The quest for the best minds.

At Finlabs, we’ve collectively latched on to the line “Where the best minds live” as a descriptor for the company. This came from a number of workshop sessions where the leadership rolled around the big ideas of what makes us different, what makes us better, what makes us stand out.

Of course, we danced around the cookie-cutter responses of being faster and better quality, etc. All attributes that are valid and things we DO think we excel at. But the fact is, everybody makes those claims so their meaning and impact are greatly watered down. Nobody is ever going to sell themselves as “We’re not the fastest, and our work is passable”. However, what we kept coming back to was our team, what the impact of the team we’ve crafted is, and what they represent.

We have made it a point to be laser-focused on our talent pool when growing our company. We’re premium, and clients we work for pay a premium price for our services. So it’s important for us to maintain top-notch skills and an extremely high performing team. The toolbelt of hard skills is a must-have. However, these skills are connected to people and personalities and that means looking at the whole package to find our “best minds”. The following are some of our key points of interest when looking out for talent for Finlabs.

Filling all skill gaps

Finlabs is about innovating end-to-end design and development for product and services. That requires a lot of people, a lot of knowledge, and a lot of compartmentalized skills. We need to fill all those gaps, large and small, so we look to get into the specializations of individuals to make sure we have all the skills on tap to tackle any problem that we’re faced with. Too often at companies titles are viewed too broadly. A designer is a designer … and, therefore, I go to them assuming they can do anything related to design. That same attitude is maybe less prevalent in development, but it does still exist.

Within the confines of our design team, we break it down into distinct specializations such as animation, UX, brand, service design, presentation design, illustration, etc. This is also a very fluid list that moves with the times and moves with trends. They can be further broken to even more specific subtopics such as illustration styles, specific knowledge in tools, etc. The end game is that everyone on the team has their piece of the puzzle that they are the master of, the go-to person, the team member that tackles that ask with ease and excellence…and can steer and coach others to reach this excellence as well.

Development is handled the same way with specific platforms and coding languages being sought out in our recruitment process. Again, this list of skills requirements and desires that can change on a daily basis as technology evolves.

The “click” factor

At the end of the day, we are clear that teams form the solid foundation ensuring we live up to the quality and speed of our work. What we do is not a one-man-show. That means our teams need to, quite simply, get along and “click” together.

During our recruiting process, we are keenly focused on many aspects of an individual that can be completely separate from their hard skills. Everyone can look good on paper after all. Personality is something that really needs to be assessed through more direct contact.

Is there a distinct personality type? In short, no. We have to look beyond just the personality of the individual and look at where we want them to slot within our organization. Who do we have at the company already that these new recruits will be working with? What’s the dynamic of any team they may be joining and the personalities that already gel well within it? Just because an individual may be more introverted it doesn’t mean they cannot be a leader. It simply means they must be surrounded by people they feel comfortable leading. At Finlabs, it's more about matchmaking.

Ambition and curiosity

These seem like a simple asks, but beyond a candidate simply expressing their desire to be the best, we look for other indicators to see what their real desires are. What are their passions outside of work and what drives them to pursue them? When they talk about past work or jobs do they talk about what they learned, or what they want to learn better, as a result of those experiences? Do they have a strong direction or specific interest and passion within their potential role that they have eyes on pursuing? If we can answer some of these questions as a result of talking to our candidate, we generally get a better idea of how this person is going to conduct themselves in work, and how they are going to approach the work handed to them. We want people that want to grow and evolve constantly at Finlabs, otherwise, it’s wasted desk space.

Infectious enthusiasm and attitude

When someone is in love with what they are doing the energy they express through their work is infectious. The more enthusiasm and “Knuckle-down and get it done” attitudes we have within the walls of Finlabs will mean these traits will grow and expand. When working in teams the worst thing you can do as an individual is let down others on your team who are driven to succeed. If people are enthused and confident about the success of a team or a project, the rest of the people in a close-knit team will also ride on that and grow their own enthusiasm to match it. One person pushing innovation and boundaries within a team will ensure all will. One person pushing to meet a deadline or milestone will ensure the whole team is driven in that same direction with that same goal. The more enthusiastic people we surround with similarly enthusiastic people will ensure that enthusiasm is multiplied, confidence is raised, morale is up, and anything is achievable.

In conclusion, there obviously isn't a defined checklist for finding the best people. Recruiting at Finlabs is about team building. Teams are all built around different tasks and clients and, as a result, come in all shapes, sizes, and personalities. The personality matches and traits are arguably more important to us than the hard skills and experience someone brings to the table. Skills and experience can be grown. Personality matches cannot be forced. They are found and formed and are the glue that makes a team connect and succeed.

The best “best minds” are found in successful teams.

About the Author:

Dave Papworth is Finlabs Creative Cultivator and Product Leader. His career so far has taken him through multimedia, development, design, innovation and ultimately Finlabs.

While working in the advertising industry he led teams focused on technical innovation and how it can be leveraged for marketing campaigns and brand building platforms, creating forward-thinking projects that have been showcased at events like Googles Sandbox, and even recognized in Time Magazine as an “Invention of the Year”.

At Finlabs, his focus is on building the team that can tackle any challenge, look beyond their boundaries, and to grow the collaborative relationships we desire with our clients.