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Minny Abels is the global HR director for Virtuos, where opportunity abounds.
What differentiates your studio from other developers?
As one of the largest independent game developers, we have best practices and a cloud-based infrastructure that enable teams worldwide to successfully work on global projects and share knowledge. Employees are offered the opportunity to work on a wide variety of projects, as well as to master cutting-edge technologies through training and development. What perks are available to working at your studio?
‘The Virtuos Deal’ encapsulates our employee value proposition across three pillars – Play, Grow, and Win. It comprises employee benefits and measures that are regularly reviewed and optimized per feedback over time – including: Family: We support our people in the most important aspects of life, empowering them to fulfill their personal needs. We offer flexible working for parents, extra family care leave days, and in certain markets, even interest free loans for high-performing employees to purchase their homes.
Welfare: Additional paid time off and healthcare coverage above statutory requirements in most markets. In China, meal allowances were also provided during the pandemic, and at the height of the lockdowns, care packages were delivered to employees as it was hard to access food. Self-development: We take pride in the continuous learning of our employees regardless of seniority and durations of service. With the ‘Teach Back’ scholarship, colleagues can apply for training allowance, and they share what they have learned with their teams – creating a virtuous cycle. In China, we also offer Executive Management Training in collaboration with the French Chamber and Skema, a top French Business University – three batches of employees have completed the programme to date.
As an equal opportunity employer, compensation, development, and advancement are not bound to gender, race, age, or any arbitrary categorisation. This also extends to the way we communicate internally and embrace different viewpoints through open Q&A sessions, as well as regular town halls to transparently share our organisational direction and strategy in an inclusive manner.
What advice would you give for a successful interview at your studio?
Come prepared: Do your homework – learn about the company and what your role entails. For production roles (including artists and designers), be prepared to show your portfolio of work. While education is important, portfolios provide visual representations of your achievements and can better showcase your competence and fit.
Show your passion: Are you a gamer or someone who’s just interested in the industry itself? Either is great, but we want to hear your story. Share your personal motivations for joining and how we can create synergies. Be confident: Ask questions, offer perspectives, show interest, and be honest. Speak to interviewers on an equal footing and be confident about the value you can bring.
If you have recruited internationally, what is the process like?
As a global company, looking into profiles across the world to search for suitable candidates is a large part of our recruiting team’s work. Our local recruiters handpick talent who are not only best suited for their specific markets, but also for any of our studios worldwide.
All suitable candidates are added to our one, unified global hiring and tracking system, which manages our recruitment process for local, overseas and remote roles. All successful candidates, international or remote, will then receive onboarding support and an introductory guide that outlines our company values, services, organisational structure, employee benefits, and common software.
What is the culture like at your studio?
While culture evolves over time, there are core elements that should be evergreen. For Virtuos, these are excellence, trust, positivity. Trust and respect are particularly important for our talent spread worldwide. They help us deliver best-in-class work on global projects, which in turn builds our clients’ trust in us. Positivity also ensures our people stay resilient through uncertainties, and we learn from one another’s strengths every day. Ultimately, we are driven by passionate people who embody our values and purpose of making games better, together.
