How to Get Hired for TikTok’s Early-Careers Jobs in Europe

  • Almost 20 of TikTok’s 257 currently available jobs are for its early-careers programs.
  • TikTok’s university recruiting lead told Insider that grads are a big focus for the company. 
  • This story has been updated.

TikTok hiring fresh talent for its early-careers programs in Europe. 

The video app is a “growing” company with various positions opening in the next year, according to its university recruiting lead in Europe, Clare Tomkins.

Insider reported earlier in 2021 that TikTok has more than 3,000 staff in Europe.  About 20 of the 257 roles currently being advertised are for its early-careers programs, targeting at recent college grads.

These jobs are across nine regions in Europe and include internships and graduate programs. They cover areas including tech, marketing, strategy, and content creation. 

“There’s an opportunity for us to bring fresh ideas into the business,” said Tomkins. “A lot of the demographic that uses the app at the moment also falls under students who are at university, or slightly older.”

TikTok doesn’t disclose how much it pays for these schemes and salaries will vary by market — but a career in technology can be lucrative. Recent Insider analysis of US foreign-labor-disclosure data from 2020 to 2021 showed that TikTok and ByteDance offered one top-tier product and safety manager a base salary of $400,000. Engineers hired in the US can earn median base salaries of $200,000, the data shows, while top-tier marketing roles pay up to $300,000 in base salary.

The early-careers recruitment process requires a résumé and two to three business interviews depending on the role. Technical roles include technical tests. 

Tomkins offered five key tips for grads to stand out. 

1. Be future-oriented 

Early-career applicants don’t necessarily need lots of experience or expertise. 

Tomkins said: “What we’re looking for instead is really people who have that awareness of where they could potentially contribute to a role in the future and can bring examples of that from their university.

“So it might be the case that they’ve worked on a team project at university, and they’ve then built team-building skills from that, or they’ve got leadership skills.”

2. Creativity, adaptability, curiosity

With the introduction of TikTok résumés last year, candidates can show their creative side. 

Uploading a TikTok résumé is not mandatory, but Tomkins gave an example of a previous hire who is now on the creative team on the rotational graduate program.

“She created a TikTok channel and created her own TikTok CV, which then followed TikTok trends, and it was super impressive to see her creativity in that way. And she came through to the interview stage, did an amazing job, but certainly made an impression with her innovation and thinking just a little bit outside the box.” 

Coders should point to their GitHub page or university projects.

On adapting, Tomkins said: “We are an ever-growing company, and things change quite a lot.”

The final trait, curiosity, is about being ready to “learn” and having “an appetite to grow.” 

3. Commercial awareness

Tomkins highlighted having “internal and external” commercial awareness skills. 

External commercial awareness skills are looked on favorably during interviews — such as being aware of what kind of music is trending on the app. “Are we able to see what’s working sort of well on the app? Or isn’t?” said Tomkins.

4. Why TikTok? 

The company isn’t looking for “super polished” students, but it’s best to have clear motivations for working for TikTok.

Tomkins said: “To stand out, have those questions prepared for the interviewer at the end of the interview, think a little bit more about the role that you’re actually going for, and do some research around that particular role, rather than having the generic interview and prep ready.”

5. It’s not all about pure tech skills 

Having hard technical skills is valuable, but having a tech mindset is just as good.

Tomkins said: “We also have a lot of tech-minded students … They love tech, they love how it influences people in the world. And maybe they’re passionate about new digital innovations.”

“So when we talk to a lot of students, we have students that come under this pure tech side, but also this tech mindset.”

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