How to get noticed by Netflix job recruiters who can help you get hired, according to company insiders

Ashley Rodriguez

Feb 5, 2020, 22:30 IST

How to get noticed by Netflix job recruiters who can help you get hired, according to company insiders

Beth Dubber/Netflix

Netflix's "Atypical"

One of the first big steps to getting hired at Netflix is getting on the radar of one of its in-house recruiters.
Business Insider spoke with Netflix's head of recruiting, former Netflix employees, and outside staffing experts to learn how to get noticed.
Craft your online persona to catch the eye of Netflix recruiters, ask Netflix employees for advice on what skillsets to build for the job you want and for referrals, and attend events hosted or attended by Netflix when possible.
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Netflix has built up, over the last few years, a team of roughly 200 recruiters who are tasked with filling the hundreds of job openings at the streaming company.

Netflix, like many other large companies, handles most of its staffing itself, and getting noticed by one of its recruiters is the first big step toward landing a job there.

Business Insider spoke with Netflix's head of recruiting, former Netflix employees, and outside staffing experts to learn how to get on a recruiter's radar.

These were their top tips.

Step 1: Craft your online persona to tell your story

Netflix recruiters think about both skillset and culture when searching for potential candidates.

One of the best ways to get noticed by Netflix is to craft your LinkedIn and other professional profiles, and social accounts, to show you have chops for the job and are enthusiastic about Netflix's culture.

Start by doing your research - read Netflix's famed culture and think about its values, like impact, passion, and courage that you can play up in your resume or LinkedIn profile. You could highlight projects, for example, that have had a measurable impact, or big risks you took that paid off.

Then, check out Netflix's "WeAreNetflix" social accounts for the skills you should highlight in resume and professional profiles. The accounts often share advice from recruiters and hiring managers. Netflix's creative-production team is a huge hiring priority for the company in 2020, and a recent "WeAreNetflix" podcast episode featured the team's leader, Rochelle King, who broke down some of the skills the group looks for.

Netflix also looks for people who are passionate about entertainment, which hiring hopefuls could show simply by including a favorite TV show, movie, book, video game, etc., on their social accounts.

It helps to have an active, professional presence on social media, as well.

"When our recruiters are going out trying to find the best talent, we're going to go where the talent is," Valarie Toda, vice president of talent acquisition at Netflix, told Business Insider in a January interview. "If you're looking for designers, designers sometimes show their product on their social-media accounts. We go on Twitter and see who's talking about specific problems."

On Twitter, Netflix recruiters have found candidates in niche engineering fields around the world by searching for people who were tweeting thoughtfully about topics like machine learning, data science, and security, Toda said. She said recruiters also read music and other creative magazines to find candidates for an editorial writer job.

"It really is about going where the talent is and where they're showcasing their skills so that we can connect with them," Toda said.

Step 2: Work your personal and professional network

A recommendation from a Netflix employee is one of the best ways to get noticed by a recruiter.

Netflix doesn't offer bonuses or other incentives to employees for referring job candidates, so employees will generally vouch for people they really believe in.

"Usually, you hire somebody and they're a gold mine of referrals," one former Netflix employee said. "Referrals by people on your team carry a lot of weight."

Candidates who are referred by Netflix employees will often get a 30-minute phone call from a recruiter if there's an opening the person might be a fit for.

If you're interested in a referral, start with Netflix employees you have something in common with - maybe you worked at the same company in the past or went to the same college. While Netflix hires from all over, The University of Southern California; The University of California, Los Angeles; and New York University are the three top schools Netflix employees have studied at, according to LinkedIn.

If you're working on step one and are not yet ready to apply, you could also ask a Netflix employee for coffee or a phone call to get advice about what skillsets you should be building and how you can break into the industry.

Read more about how employee referrals work at Netflix: How to get a job interview at Netflix with the help of employee referrals - and what to avoid doing, according to company insiders

Step 3: Look for Netflix at industry and community events

Netflix, like many other companies, also hosts and attends industry events that it uses as opportunities to speak with potential job candidates.

It attends industry-association events where it meets candidates. It also hosts events at its campuses around the world, like one this week in Los Angeles, California that will be hosted by its product-engineering team.

You can find out about these events by following Netflix's social channels, especially its "WeAreNetflix" handle. Netflix usually shares the details online, as do its employees.

Be sure to exchange contact information with the Netflix recruiters and employees you connect with at the events, and follow up afterward to share your work or ask about openings you might be a fit for.