How to talk to GameDev recruiters on Linkedin? And first of all – why should you even consider doing that?

What you’ll find in this article?

1. Why should you even bother talking to the recruiters? What are they even good for
2. How do recruiters work?
3. How does talking to recruiters might help you achieve your gamedev career goals?
4. How to talk to a recruiter on LinkedIn? – tips
   1. I really liked the offer the recruiter approached me about, but I’m afraid I’m not fulfilling all the criteria.
   2. I really liked the offer the recruiter approached me about, but I’m not looking for a new job.
   3. I really liked the offer the recruiter approached me about, but the salary is below my range.
   4. I didn’t like the offer the recruiter approached me with.
   5. The offer is cool and all, but I don’t know the company name/salary range/anything else.

–

Why should you even bother talking to the recruiters? What are they even good for?

Before we get to the meaty part, let’s discuss your options during job searching in game development?

• you can obviously go through an endless list of job opportunities on job boards
• You can check jobs available on our job board (smooth, right? 😏)
• you can also apply directly to the studios you’re interested in
• You can reach a recruiter or a headhunter. For free. I know that you might not even consider that as an option, but let me tell you why it’s actually the best idea!

Recruiters are your partners. Chill out; we don’t bite.

Recruiters are usually in touch with multiple hiring managers and studios.

We are familiar with current industry trends or gossip. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

• We know what’s going on in the industry
• we can identify your pain points
• we can point you to the teams that have a great working culture

We’re really not looking to deceive you or fool you into interviewing for a totally irrelevant opening because it really doesn’t profit anyone.

Pssst… imagine that while we spend our time persuading you to take a job you’re not interested in, we actually waste time we could use to offer that specific job to someone who might be interested. So you see – recruiters gain nothing in pushing you into irrelevant jobs for you.

But you might want to help us a bit and create a Linkedin profile that will help you get only relevant offers.

Here is how: Article with killer tips for building a killer Linkedin profile to attract recruiters and get hired faster

How do recruiters work?

So if you want to know what exactly recruiters do…

We’re headhunting for the RIGHT candidate for the SPECIFIC role.

What does that mean?

• Candidates must fulfill the requirements of the job
• but the job must also be attractive for the candidates and meet their career goals

It’s a two-way street! This is the only way to be effective and fill the job opening.

How does talking to recruiters might help you achieve your gamedev career goals?

• Recruiters can share some guidelines or insights from the company’s perspective.
• Recruiters can help you prepare for the interview, tell you about the current market standards, etc.
• Recruiters can give you useful tips to build a failproof resume and portfolio

Of course, the worst advice is the one that you haven’t asked for, but as soon as you do, we’ll do our best to support you.

This is precisely why a recruiter is your partner in the recruiting process.

You can read more about that in the article: Why recruiters are your best allies.

How to talk to GameDev recruiters on LinkedIn? – tips

Usually, the first interaction with a recruiter is on LinkedIn*. You see a message in your inbox waiting for your reply – what do you do?

Reply! Even if you’re not interested at the time. (srsly)

Even better would be if you tell us what kind of roles you’re currently interested in if this one is a bad fit for you. 70% of the time, we actually have other openings that might be relevant for you!

*Want to receive more relevant offers from recruiters? Build a killer Linkedin profile with our guide.

(Btw – follow our LinkedIn company profile – you can easily reach our recruiters here)

The golden rule for every interaction with a recruiter is to BE HONEST, AND TRANSPARENT.

Here’s a short QA on the topic and tips for talking to a recruiter:

Q: I really liked the offer the recruiter approached me about, but I’m afraid I’m not fulfilling all the criteria.

A: When in doubt – ask! You can share your doubts on the LinkedIn chat, or we can jump on a short call to discuss this.

Sometimes, there is some flexibility in the hiring manager’s requirements that we know about. However, the overall skills and expertise you’d bring are way more important than one checkbox in the candidate’s profile you’re not ticking.

But we can’t tell you that if we don’t know if that’s what bothers you.

Suppose you’re actively looking for a new gig. In that case, we’ll be happy to learn about your experience so far and the position you are looking for. There is always a chance we’ll be able to pitch a different, more relevant offer during that call!

Q: I really liked the offer the gamedev recruiters approached me about, but I’m not looking for a new job.

A: Then the possible option is to reply. It’s best to keep in touch as there is a chance we’ll have a good job opportunity for you once you actually start looking.

If you already know that you might be open to changing your job, please let us know when it might happen, so we can get back to you, and you don’t even have to remember about it! It’s normal in the game industry.

Q: I really liked the offer the gamedev recruiters approached me about, but the salary is below my range.

A: The best way to approach this issue is to… be vocal about it. Bring it to the recruiter’s attention. Communication is the key.

We don’t want to push you into a job that’s not meeting your salary expectations.

However, sometimes there is room for negotiation or offers with bigger budgets.

Worst case scenario: even if we won’t have an offer that suits your needs, but we’ll be able to share offers with higher budgets in the future. We need to know what compensation you would be ok with.

It doesn’t hurt to talk 🙂

Q: I didn’t like the offer the recruiter approached me with. (hey, it happens too!)

A: Again – let us know :). A short explanation of why it’s not something you’re interested in will be more than enough. It will help us share better and more relevant offers with you in the future.

Q: The offer is cool and all, but I don’t know the company name/salary range/anything else.

A: Why don’t you ask? 🙂 We’re really not trying to fool anyone and hide info. We also cannot share your CV with companies you’re already in touch with, so it serves us both.

I hope that this little GameDev Recruiters on Linkedin FAQ will help you build your GameDev career.

And if there are any questions, doubts, issues we haven’t tackled in this article –

Let us know so we can add them and share even more insights!

Have scheduled a job interview with the studio? Here are some tips for nailing it: CLICK.