Hiring partners are a key part of our approach when it comes to securing your future career success. Knowing what constitutes in-demand talent means understanding what top companies are looking for in their candidates. But there’s more to it even than that. Direct partnerships with amazing companies not only allows us to learn exactly what skills our students need to master to land the best jobs (and build the right curricula accordingly), but it provides a direct path to employment. So yes, we want you to Be In Demand, but even more than that, we want you get hired!
To give you a closer look at how this process really works, we’d like to introduce you to one of our hiring partners, Rakuten. Rakuten runs the largest e-commerce site in Japan. They provide a variety of consumer and business-focused services including e-commerce, e-reading, travel, banking, securities, credit card, e-money, portal and media, online marketing and professional sports. They’re headquartered in Japan, and have over 12, 000 employees and partner staff worldwide.
More importantly, they’re hiring Udacity graduates! In fact, they literally just hired two more, almost as I was writing this!
Francois Bergeron is responsible for recruiting engineers at Rakuten, and we’re very grateful that he was able to take some time recently to answer some questions about Rakuten’s approach to hiring, and specifically, about his experience with hiring Udacity graduates. Thank you so much Francois!
Q: What is your hiring process like end-to-end for a candidate interested in a job at Rakuten?
Francois: We first ask for each candidate to take a coding challenge. This test aims at making sure candidates have the basic technical knowledge to be successful at Rakuten. Once this is done, the first interview is a technical one. Then there’s a meeting with team members and leaders to make sure there’s a strong culture fit.
Q: Rakuten has recently hired two Android engineers through Udacity. What made these two candidates stand out to you as you were reviewing them?
Francois: They stood out because of their technical skills (they did very well on our test). We also value the quest and curiosity for constant education that Udacity students display. The fact that some of the students seek to refine their skills while already working full-time is very impressive and valuable to us. The drive that Udacity students have for learning about new technologies—and the go-getter spirit they display—is completely in line with our organization’s culture.
As can be seen from these valuable insights Francois has shared, it’s not just about technical skills, and it’s not just about culture fit. It’s about the whole candidate. It’s about drive, and motivation, and talent, and skills, and desire. It’s about intellectual curiosity, technical curiosity, and having a growth mindset. With partners like Rakuten to work with, we learn more everyday about what it takes to be in demand in today’s hiring landscape. This in turn informs everything we build, from curricula to career services.
Sure, we could just teach cutting-edge skills. We’ve certainly got the curriculum partners to do so. But what Francois—and leading companies like Rakuten—teach us is that something more is required to truly support learners in their drive to succeed.
We are so grateful to Francois and to Rakuten for their partnership, and for the opportunities they continue to provide for our graduates.
By the way, they’re hiring!
