With Airbnb, there was a change in the way people travel. It allows them to stay in someone’s house and live as a local would. However, to work for Airbnb might be a different experience than working in other big companies. Airbnb has thousands of employees and it generates billions in yearly revenues. If you check it out, there will be hundreds of job openings listed on the Airbnb career page.
So, how can you start working at Airbnb? Here is a list of things to keep in mind and know:
1. At Airbnb, culture comes first – did you know that culture is most important to Airbnb? It took them 3 months to hire their first employee. People who were in charge of hiring were instructed from the beginning to pay attention to the hiring of the first 50-100 employees. So, you might ask yourself how does Airbnb actually define its culture? Well, the answer is – inventive. They have invented a new marketplace and there was no easy way to rent someone house or bedroom over the Internet. They did not have a specific instruction book to help them in defining the marketplace, so they had to invent it.
2. You must have: passion, design sensibility, and raw intelligence – Airbnb has a vast list of qualities they are looking for when interviewing people. And, on top of the list is the passion for changing the travel industry. For them, it is more than just making money. Their goal is to connect people from various countries and their social mission is to get people to meet each other. Hence, they need candidates who agree on this purpose. Perhaps the ideal Airbnb candidate would be a resourceful self-starter who will not need a lot of guidance. The candidate needs to have a strong design sensibility, which means that you will need to be able to recognize good designs and good user experiences. These are the core things at Airbnb and it does not matter which department you work in. They are prone to hiring people who are smarter then they are. You should also be able to work in a team, be trustworthy, and have integrity.
3. The Airbnb interview – going to an Airbnb interview is quite straightforward. The company will break down the roles into six categories: product, community, customer support, marketing, engineering, and finance. Firstly, you will meet with the leader of the hiring department, and after you will meet with every team member in the department. Those who pass the process will meet the cross-section of the company, with someone who will represent each of the six categories. If all goes as planned, in the end, you will meet with two co-founders of Airbnb as the final exam. Keep in mind that Airbnb does not care about what you wear if you want you could show up in jeans and flip flops, but their main concern is the qualities that you will bring to their teams and the company itself.
4. Quirks that work – a company that defines itself as an inventive one is looking to hire people who will stand out from the crowd. So, in order to get hired, you will need to embody the word “inventive”. For example, the director of marketing for Airbnb applied with a comic book in his hands. He had drawn a two-page comic book about why he wanted to work for the company and who he was. Standing out from the crowd is the key to getting hired by Airbnb.
Conclusion
So, in order to be hired by Airbnb, being creative and inventive is the key here. Keep in mind that they put up a new list of job opportunities almost weekly, so do not waste any time and go job hunting!
