Interactive Nordic

Are you missing out? Nordic Games Jobs is the professional group for all working in the video games industry in the Nordic region or all interested in moving to work in games in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland . This is a forum to exchange ideas, help and advice on current topics and trends in jobs and careers within the Nordic territories. If you are a member of LinkedIn, you can now get together with over 2800 others who share the same interests.

Please link through to www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2857738 . Start a discussion, share news! Just join the group and start networking. Good luck.

Ilkka Paananen, CEO of Supercell in Helsinki, talks to David Smith of Interactive Selection and Game Careers at Develop in Brighton. Ilkka has more than ten years of experience in start-ups, managing growth and international expansion, as well as fund raising and exits. He was the founding CEO of Sumea, and grew it become one of the top developers and publishers of mobile games, with a massive distribution network of over 100 channels thatincluded every major European carrier. Based on Sumea’s leadership position in Europe, Ilkka and the company’s founders sold Sumea to Digital Chocolate in 2004. After the merger, Ilkka served as the Managing Director of the European operations for two years before being promoted to President to lead the global publishing operations of the company, which consisted of the studios in Helsinki, Barcelona and Silicon Valley. In late 2010, Ilkka joined Supercell as the CEO to lead the growth plan of the company and help it become the leader in the next generation online games. Ilkka has graduated with Honors from the Department of Industrial Management at Helsinki University of Technology.

His advice for those thinking of applying to a company like Supercell: “We are looking for people who have some online and social experience. I think the best way to apply with us is first of all play our games and take a look at what we are trying to achieve. Think about how, as an employee, you can help us to achieve our vision. Put that all in an email along with some references, and lets get in touch.” See the full clip here:

Can you think of 2 more prestigious institutions than the BBC and Edge Magazine? David Smith, MD of Interactive Selection, found himself live in front of BBC News anchors Simon McCoy and Carrie Gracie at 10.43 on September 21st for an interview about the games industry and the topic of start ups and jobs. For a full 3 minutes he fielded questions on the state of the games industry today, how it may fare providing new jobs moving forward and how the unemployed may want to find a job within computer games. For a more detailed report see the Games Job Blog.

On September 21st Edge Magazine’s feature Get into Games 2010 was published and David Smith again found himself the first external recruiter to be interviewed in the history of Edge Magazine. You can click through to the full report: Get Into Games 2010: David Smith, Interactive Selection

2 questions about the role of the modern recruiter from the Edge interview are repeated here:

Edge: Thanks to things like forums, modding and trade shows, the game industry gets closer to its audience by the year. How does that affect the job of the recruiter?
David: You have not mentioned social networking, which is probably a bigger influence than the other three. Sites like LinkedIn are a godsend for internal recruiters in particular, as well as for people with their own LinkedIn profile who want to talk directly to employers. But in terms of the role of the recruiter – and yes, it is changing all the time – I would say that recruiters these days are much less a necessary middleman than a necessary guide or confidante, or even a trusted professional advisor. That can be for employers as well, not just jobseekers. We offer that extra bit of expertise in what is a very fast and changing market.

Edge: But are not developers trying to step into that mentor role themselves to an extent?
David: The difference between that and a jobseeker talking to a recruiter is that developers only have the one job to offer, which is with their particular company. Recruiters are paid to have a knowledge of the overall market and do not just offer a portfolio of potential jobs – they can also talk to jobseekers on a job-by-job basis. If you have got a job with Quantic Dream, they are not going to offer you a job at Ubisoft down the road – they are interested in their immediate needs, so they are never going to be able to offer the advice that we give, which is really to look after people over their whole career.

Trust Interactive Selection for your recruiting needs in the Nordic region.