Ask any recruiter, and they’ll tell you that hiring is a huge part of their company. It makes sense, if you realize that what makes a company great is the people who choose to work for it. Not only that - it’s the very fine composition of people, the perfect harmony between different personality types, skill sets and perspectives.
As the super-growth company we are, recruiting plays an even bigger role. Just to set the scene for this article: in the past 6 months we’ve hired over 1,000 people, meaning that nearly a quarter of the people who work at Wix are new employees. At a company our size, the delicate task of choosing the right people - those who will contribute to our business needs and be a good match to our values - is even more important.
We wanted to share our own approach to hiring, and what factors we take into account.
To Each Their Own Path
Wix is a very people-centric company. Seeing the individual with all its parts is deeply rooted within our culture. We value the fact that each of us has their own route, and we want to encourage it. This is part of what makes our workplace fun and creative.
The way we hire reflects that: for us, the mission is to always keep an open mind and look at each hiring process in a broad way, without fixating on a checklist. For a particular position at Wix we may have people coming from totally different experiences and backgrounds. We have teams composed of people with the same job title, but no 2 people bring the same thing to the table.
When we see a candidate who can be a great fit to Wix, we’ll try to figure out what the most suitable role for them is. A person might be starting a process for a specific position, but after we get to know each other, we mutually realize that there might be another mission that will fit their experience better. Keeping an open mind allows us to be flexible, change, and offer a position that will be a bigger win for both parties.
Skills over Titles
From our point of view, it’s actually pretty simple: we appreciate that you’ve studied things, but it doesn't have to be at a fancy place. In fact, it doesn't have to be a formal degree at all.
Smart people learn all the time, they never stop. They can teach themselves, they can learn from past experiences or from previous workplaces. The most important thing is what they’re able to create.
We’re a data-driven company, and we measure ourselves all the time. We believe in testing our products, our beliefs, our assumptions - and let the results speak for themselves. We also use this approach in our hiring process: we test everyone.
Sometimes people can tell wonderful stories about themselves. Some people are more articulate than others; some people are great with words,while others are better with numbers; there people who don’t feel comfortable talking about themselves, and prefer to show merit to prove it. Even if you’re shy, or not the best storyteller - you may be a great, talented person. We wholeheartedly believe that this is what gives people an honest chance to prove their talents and skills. Tests show us where beautiful words are overcompensating for lack of experience, or vice versa - where lack of them don’t do justice to a bright person.
But there’s another reason we know that the bar to be accepted to Wix is high: the tests we conduct allow candidates to get a better understanding of what we do. While these tests are not based on real work tasks, they try to simulate what the role will look like at a high level, and what capabilities are required for it. This is also an opportunity for them to evaluate if it's a fit for them and if they’d like to do this type of work.
Motivation, Potential and Values
Motivation and passion are super important for us. We’re looking for smart and talented people, and we see it as our mission to translate someone's experience, which might be different from what we do at Wix, to what we actually need. As Wix is inventing itself all the time, growing rapidly and adding more business segments, we’re eager to have people who are flexible and can grow with us. Our hiring methods are aimed at identifying them.
When we meet a person, we’re very interested in their real life and work examples. From detailed examples you can really see what’s important to someone, which themes recur in the stories they bring, what they consider a success and what they enjoy doing.
We’re not limiting ourselves only to questions about their career and projects, but try to see it within a broader picture of the person's self development. Sometimes, a unique after work activity, or a one year time-off the person took, can teach a lot more of the person’s true passion and potential. Sometimes we learn about how the person breaks through challenges by listening to early phases in their life. The core strengths of the person are not limited only to their working hours, and this is what we aim to discover.
Bringing Fresh and Diverse Perspectives
Thanks to the different backgrounds our people bring, Wix is able to solve complex problems and create innovative products that answer the needs of hundreds of millions of users everywhere on the planet.
We aim to have as many perspectives, coming from people who were brought up in different environments, cultures and countries.
Wix is a wonderful place to work at, and also a challenging one. In order to succeed at Wix, people need to be fully present and bring their personalities into play. We expect people to work within a team, to create relationships, to be dynamic and accept change, to receive feedback and to grow from it.
All these extend to much more than years of professional experience, particular studies or outstanding titles. It’s about what you’re able to do with them. There’s no one recipe, no one type of personality that we’re looking for.
The one thing all people who work at Wix have in common is their openness to taking part in this journey: embracing the unknown, being exposed, bringing their full self to work and having the same goal - making the internet a better place for everyone.
By Noa Corem, People Business Partner Leader at Wix
