Project: а) upcoming Match 3 Epic RPG; b) upcoming Match-3 Story.
Profile of the desirable candidate
The client (Turkish company) was looking for a candidate with 3-4+ years of experience in the role plus with management experience, fluent English, skills of working with Unity shaders and particle systems and good game feeling (match-3 genre).
They immediately rejected candidates with poor English, without the ability to write or change shaders, as well as with experience purely in slots/social casino projects.
The client was looking for a candidate for remote cooperation. The option of relocating to Istanbul was offered after the trial period if the candidate wished.
Challenges
- The real challenge was that the company was not known in the market. The startup was founded in the spring of 2021. There were no released projects and no big names in the team.
- Another difficulty was that the direct Head of this Technical Artist was just joining the staff of the company. So we started the search for a candidate with the CEO, and he didn’t have much time and technical expertise to conduct interviews. Therefore, the process was slower than Values Value standards. The screenings were already in the first week of our work, but the first technical interviews took place only 1.5 months later.
- The client really wanted candidates with experience in the role of Technical Artist and in casual mobile games. But the problem was that in companies making the games of this genre, there is not always a Technical Artist title, there are more often Animators and Technical Designers who are responsible for such a scope of tasks.
- Another challenge for recruiters was a complex role profile. On the one hand, the company needed a specialist with experience in management and ambitions to become a leader in the future. And on the other hand, this strong specialist had to work independently as the only inhouse Tech Artist in the company (before that they worked with outsourcing).
- Additional difficulty – not all Tech Artists write shaders.
- The peculiarity of the project was also the reason for the frequent refusals of candidates. The Match-3 genre has become very unattractive for candidates, as few studios managed to make a hit in this genre lately.
What helped to fill the vacancy
- We prepared a presentation about the company and projects for the candidates, which increased their trust to the employer.
- Together with the client, we emphasized the selling points of projects, shifted the focus to the meta of the game. That is, we described the projects not as Match-3, but as a narrative driven RPG-a game in the genre of Match-3 with innovative mechanics and a sandbox with collecting and creating a new world, as well as with a strong narrative side.
- Constant communication with the client. We spoke up about the difficulties, demonstrated the realities of the market and offered ideas. The company listened to our opinion and transferred candidates to the reserve for whom there were doubts, and did not immediately reject them. If we hadn’t found 100% fit for the initial requirements, we would have returned to those who were in reserve.
- We entered the global market and focused on specific successful companies where there could be potentially the specialists we needed.
- Requesting recommendations from colleagues on the market also helped us find the Right One Candidate.
In the end, we found and hired a candidate from Zynga. We managed to attract him with the level of independence in this role and the fact that the projects are at an early stage.
From the Values Value side, the process was owned by Anna Vaschenko, the Recruitment Lead. The sourcer on the project was Sergey Mynchenko, the Talent Sourcer. Great job!
