NetFlix – Interview with a Hiring Professional

Patty McCord is Chief Talent Officer at NetFlix, "the world's first, fastest and most convenient online DVD rental company."

NetFlix employs approximately 1,200 people in the United States, about 1,000 of them in the company's distribution centers around the country. Another 200 NetFlix employees work at the company's headquarters in Los Gatos, including three large technology groups (Web development; IT development, which develops logistics software; and IT operations), as well as people in areas such as marketing and ad­ministration. NetFlix also has about 20 em­ployees in Los Angeles, working with studios to add movies and TV shows to the compa­ny's rental-DVD offerings.

Prior to joining NetFlix, McCord worked with NetFlix CEO Reed Hastings at Pure Software, his first company. She joined Net­Flix at Hastings' request.

 

THE COMPANY

What do you enjoy most about working at NetFlix?

The puzzle we have to solve gets more interesting every day. No one's ever done what we're doing before. We use the phrase "smart people, hard problems" to describe our culture, and it's an accurate description of what it's like at NetFlix.

Even thougb we're in just our seventh year of existence, we're a large, viable, profit­able enterprise - we have more than three million customers (we actually call them "members"). But we still have the culture of a small company. Everyone at NetFlix is engaged with one another, and because we have only one market offering - online DVD rentals - everyone shares a single focus.

In addition, it can be pretty cool to work for NetFlix in an area where a lot of people use our service, like the Bay Area. Plenty of employees can tell stories about being mobbed like rock stars when they were out doing errands while wearing a NetFlix T-shirt or hat.

And it's great to work for a company whose business offering you love. I don't just work for NetFlix - like all my fellow employ­ees, I'm a NetFlix member (we get free mem­bership, and distribution-hub employees get free DVD players, too). I watch DVDs that I get from NetFlix all the time. My daughter and I recently got a bunch of Katherine Hepburn films and had our own little Kather ine Hepburn film festival as part of a school projectshe was doing.

 

Who are your competitors, and hoVII is NetFlix different?

There are many NetFlix clones. Blockbuster is a competitor that we find stimulating, because their competition validates what we're doing, and because it's exciting to be competing and doing well against a company that's so much bigger than we are.

In the future, we anticipate more compettion from electronic delivery providers. But we welcome that competition and are prepared to move in that direction ourselves. In a nutshell, we want to be the place on the Internet where people go to find their movie and entertainment; we're (not dogmatic) as far as how we deliver those things. Today, it'sDVDs delivered by mail. In the future, you might click and instantly download your movies and entertainment. I like to tell peo­ple that we'd use carrier pigeons to deliver movies and entertainment, if that worked best.

 

What are the hot new developments and growth areas for NetFlix?

We're doing some really cool stuff on our Web site. The new "CineMatch" featurer allows members to rate movies and get suggestions on what else they might enjoy. A new feature called "Friends" encourages social networking around specific movies. And the new "Profiles" feature allows mem­bers to create what are effectively sub-ac­counts within existing member accounts. This is great for families, or students living to­gether in a dorm and sharing a single NetFlix account - in a given family, for instance, the daughter can have her own queue and input her own movie ratings, and the dad can have his own queue and give movies his own ratings and so on.

 

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

What are the key opportunities for college grads and MBAs?

We don't hire many recent graduates. We do some student hiring in customer service, and we sometimes hire grads into other positions, but because we're not very big, we don't have a formal student-recruiting program.

 

What are the key opportuni­ties for experienced hires?

We're looking for software devel­opment professionals, particularly Java developers who have worked for Internet companies and who have done deep algorithm work. We also have opportunities for logistics software people - namely, Oracle back-end developers. We also look for database administrators, and we have openings in accounting. Job seekers should check our Web site to learn about other opportunities at NetFlix.

 

What types of summer in­ternship employment do you offer?

None.

 

How long do most people stay with NetFlix?

On average, perhaps a couple of years, though our senior staff have all been here for six or seven years. Remember, we're only 7 years old, so if you've been here for three years, you're a long-termer. And things move so fast here that once you've been at NetFlix for six months, you feel like a veteran because you've gotten so much accomplished.

 

What skills do job seekers need to be successful at NetFlix?

We look for experienced people who are very competent in their area. But we also want people who are strongly interested in our business ­people with a deep interest in the technology area in which they've made their career, say, but who are also really curious about our business as a whole. Success at NetFlix results from understanding not just what you do, but from understanding all the moving parts around you.

In addition, we place a high value on adult behavior - people here have important jobs and "own" a lot.

 

THE RECRUITING PROCESS

Give a brief overview of the steps involved in the recruiting process.

First, I, or another staffing team member, meet with the hiring man­ager, to get that manager to articulate what success in the open position looks like. That becomes the job description for the open position. 

Then we develop a recruiting strategy for the open position. That might include posting the position on relevant career Web sites. Or we might look at people at other compa­nies that have the kinds of people we're looking for. We often find new hires via employee referrals. All of our open positions are on our Web site, too, of course.

 

What can job seekers expect in their interviews?

They can expect to meet with four or five people in their functional area. They should come prepared -- ­they should know quite a bit about NetFlix and be able to discuss our business in detail. They should be prepared to discuss not only their technical and functional abilities, but to show their business acumen and problem-solving abilities.

Beyond that, our interviews are straightforward and candid.

 

What's the biggest mistake a candidate can make?

Not taking the time to know what we do and not visiting our Web site.

 

CULTURE AND LIFESTYLE

Day-to-day, what makes working for NetFlix different from working elsewhere?

The people at NetFlix are really bright and really engaged in what they do and really engaged with each other. This isn't a "star culture"; we know we need to work as a team to succeed. Again, I'll bring up our "hard problems, smart people" motto - we really do come out of meetings saying, "That was hard ­but it was fun."

In addition, and understandably, many NetFlix employees are movie buffs. A lot of times you'll find your­ self discussing movies you've seen recently before the start of meetings, for instance. But you don't have to be a big movie buff to succeed at NetFlix - you need to be good at what you do and be focused on making our business stronger.

 

Most recruiting Web sites or materials speak only to the pluses of working for a firm.

Are there any challenges or down­sides you'd like to discuss?

We're growing really fast, so it can be hard to keep up. Our organi­zation is not very structured or hier­archical, so it can be difficult if you're the kind of person who wants a defined career path.

 

Is there anything else that would be of interest to job seekers that we haven't covered here?

Would-be operations managers interested in working at our dis­tribution centers should visit the "Jobs" section of our Web site, where they'll find job openings posted, but most people at our

distribution centers typically start out working as temps, via a temporary employment company called Volt.

Also, all job seekers interested in NetFlix should visit the “Jobs" sec­tion of our Web site to check out our list of the top 10 reasons to come to work at NetFlix and to check out our corporate values.

 

From ChronicleJobs, San Francisco Chronicle, August 21, 2005, G1, G6.  (An advertising feature)

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