Last updated · 1 March 2024

Recruitment process

Our recruitment process varies depending on the role and department you're applying for. We have Recruitment and Onboarding Managers (R&O) in the Design and Development departments who oversee this entire process. These people are your main point of contact. For operational roles, our People and Operations team takes over.

As you probably know, we are an Office-first company. This means that every team member will have to visit us in the office occasionally, depending on their living distance from it.

As a sort of preparation, all interviews are held in person unless exceptionally agreed otherwise.

Application Received.

Once you apply for a role at Significa, having double-checked your spelling, pondered over your message, made sure you attached your CV or portfolio, and pushed the magic Submit button, the journey starts.

We have a dedicated Slack channel where we're pinged for each new applicant. Then, the R&O manager will triage your application and discuss it with the People and Operations team.

We think having more than one set of eyes over all applications is better: this helps remove bias and ensure we are not letting anyone slip through the cracks.

We will then seek to get back to you within ten working days. Sometimes, this can be difficult, and admittedly, we've been guilty of falling short of it at times, but we strive to make it happen.

You'll then be invited for a screening call, or, shouldn't we wish to proceed further with your application, we will notify you of that. Either way, you will hear from us.

Phase 1, the screening call.

The Screening call is like speed dating. We chat with you and with a few more people to learn about your background, your motivations, and your salary expectations.

As in any relationship, this is a two-sided one. We are screening you, but you should be screening us, too. So, if you have any questions of your own, we are happy to answer them. We don't expect you to marry us without knowing us better as well.

This purely introductory call shouldn't take more than 15 minutes. It is far from a technical conversation and is held via phone call, the old-fashioned way.

Once all the screening calls are completed, we'll regroup internally, go through our notes, and consider who will continue through to Phase 2, the technical one.

Regardless of our decision about your application, you will always hear from us. We'll try to give you valuable insights about how you can improve and better prepare for future interviews.

Challenges.

If you're a designer or a developer, we might invite you to complete Challenges at this point.

Challenges will apply if we are unsure about your technical skills or if you didn't provide enough evidence about this matter.

These are meant to be small snippets of work that shouldn't take longer than a few hours to complete. As stated in our Mission and values, we defend that no one should work for free under any circumstances.

In the end, if we like what we see, you go to Phase 2. If we don't like what we see, we will provide you with feedback that we hope will help you improve. That's our trade-off for the time you've invested.

Phase 2, the technical one.

Phase 2 is when we get into the nitty gritty of your technical knowledge, experience and potential for growth. This interview will be different depending on the role you're applying for, but ultimately, we'll try to understand how you think, your expectations, your ambitions and your understanding of the role and Significa.

This conversation will be driven by the topics presented below, for which we ask you to be prepared.

Review and discuss your CV and/or portfolio.

Be prepared to share your journey with us. You should prepare to showcase and discuss the work you're most proud of. Whether you want to present it or talk it through conceptually, we're fine with whatever approach you feel most comfortable with.

We know that life is not a bed of roses all the time, so consider the toughest moments in your career to date and share those with us too. These are great learning opportunities and will help us understand how you approached different situations. We'll be asking questions, challenging you, and giving you feedback. We are keen to understand your thought processes.

Potential for growth.

We'll analyse your potential to grow within Significa, emphasising your learning capabilities, motivation, product and results-oriented mindset, ability to deal with feedback, and problem-solving skills.

Sometimes, we may do some on-the-spot exercises and challenges to assess how you handle stress and feedback.

Phase 2 will narrow down candidates to a maximum of three people. The selected ones will be invited to move forward to Phase 3, whereas the remainder will be appropriately notified.

If, unfortunately, your journey ends in Phase 2, don't worry: future opportunities will arrive. We'll ensure we provide you with enough feedback to help you improve so you can already start looking forward to your next interview (either with us or any other company).

Phase 3, the tough one.

Nearly there… If you get to Phase 3, it means your technical skills and expectations have been cleared.

However, as stated in Hiring criteria: Your technical skills alone won't be the reason you won't get the job; your soft skills will.

We try to have different interviewers for each stage of the process. This way, we can get a solid range of viewpoints and opinions from different people and from different angles. Well, we trust it also helps to eliminate bias.

During Phase 3, you'll meet with our Managing Partner, Rui Sereno, and another team member. This is a simple conversation where we seek to know more about you, your past experiences, your motivations, and your overall fit with Significa. We'll seek to know what moves you, what your hobbies are, and how you spend your free time — it's almost like we're going on another date, but less speedy.

In all honestly, be prepared for a few tough questions. These may bluntly push you outside of your comfort zone and be tricky to answer, but our goal is to get more information on how you react in such a context. Sometimes, clients (or life in general) will push you in this direction too, so we need to understand your ability to deal with it. But fear not, our day-to-day is not as tricky, and we are all quite relaxed.

This phase is a make-it-or-break-it one. We put significant weight on considering the best cultural fit for Significa. With our keen emphasis on teamwork and quality, we want people who are hungry to grow and succeed with others, not lone wolves who are just here to pick up a salary.

Also, do you have any questions of your own? Do you have any feedback about the process, or is there anything else you want to know? Ask it now or forever hold your peace. Well, unless you're hired. In that case, you'll have plenty of time.

Celebrations and commiserations.

With Phase 3 wrapped up, it's decision time.

Internally, we'll gather around, discuss and make a decision

Somebody will be delighted with a proposal (we hope!), and the others will be disappointed. We know it's tough, but again, our commitment is to always provide you with feedback to help you improve. We will share the reasoning behind our decision, plus any helpful advice we can pass on.

If you were the chosen one, just let us know whether you accept our proposal or not, and we'll get a contract your way (as well as all the other necessary paperwork). From here on, it’s Onboarding time.