One of the main reasons my partners and I have started our company was creating a place where we would enjoy coming to work every day. And the key factor to that is people we work with.

We were looking for like-minded employees that share our values, passion, and ambition to change how companies do information technology.

That is why I was personally engaged in most of our 113 recruitments in nearly 7-year Predica history (we are now 63 people strong).

We have successfully recruited IT professionals from Poland, Ukraine, and Hungary from such strong brands as Microsoft, IBM, Morgan Stanley.

Many of the people with whom we parted ways have done an amazing career advancement within few years in Predica. They have landed jobs in Switzerland, Qatar or Microsoft in Poland.

Why we pay so much attention to recruitment?

For us recruitment is not about finding resources for projects, filling headcounts.

Technical skills are less important for us than values, commitment, attitude, and passion. Therefore we see recruitment more like a business and personal meeting in one.

You have some purpose why you do what you do, and so do we, at Predica. If we find that these purposes are aligned, we have a good chance of achieving together more.

Believe there is a smarter way to do IT so that people can focus on meaningful work and want to have a real impact to make this change happen? Meet with us.

If you do decide to get on this journey (and it will be a journey – we “hire slow, fire fast“) read on to understand this process and increase your chances of success in it.

When to apply to Predica?

There are lots of really good IT companies in Poland – no wonder we are one of the world leaders in this industry. Some of these companies are our competitors, especially when it comes to the local labor market which is getting more and more competitive.

The global unemployment rate in Poland reached a 26-year low. But each of these companies is different, and if you are going to spend the next 3-4 years, 40 hours a week, it makes sense to take some time first to understand what you want to do in that time and how.

Below are some of the aspects:

1. You are technically savvy – only our marketing and administration staff are less technical (but still need to know their way around data analysis through Excel).
2. You are into Microsoft technologies and platforms.
3. You are eager to learn new things, meet new people from different countries.
4. You value efficiency of work organization – you like ‘getting things done’.

How to do well in Predica recruitment journey?

There are some good, informal tips from Tomasz, our CTO, on his personal blog. Worth reading.

Below I will outline the process in some more details:

Step #1: Double check and send us CV

Surprised? During few years of running recruitments, I’ve noticed that people send CV without checking the grammar or spelling – and often with English mentioned as fluent language. Some of the most common mistakes:

Mistake No.1 The title is different than your name

Usually when you download CV template from the internet – which is not bad – pay attention to the details. It’s very often when we open CV from John Doe.

Mistake No.2 You don’t pay attention to the formats

Experience is bold while education is italic. Especially if you are applying for a position in marketing or HR, your CV should be flawless in format and ease of reading.

Mistake No.3 CV without phone number

Is it some trend that nowadays CV with perfect graphic design doesn’t contain your phone number? We have received a lot of them, and lucky for our candidate we have a lot of patience, and we write an email asking for a phone number.
Such mistake can cost you your dream job.

Mistake No.4 CV is too long

We understand you want to share as much of your experience as possible, but usually, 2 pages are enough (a 1 page per 10 years’ experience seems a good rule of thumb).

Mistake No.5 Focus on actions instead of results

Try to convince us with your results at previous jobs, rather than just listing your responsibilities. In Predica we always have the end goal in mind – working just for the sake of working is not for us.

Step #2: First call

The first call is always with our HR specialist to get an understanding of your motivation for a job change. We will check your soft and language skills, culture match.

It’s always welcome if you know something about our company – what we are doing, who we are, why you want to work with us, and what you can “bring to the table”.

Think through what dragged your attention in our job offer, what are your expectations about working in Predica, don’t hesitate to ask questions. Don’t stress – we want to know you better, we don’t eat people 😉

Mistake No.1 Conversation no matter of circumstances

It may sound silly, but we can hear what you are doing right now. You never know when a recruiter calls you, but if you cannot talk – we understand that. There is no need to talk with us while you’re in a hurry – running for a bus stop, or during your lunch, hoping that we don’t hear you swallow your pizza.

Mistake No.2 Disconnecting on purpose

We can hear if you disconnect by accident or on purpose. If you don’t know English and you’re asked for a short conversation don’t pretend that you’re losing signal 🙂

Mistake No.3 Unwilling to talk

If we call you, we know what is in your CV. When we ask you about your experience that means that we would like to know you better. Don’t send us back to your CV.

Mistake No.4 What is Predica

When you are looking for a job you often send your CV to hundreds (?) of companies. We know that and understand, though we don’t recommend it. At Predica we value FOCUS.

But when we call you, don’t act like you hear the name of our company for the first time. You don’t have to know every single detail of our website, but at least pronounce the name of the company correctly.

Step #3: Technical task

The task will always be something in candidate domain of knowledge as well as something that is similar to everyday work duties. It will help you judge if this position is for you and we can assess that you are suitable for this position.

The quality of the deliverable is very important. Don’t be afraid to ask questions about the task. If anything is unclear it’s always better to ask than send it not properly done, but, at the same time be careful what kind of questions you ask. Asking smart questions is part of a consultant’s job.

Mistake No.1 You don’t try to solve a task

Most common: you do not attempt to solve the task! It is beneficial not only for us but also for you as well. Why?

We will give you detailed feedback on the task completed: what was good and what was the weak part of it. It allows you to improve for future interviews in Predica or elsewhere as well as learning something in the process!

(BTW – we love learning new things, if you don’t, don’t apply:)) The task is closely related to what will be expected of you in your job. If you are up to the challenge, then we offer you an indefinite contract after standard 3 months’ probation period.

And last of all, if you filled the task stage, and even don’t get a job proposal after final stage, or invited to the next stage, there is a much higher chance you will be invited to our next recruitment process, as candidates from our existing database with completed at least part of interview process have a preference.

Mistake No.2 You don’t meet deadline

One of our key company values is delivering on our promise. We will ask you during the first call if you are ready to take up the challenge of a technical task. If you agree, and upon seeing the task decide its “over your head” – let us know! We prefer honesty than lack of communication.

Mistake No.3 Copying from the internet

Copying part of the solution from the internet, not testing it, or not spending enough time on preparing it. We will analyze your deliverable (answers to questions, script, code) in detail and look for good patterns, even things like naming, structure.
It is important for a consultant to be able to formulate his thoughts ‘on paper’ in a concise manner. The quality of the response tells us a lot about your approach as well as commitment.

Step #4: Interview

Face 2 face meeting is an occasion to get to know each other better, talk about job position in detail, visit our office. Subject Matter Expert will verify task performed in the previous step along with how the candidate meets job requirements by doing a technical interview.

Head of Business Unit will be your direct manager and meeting with him is a test for both – candidate and manager – is there understanding, do you want to work together. If you are a seasoned professional applying for a principal or architect level position, the interview will also be with one of the managing partners. Mostly formalities, but we must be sure that you have the same attitude, culture, and values as founders of the company. Be prepared for any of the below elements of the face2face interview:

• Technical questions from easy conceptual ones to deeper technical, e.g. What’s a difference in hashtable vs array in Powershell?
• Situational/behavioral questions, e.g. Can you name one of your failures in your professional career? What did you learn from it?
• Logical riddles (approach is more important than end result).
• Design sessions at the whiteboard, role-playing with us playing the customer, e.g. Imagine you are the product owner of Microsoft SharePoint. What 2 things you would change in the product? What 2 things you would add to it? Why?
• Getting to know you: what book did you read recently?

Again. Don’t stress! We will talk about your approach, how you did the task, your career. We want to ensure that in Predica you will find what you are looking for and more!

Last tip

Have fun! We like to laugh, have a joke together, meet and get to know you. Even if we do not end up working together now, the IT world is small, and we might meet later.

So don’t miss our job offers.