve seen be most profitable at Buffer in my eight years have been those who see a necessity, bounce in and resolve it. So from what I’ve seen people who find themselves proactive, well-informed, and diligent together with your time and power are profitable right here.
The opposite key tenants of efficient teammates at Buffer are the objects we attempt to display for in our hiring course of: wonderful written communication and being self-driven in a distant atmosphere. We additionally look for many who contribute to and advance our values-driven tradition.
What does a typical day appear to be?
This one appears to be like totally different for nearly each space and typically relies on the mission or targets for the quarter. Usually, we now have only some constant conferences: weekly or bi-weekly one-on-ones together with your direct supervisor, a month-to-month, company-wide All-Arms or City Corridor, after which an occasional team-building chat like a pair name or mastermind. Past that, there’s slightly Slack time, a number of catching up on Threads (which is what we use as an alternative of inner electronic mail).
The remainder of your day is structured round your group and any time commitments you might need (for our buyer advocates, we do prefer to know who’s within the inbox to verify there’s predictable protection.) There’s an immense quantity of belief and suppleness — as is required for profitable distant groups!
Do I’ve to vary my schedule to a sure timezone?
Usually, the reply to this one isn’t any – although relying on the make-up of your group and the way a lot collaboration you should do with teammates throughout the globe, there is likely to be the occasional or repeating assembly the place you should rise up early or keep up late. We do ask all group members to collaborate on these and attempt to unfold out the burden of who’s most inconvenienced. So if a teammate within the UK wants to fulfill with somebody in Australia, they alternate who stays up late or will get up early every time potential.
And naturally, we depend on asynchronous communication, which optimizes for everybody working the standard 9-5 schedule in their very own timezone whereas nonetheless with the ability to transfer initiatives and duties ahead.
How did the pandemic have an effect on or change the corporate?
The pandemic modified fairly a bit about how we’ve approached work previously two years: first, we canceled our in-person retreat, which positively set a distinct tone for the yr round constructing relationships. Relatedly, we modified to a 4-day workweek to raised steadiness work and life for teammates, particularly mother and father.
The restricted workweek and discount in general work time lower into a few of the further cushion we had for group bonding actions, and it’s one thing we’re actually engaged on at the moment to strike the appropriate steadiness between async actions (water-cooler threads in Slack, writing challenges, sharing teammate interviews by way of video) and synchronous hangouts over Slack. We’ll be writing extra about this quickly as we proceed to experiment and study what works for our group.
Does the four-day work week apply to everybody?
In brief: completely! Right here’s what our buyer help groups do in an effort to maintain issues as seamless for our clients as potential.
Why is that this position open now?
That is actually an amazing query to ask and our progress as an organization has been reasonably regular. It’s because we’ve intentionally chosen to not take a “progress in any respect prices” mentality, and thus we steadiness progress in our group with income progress and/or aware funding in our firm based mostly on general technique.
So typically, the reply to this one is that we’re backfilling a place, searching for a completely new position to help the group, or (for our buyer help group) searching for somebody in a selected timezone for higher protection.
Bonus: I don’t have any questions since you’re so clear
This typically isn’t a deal-breaker if I hear this from a candidate. I general love the boldness that candidates typically have after they inform me they’ve learn this weblog for years or learn by dozens of articles after making use of.
I do need to see a stage of deeper reflection and curiosity within the particular position or what it’s prefer to work at Buffer. I perceive not everyone seems to be snug doing interviews, and everybody at Buffer who does values screening is inspired to assist make candidates really feel snug and profitable within the values screening.
We’re clear, and we do our greatest to share as a lot on the Open weblog as we are able to, however issues change continuously at Buffer. (I are likely to joke that after we write about one thing on the Open weblog, we alter it the subsequent day!) A greater strategy for this query or response could be, “What haven’t you all shared but on the Open weblog?” I’d love that type of a query.
Over to you
What’s your favourite query to ask in interviews? What else would you need to learn about Buffer? Ship us a tweet to tell us!
