Things you want to know before coming for an interview at Microblink (Croatia)
September 21, 2022
If you’re considering joining Microblink’s team, it’s natural that you still have a lot of unknowns even after doing some research.
Our candidates in Croatia typically ask a similar set of questions the first time we meet. And we love your questions! We take it as a sign of curiosity and genuine interest.
Some questions, though, are so frequently asked that we think it would be valuable if you got the answers upfront.
So, we prepared a list of the most commonly asked questions to allow more time to focus on what matters the most during our 1:1 conversation – and that’s finding out how well we match! Besides, sometimes it’s hard to think of everything you want to ask during the interview, so these answers could offer some inspiration and pave a way to a deeper conversation.
1. Tell me more about the job role.
You will find that the job ad describes not only the tasks and requirements of the role, but also the purpose of the role and why it matters to the company. We also try to answer as best we can the question that you certainly must be wondering about: “What’s in it for me if I join you?” We pay a lot of attention to the job ad, making sure that every single word is meaningful. If you read it carefully, it should give you a pretty accurate picture of the role.
This is why, in our first conversation, we don’t want to spend much time talking about the role in depth; there will be a chance for you to go into that later on with the hiring manager.
Instead, we want to focus mostly on getting to know you as a person. That is, we want to find out about your personal values and see how well they match with our company values.
It doesn’t mean, however, that we cannot talk about the role. For instance, the recruiter could tell you about a typical day in your role based on the info from team members and the hiring manager.
Moreover, we want to discuss the purpose and the business impact you will have if you join us. We love doing that by describing the first 90 days’ expectations for that particular role. This way, you can visualize your first months of working with us.
For more details about how to prepare for an interview at Microblink, click here.
2. What will my career path look like?
Microblink is rapidly growing, and new positions are constantly popping out. This means a lot of diverse and new career opportunities in the organization!
You’d probably like to know that we have career ladders for every position, including student roles, and we keep developing them for every new role. This system allows you (and us) to assess your skills and see what it takes for you to jump onto a higher seniority level.
Your manager will play a central role in your career growth through regular feedback and performance evaluation. But there are also other tools to support you, such as mentoring, job shadowing, learning and development programs, an education budget for up-skilling, etc.
Having said that, it’s worth noting that career paths don’t always follow a straight line. Plenty of our teammates have started as students in one area only to discover they have talents in a completely different area and decided to pursue that path. Whereas others have started as juniors, and today they are team leaders and heads of departments. The path of your career depends primarily on you: on your interests, strengths, and aspirations and of course, your willingness to embrace new challenges.
And while we do cherish your growth and want you to grow, it’s important to keep in mind that growth includes many different things, career advancement being just one of them. It also includes learning new skills, developing your expertise, or growing in your niche. It’s OK if you’re not interested in entering the leadership track. Not everyone wants that, and we respect that.
3. Are there any learning and development opportunities?
We’re proud to say there are numerous learning and development opportunities and resources at Microblink!
We have a Learning & Development specialist who runs several soft skill workshops a few times a month for any employee who wants to participate, such as assertiveness, communication, conflict and time management.
You will also have an opportunity to engage in 1:1 coaching sessions with our L&D specialist if you want a more individualized approach to your self development.
There is also an internal learning platform where you can find various webinars, blogs, articles and courses.
And if you love to expand your horizons through reading, you might enjoy our internal library that keeps growing, meaning you can order any book you think might be useful to you or your colleagues!
Furthermore, you will get an individual education budget to grow in your field of expertise.
We also organize and visit a lot of meetups and networking events that make us grow in our areas of expertise. For instance, this year, our Machine Learning team traveled to New Orleans to spend time at one of the most popular conferences in this domain, The Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition. We find conferences useful to expand our team knowledge, network and exchange ideas with other professionals in the field.
4. What about remote work?
First, we’d like to say that we cherish work-life integration and believe that both worlds should coexist in harmony. So, rather than telling you how to draw a line between your work and private life, we’d like to encourage you to find your own rhythm.
Our office is buzzing with life and on some days, you might find it inspiring and energizing, and on other days, you might find it distracting. Whether your style is to work from home most days and come to the office occasionally, or vice versa – if it helps you get stuff done, who are we to interfere? And if you like to work from 9 to 5, or you prefer a more colorful schedule to accommodate other things going on in your life – we respect it. We don’t glorify busyness, but instead, we keep our focus on the goals we want to accomplish together.
We usually attract talents who are passionate about their jobs and are skilled enough to prioritize their daily challenges in a way that works best for them. So, in short: you can work from home or a remote location whenever that’s a convenient option, and we believe you can make that decision yourself. And you have entirely flexible work hours – and we are here to enable you to combine your work schedule with your private life.
When candidates ask this question, recruiters will often share their personal stories. Here is one of many:
“I love the flexibility of creating my schedule, and that’s lived through the organization. What I liked the most was the feeling that I could leave the office earlier to pick up my daughter from kindergarten and that no one would look at me differently. Although this is normal today in almost any company, the vibe around it feels very natural in Microblink because we value devotion, good time management, and responsibility and not the physical appearance in the office or working over hours until you burn out.”
Ivana Jurakić, Talent Acquisition Team Lead
5. How many days of vacation do you have?
You will have between 23 and 35 days of vacation depending on various factors. We can tell you precisely how many days you’ll have depending on those factors, and if we get to the offer stage, we’ll show you our vacation policy where you can calculate it yourself. In Microblink, not only full-timers get a vacation but students, too: after your 1st student anniversary, you can catch a break from us with 2 weeks of paid time off.
On top of that, you can get extra time off for important events in your life, such as your children’s first birthday or first day of school/kindergarten.
We also understand that sometimes you feel out of shape without really being sick. We get it, so in cases like that, you can use 2 days, 3 times a year, to take extra time off and recharge.
6. Will I have the chance to travel?
Besides the office in Zagreb, Croatia, there is also an office in New York City, U.S., and Manila, Philippines. We cherish the power of human connection and in-person collaboration. So one of the initiatives in our onboarding program is that everyone who joins Microblink travels to meet the team in New York City. This includes a lot of the student roles, too.
When it comes to visiting our clients, they are worldwide based and there is such a possibility if you’re in a customer-facing role. We usually highlight that in the job ad. However, as we operate online, the need for on-site visits is minimal.
Nonetheless, if you’re in sales or marketing, you will have the opportunity to present Microblink at global conferences related to our business.
And finally, as mentioned earlier, you will have a chance to travel abroad for conferences or events related to your role, which is a part of your education budget.
Microblink is growing and adding more amazing people to our teams to bring the benefits of AI to every person on earth. Have a look at our open positions and apply if any of them sparked your interest. Otherwise, send us an open application; you never know when a great opportunity might come along 😉