Key People

Six months of 2022 we were lucky to work with complex tech projects, so we weren’t bored at all 😀  We’re very proud of our resultsSenior Solution EngineerCompany Location: USASearch Region: Western Europe  Senior Machine Learning EngineerCompany Location: USASearch Region: Western Europe  Senior Front-End Developer (React)Company Location: USASearch Region: Western Europe Senior Front-End Developer (React)Company Location: PolandSearch Region: Western Europe  Senior User Acquisition ManagerCompany Location: UKSearch Region: Western Europe  Senior Unity DeveloperCompany Location: CyprusSearch Region: Western Europe  Senior Product ManagerCompany Location: CyprusSearch Region: Western Europe  Senior Motion DesignerCompany Location: Lithuania Search Region: Western Europe  Senior DevOps EngineerCompany Location: UKSearch Region: Western Europe  Senior Backend Developer (Elixir)Company Location: PolandSearch Region: Western Europe

Task:A young mobile game development company looking for an advanced Lead Game Designer. As it’s a key role in the company a candidate needs to be able to manage strategies and metrics and be responsible for most of the project. Problem:Specialists of this level receive plenty of offers, they have a great deal to choose from. A young gaming company looks like a high-risk option for a candidate since it’s not immediately clear whether a startup will fly or not. The competition for Lead Game Designers in the HR market is very high. Solution:The requirements were complex. We decided to develop an individual hiring strategy and make changes to make the task more workable. Our options:✦ Lower candidate requirements✦ Increase salary by 20-30% to make this offer higher than the market average✦ Hire someone for a part-time jobThe first 2 options did not suit the client, so we moved on with the third one.The plan was to find an awesome candidate, show them the growth outlook, make them fall in love with the company, and then transfer to full-time. Result:In 3 weeks, we found several candidates. Two of them went through all interview stages, one accepted the part-time offer. After a month of part-time work, our candidate decided to switch to full-time with the client. They’ve been happy together for a year now. Why did it work?✦The candidate was offered flexible conditions, given the opportunity to understand the “inner kitchen” and was not pressed with deadlines.✦A soft entry into the company increased credibility and reduced the risk of a job-changing decision.✦The client heeded the expertise of our recruiting team and followed the strategy we agreed on. At Key People, we know how to close challenging job openings.

We always recommend our partners collect references on the candidate before proceeding to offer. Here are the cases we want to share to highlight the importance of this evaluation step.____Case #1 Senior Python Developer has passed all interview stages and was one step away from receiving an offer.We got in touch with his colleague from his last job. They informed us, that our candidate is a top professional. Except that sometimes, he may disappear for a week without getting in touch. We couldn’t go any further with this candidate, although he performed great during the evaluation.____Case#2 Senior Unity Developer with great and relevant experience, that felt like a perfect match.We collected feedback on the candidate for the two last jobs. And it was controversial.Our first source spoke of him as a great professional and recommended hiring him ASAP.The second one strongly advised against him.To make the situation clear, we described it to the candidate and asked for his comments. It turned out that there was a conflict between our candidate and his manager (2nd source). The candidate shared the details of the conflict and answered some questions from a hiring manager. In the end, the offer was approved and accepted.These examples show us that collecting references is not a universal assessment tool. Recommendations help avoid unpleasant surprises in the future but should be considered wisely.