Questions studios want you to ask

Interviews are not just for the studios to find out about you. They give you an opportunity to learn about that company, too. You may even get a chance to ask the interviewer some questions. Our experts will share exactly what they’re looking for in this part of the interview. What we love is a candidate to show real passion for our company. Maybe ask about previous games and how we made it. Maybe talk about the future and what processes we’re going to use to make a game. It just shows real passion and that they’ve done their research. And we love it when people do that.

I’m always quite impressed when a candidate at the end of the interview asks me what the process is going forward. It shows to me that they’re engaged in it, that they do want the job. And they’re thinking about what are the next steps, so they can start preparing for them. Yeah. Yeah, I like any question that explores more about what the company does outside of games, as well. As someone that’s very passionate about diversity, inclusivity, and representation, I love it when people come in and yes, we’ve talked about the role. But what else is there?

And games is such a huge medium now, and it has such a great platform for promoting certain things that I love it when people come in and talk about their passions outside of games. And it reflects well on them. But also, oh, what else could you get involved in outside of just the core role? What impact are they going to be able to make on the project and within the team? What particular tools might they be working on? What’s Sumo like as a whole? What’s the culture like? How many studios? What games have we made? A lot of candidates want to know about progression. What career opportunities are we going to offer? Do we offer mentorship schemes?

Have we got a career development programme? All those kinds of questions are really important. And it’s a brilliant opportunity for the candidate to really get under the skin of what Sumo has to offer. So the more questions, the better for us. It’s fine. If you haven’t got any, they will take that as a sign of a lack of preparation or lack of interest. So don’t be afraid to sit down before the interview. Prepare five, six, seven questions and have them written down. And then pull them out your bag or have them in front of you during the interview, and ask the questions that have not been covered during the interview. That will show you in a good light.

These questions tell us that the candidate has really prepared for the interview and really cares about understanding what Sumo has to offer. It shows that they are passionate, and they really want to work for a good company. And it’s very valuable to us to show that someone’s prepped well and done the research.