Easy Interview – Overall Positive Experience – Yes, and I accepted – 1 of 1 found this helpful – Sat, 24 Jan 2015
Interviewed Jun 2014(took 180 days)
This is a write up for the San Francisco development team.
Standard process:
Phone screen with HR - The HR contact, Shawn McGrady, was forthcoming with a significant amount of information about the process and what I could expect going forward. He was very helpful with information about staffing needs for the studio, current staffing, projects that were hiring for the position (without details about the actual project - keeping confidential info close to his sleeve until an NDA was signed), some details about the technology being used for the projects. He was forthright about how long the process would likely take - 6 months. (And was spot on in his estimate!) Asked standard questions: Relevant previous experience, why Ubisoft, why was I looking for a new position, strengths/weaknesses, etc.
Phone call with who would be direct supervisor - Standard questions about production experience. Conversation about exposure to both on and off site internal teams, communication style and channels, communication process, problem solving skills, experience with outsourcing and insourcing, how I evaluate for improving processes and come to a strategy, mentality about how to work with a team and leadership qualities, my thoughts on communication style for studios - open/semi-closed etc.
On site with who would be direct supervisor and studio head over lunch - There was a little more information about the project, not enough to know exactly what it was, but general things - genre, play style, production phase status and upcoming challenges. They were very open about studio culture information, discussion about what games they were currently playing, the good and bad about those games. It was clear that the studio is one full of people who enjoy games and who want to make great games. This seemed to mostly be about communication style, passion for games, and fit in the production group and project leadership.
Onsite with leads in the studio, most from the project I was being targeted for - 6 hours of mostly individual meetings with about 8 people. List of folks to chat with was HR Manager, Tech Lead for the studio, Studio Creative Director, Lead Designer, Associate Producer and Production Coordinator, Senior Producer and Studio EP. A lot of the questions were about what I thought I could help them with/how I could make an immediate impact, and in particular my communication style - open and frank. A few questions from folks about why Ubisoft and why SF in particular. And a LOT of talk about games. What I was playing at the time, what they were playing at the time and our thoughts on and experience with each. The full day interview included an off site lunch, and conversation over lunch was mostly about communication style and culture fit - not specifically about production and work but a general fit for the studio.
Interview Questions
All questions were pretty standard. No real curve balls.
Answer Question
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview, 1:1 Interview and a Group/Panel Interview