This page is maintained by @Stephane Roux

TL;DR: We have a consistent hiring philosophy that we use across all roles. Here are the principles that guide our talent acquisition process.

Introduction

We have a consistent hiring philosophy that we use across all roles. Our Culture & Values describe what we look for in people. Depending on the role and the level of seniority, we interpret the values differently, but they are still the same values. Beyond that, we have 4 principles that guide our hiring efforts.

Principles

We build our team based on spikes, not lack of weaknesses

The biggest achievements come from people who do something they are really good at. Those people might not be good at everything else, and that's fine. We select people for their spikes and encourage them to develop those further. We expect a certain minimum level of competency across the board, but beyond that we look what people do best, not at the sum of their skills.

We prefer small, powerful teams

Great products are often built by small teams. Growing the team often means adding overhead and taking away spontaneity, speed and creativity. We are trying to stay as small as we can because we want to stay fast and effective. In short, we optimise for the density of talent, not the volume.

The best contributors don't need to be managers

Being a manager is not a sign of achievement, seniority or status. It's a specific role that some people choose to grow into and is a skillset in its own right. We create space for exceptional contributors to stay contributors for as long as they want. In fact, we strive to find the best and most experienced contributors for our teams without forcing them into a manager role. At Wonder, people can continue to grow where their sweet spot is, and this is reflected in our compensation policy.

References:

We prefer to take in person references where possible; this is typically before we conclude and make an offer to someone.

These type of references give us valuable insight into the real potential of each hire.

This approach has made a huge contribution to the success of our hires and allowed us to onboard people with a greater understanding of their needs.

We hire for potential

If people already had all the skills required to do the job perfectly, they'd get bored within months. It's perfectly natural for people to learn on the job. If people satisfy a reasonable portion of the requirements, we are interested to learn about how they can grow and develop - not just into role, but beyond.