Recruiter Hot Seat: Bigpoint

BIO
Name: Felix Hock
Title: Senior Recruiter
Developer: Bigpoint
Country: Germany
www.bigpoint.net/careers

What differentiates your studio from other developers?
Bigpoint is Europe’s free-to-play expert with development hubs in Germany in Hamburg and Berlin. We recently restarted developing for mobile platforms with a dedicated studio in Lyon, France, as well as in our Hamburg Headquarters.

Our portfolio includes all-time favorites like Battlestar Galactica Online, DarkOrbit Reloaded, and Farmerama, in addition to rising stars like Shards of War or the upcoming Game of Thrones.

A passion for games is what connects all teams in all genres and platforms. It is more important for us to have a convincing idea, than to follow a certain protocol. Actually, each member of our development teams has a voice when it comes to defining our live games or discussing the direction a prototype should take.

Innovation counts when it comes to developing highly accessible and purely fun games for a global audience.

How many staff are you looking to take on?
We currently have over 50 open positions and are eager to hire high calibre experts, particularly for development and game design. This includes opens producer positions, as well as a design director.

What perks are available to people working at your studio?
At Bigpoint, you have the opportunity to work with a number of international professionals, the quality of whom you wouldn’t be able to meet at many studios. All of our employees enjoy trust-based working hours. Aside from regular language and relevant professional training, we offer all kinds of entertainment, regular get-togethers after work, and a variety of sports programs at our offices. Employees at our German studios benefit from the employer-supported health insurance in Germany.

What should aspiring devs do with their CV to get an interview?
Very simple: keep it focused on the advertised position. The CV makes absolutely clear why you are the perfect fit. Show us your extraordinary skillset as well as your passion for the gaming industry. Provide tangible examples in the form of code and online references of your previous work. Private projects are also very welcome.

In the end, personality is relevant with regard to the best fit to a team and the spirit here at Bigpoint.

Who is the best interviewee you have ever had and how did they impress you?
My best interview was with a developer who really impressed me with his broad range of skills and the impressive number of remarkable titles he had shipped. He came to us with a bunch of ideas he was very keen to realise. At the same time, he was very open-minded and instantly connected with the team.

What advice would you give for a successful interview?
Be open and use the chance to inform yourself and the range of opportunities we offer. We are looking for nothing less than real passion for gaming and a willingness to enter the next level of gaming.

Why should developers join you when indie and self-publishing have become more accessible?
We have profound knowledge to sustainably run free-to-play online games. Our marketing capacities allow us to roll out to more than 1,000 partners and a variety of channels to reach a global audience. These are success factors that indies don’t possess.

Being part of Bigpoint means more. You´ll work in a professional, yet familiar work environment and meet great people everyday. Knowledge is no secret here and it is being shared between the teams.

In the end, it’s just nicer and much more inspiring to work in one of our teams than alone or in a very small team.

If you have recruited internationally, what is the process like?
After we´ve qualified a promising candidate via Skype, we invite him or her to our studio to give them the opportunity to get to know how it feels to work at Bigpoint. All new colleagues receive professional support – e.g. for their Visa – by our onboarding team. We provide a temporary flat for the first few months as well as a problem-solving team that assists employees from overseas with the bureaucratic issues, when relocating to Germany or France.

How have your recruitment needs changed at your studio?
At first, we hired everyone who was interested, in order to compensate for the rapid growth in the first years. Now, our recruitment strategy is very focused according to the needs of the company in terms of knowledge, experience, and personality.