By Claudia Salim

Being part of Gojek’s Design team is an experience that is at once challenging and rewarding. The goal: Create a cohesive visual language for a #SuperApp that does everything, and help millions understand the brand and its identity.

The objective of this post is to help aspiring designers who want to join us in accomplishing this mission understand our hiring process better.

But first, allow us a round of introductions.

We are a group of about 100 people, spread across two countries; Indonesia (Jakarta) and India (Bangalore). and five teams — Communication Design, Writing, Design Operations, Interaction Design, and Product Design.

We work very closely with different functions and products in the organisation, and go to great lengths to make sure we deliver a world-class experience to our users.

Now that you have some context, let’s get down to business.

Our hiring process consists of multiple steps:

1. Connect with recruiters

One of many things our Design Operations team puts focus on is hiring. We have two channels for applications that you can connect with: our website careers page. We receive a number of applications every day, and the ones that catch our attention are the ones that provide a structured portfolio and display a strong motivation to join us. It usually takes 48 hours for us to analyse your profile and get back to you.

2. A friendly telephonic conversation

If we like what we see on your profile, we will invite you for a 15–30 minute phone call with one of our recruiters. This will revolve around the Design Team itself, the opportunity we have available, and our expectation of the role. However, do remember this conversation goes both ways. Besides learning about you and your design experiences, we’d love to hear about your aspirations, and the expectations you have of us.

3. Portfolio review

This is why having a solid portfolio is paramount. We involve 4–5 of our designers to review it, based on the attributes that we prioritise. This is an important stage, so please make sure you build a structured and detailed portfolio that highlights your approach to arrive at your eventual design. Don’t forget to enclose your designs which are live in production! You can usually expect a response from us within three days in most cases.

4. Portfolio call

Seeing the designs is one thing, but understanding the thought process behind it is equally important to us. To understand this better, we set up a 60 minute call with 5 of our designers, during the course of which you can take us through your portfolio. Do pick one or two of your most interesting projects. Your thinking process and problem-solving capability should be the focus, along with how you measure your design results and the impact it brings.

5. Solving a problem with the Gojek Design Team in a collaborative environment

If you pass the portfolio call with a positive result, you will be invited to the Gojek office for a three-hour collaborative problem-solving session.

This process allows us to give you more context on how we solve problems. For us, the only way to evaluate how good a designer you are is by doing an exercise together. Gojek style — case study session!

The onsite case study session consists of a mini design sprint and brainstorming time.

Don’t let all this stress you out though, we are not expecting absolute perfection here.

The idea is to collaborate and solve a problem together. Focus on the problem, not the solution. Drawing a wireframe is easy, but what is the solution and how you approach it is more important to us. Believe in yourself, there are no universal truths here.

6. Bar raiser

If you’ve reached this stage, you definitely have the skills. Now, it’s time to evaluate how well you fit in at Gojek in general. To evaluate this, you’ll meet our Head of Design. Now that you have gained context from our technical rounds, we will discuss your expectation from us once again.

Also, as always, feel free to ask questions. 🙂

This is our last interview round, so take a breather. We will usually let you know the result in one day. If all goes according to plan, this entire process should be completed within two to three weeks. The last step will involve us making an offer — which means we are ready to have you on the team. Congratulations! 🙌 💚

So, do we sound like the kind of team you’d like to be a part of? Build your portfolio and apply to our open positions!

Follow our work Instagram and Twitter, and read more about how we solve design challenges for Gojek in this blog’s Design section.

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