Landing your dream job at Simon Data
“Great news! The team really enjoyed meeting you and we’d like to formally make you an offer!”
Who doesn’t love to hear those words after one has spent hours preparing for a job interview, meeting dozens of people, and hoping you made a great first impression?
Especially in today’s volatile and tight job market, getting a job offer feels like the equivalent of acquiring the coveted Golden Ticket into Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory — rare, exclusive, and filled with anticipation.
This is the feeling we hope all candidates feel when getting an offer from Simon Data.
Who is Simon Data, you ask? Simon Data is a Customer Data Platform that empowers customer marketers by providing them with better data, better workflows, and better tools.
It’s our mission to empower customer marketing teams with the data, tools, and support to drive 1:1 customer personalization across every customer touch point. But we also keep “personal” at the heart of our company.
We’re a values-driven org that puts our people first, above all else, and because of that, we’ve been named a “Great Place to Work” for the past three years and even made Fortune’s Best Employers in NYC list.
"Simon is an amazing company because people are at the core of its values. I see the company making improvements that benefit each person that works for Simon. As a person of color, I have held different roles and always felt my voice was heard and trusted. When making suggestions for improvements, I had the autonomy to try and experiment. I love that it is always a top priority of leadership to focus on the people at Simon." - A Simon employee, Glassdoor.com
Choosing an employer whose core values as a company align with your core values as a human being is the most important thing a job seeker should focus on when deciding between offers. Salary, growth potential, and responsibilities are all fluid — but the guts of who that company is and how they treat their employees are likely never going to change.
At Simon, our commitment to creating a values-centric culture is evident to our employees; however, our values may not align with your values (and that’s ok!).
If we do align, let's dive into how to stand out during our interview process. And if we don’t, let’s help you find the company that is the best fit for what’s important to you.
Standing out in the application process
Crafting a stellar resume
Have you ever heard the term “Dress for the job you want”? Well, the same principle can be applied to building a resume that will stand out to a potential employer.
If you talk to anyone who works at Simon Data, one thing will be evidently clear: we love DATA! Marketing data, customer data...data, data, DATA! The people who work here love the story data tells our customers and us.
If you look on our career page, most of the jobs we have posted look for people with experience in our space, such as another CDP or MarTech provider. On your resume, highlight how you’ve worked with data in the past. Better yet, how have you used data to solve the challenges that marketers face daily?
Understanding the challenges customer marketers face and how data can help ease their pain points are critical for our client-facing roles, such as roles within our sales, solutions architecture, and client delivery teams. Highlighting any experience you have in that arena will increase the likelihood of getting an interview.
While we value humility, don’t be afraid to brag a bit about yourself on your resume! If you’re in sales, highlight all of your quota achievements and sales awards. You’re a marketer? Show me how many leads your campaigns have generated!
Do you develop software? Talk to me about how your code helped scale an application to take in quadruple the amount of traffic compared to before you joined. Listing your accolades upfront will help cut through the fluff and get you in front of the right audience.
The power of your online presence
Many moons ago, people said your resume is the first impression you leave on a potential employer. Fast forward to 2024, and that’s no longer the case: your LinkedIn profile is your first impression.
There are currently 1 billion people who use LinkedIn, with an average of three new people joining the networking platform every second — that is A LOT of potential viewers of your profile!
Having a strong LinkedIn presence goes beyond your picture selection, keeping your jobs updated, and listing all of your accolades and certifications (which are all important).
Now, young professionals are using LinkedIn to build an entire online brand. If you want to stand out on LinkedIn, make logical connections and show you are a thought leader in your space. Share relevant and interesting content that will resonate with others in your field, or those you want to attract.
For Simon specifically, we love content about AI, CDPs, customer personalization, and anything innovative in the marketing technology space. Not sure what to share? Be active on the posts of people you admire — comment on their posts or give it a quick thumbs up, which will also help you stand out to your target audience.
Going the extra mile
Let’s face it: today’s job market is brutal. Most jobs receive over 500 applications, so to even land a quick intro with a company, you need to distinguish yourself from the candidate pool.
One thing that stands out to our hiring teams at Simon Data is a direct, succinct note on email or LinkedIn. Find out who works at the company you want to work for and send them a personalized LinkedIn message with a quick reason as to why you would be a great fit for the opportunity.
If they aren’t the right person to speak to, ask them who may be because they will likely forward your information to the contact you need. Once you get that well-deserved interview, be proactive about sending any relevant work to the hiring manager, such as a portfolio, to help showcase your experience.
Nailing the interview process at Simon Data
Company culture matters
The first step to acing your interview with Simon is to research and understand our company culture. This will not only help you to perform better, but it will also let you assess if we are the place for you.
We put our people above all else. We understand that our employees have rich, fulfilling lives outside of the proverbial walls of Simon Data; so when life happens, we are flexible! We’re a fast-paced, results-driven company that allows our employees to make a real impact on the company's bottom line.
As a small start-up, we run lean. This gives our employees the chance to wear many different hats. Unlike larger companies where you have strict processes to follow and hard lines to stay in, here you have the chance to color outside the lines and help build the Simon of the future.
Interview format
Simon is about results, and a part of achieving those results is to hire people faster while still maintaining a white-glove candidate experience. All of Simon Data’s open roles can be broken down into the same four steps:
Step 1: Recruiter phone screen
This is a 20-30 minute interview with Simon Data’s Sr. Recruiter Manager (spoiler alert: it’s me!).
While some of this time is spent assessing whether your skills align with the skills the hiring team is looking for, the larger goal is to ensure your questions are answered and that you walk away from the call knowing a little bit more about Simon Data and the role itself.
Step 2: Hiring manager behavioral interview
This is a 60-minute Zoom interview with the hiring manager. During this time, the manager will take a deeper dive into your resume, then transition into behavioral-style questions that cover the core competencies of the role they are hiring for.
Step 3: Remote onsite interview
This is a multi-part interview that takes roughly two hours. Here, you will meet the department head, an internal stakeholder, and a cross-functional resource who will conduct a values interview.
Step 4: The practical interview
You’ve made it this far! This is the final step, consisting of a 60-minute interview that will allow you to show off your skills to the team! The practical interview can take many different forms, such as, but not limited to, a mock discovery call, a mock internal strategy meeting, a case study, or a coding challenge. The goal here is to learn about your strengths, areas of opportunity, and how you would perform in a practical setting.
We know time is of the essence when job hunting, and we never want to miss out on you because we were too slow. Therefore, our goal is to get through the entire process within two weeks of your first call with Simon — if schedules allow it.
Showcase your spirit
Preparing for your interview with us will help you be more successful. We are passionate about our company’s mission, and we want to hire equally passionate people.
Recently, we revamped our website (shout out to our Senior Growth Marketing Manager, Natalie Santos!), and it’s an excellent resource to learn about who we are, who we help, and how we compare to the competition.
You’ll find comprehensive case studies about some of our champion customers and how we’ve provided value to them. Before you interview with anyone at Simon Data, browse our website and try to understand what we do.
If you find the information confusing, that’s ok! We love getting thoughtful questions about our product and company. We never expect everyone to immediately “get it” from reading through the website, but we appreciate the effort and natural curiosity.
Life at Simon Data: It’s about the people
Simon’s core values
A common theme you’ll hear from everyone who works here is that Simon Data has a people-first culture. Our culture is widely shaped by our five core values:
- Respect Everyone: Be good to people — show empathy, inclusivity, and kindness.
- Listen and Share: We empower each other to speak and exchange ideas.
- Learn and Develop: We have a lot we can teach, and we have a lot we can learn!
- Take Ownership: Don’t be afraid to take initiative!
- Build Strategically: We align our efforts around a clear vision and well-defined objectives.
“Respect Everyone” is the value we test during our Values Interview. Above all else, we prioritize hiring good people who treat others well. After all, no amount of talent can overcome being disrespectful to your colleagues.
The benefits Simon Data offers
Simon Data offers amazing benefits and perks to all of its full-time, US-based employees, and I’m proud to talk about them to candidates.
Healthcare: Our most popular benefit is our free healthcare for our employees and their families. We cover all the premiums and deductibles for our employees, their spouses, and children. Healthcare costs are a source of stress for many American families, and it is one less thing Simon wants their employees to worry about.
Flexibility: Our flexible culture is reflected in our flexible PTO policy. We don’t track or measure any PTO — take what you need (and yes, you are actually encouraged to take it)!
Stipends: In addition to our healthcare and PTO policies, we also offer generous wellness stipends, remote work stipends, and client spend stipends. Simon recognizes the importance of offering career growth opportunities to their employees.
We also offer a generous annual professional development stipend to all our full-time, US-based employees who have been with us for at least three months. This stipend can be used towards anything that will help to further your career, e.g., certifications, college courses, professional memberships, etc.
We also offer several mentorship opportunities, an annual engineering summer internship program, and access to training resources.
Join the Simon Data journey!
If you take away anything from this blog post, I hope it’s this:
- Simon Data puts their people first
- We are a values-driven organization that wants to hire good people
- It’s a tough job market, but there are many ways to stand out! Don’t give up
- We love data, and we hope you can love it, too!
If you’re interested in an opportunity at Simon Data, let’s connect!
You can find any of our open positions on our job board. Interested in Simon but you don’t see anything that’s for you? Please reach out to me directly! While the role may not be open today, you never know what the future can hold.
Interested in getting to know our CEO? Check out his Podcast Data Unlocked, where he interviews some of the best and brightest in the CDP/MarTech space. You can also get the latest content and information from the industry on our blog or by subscribing to our newsletter. Good luck!