A 6-step guide to landing a startup job in London
by Iulia Tudor from Startup Institute
Growth hacker, digital marketer, data scientist, android developer, iOS developer, UI/UX designer and the list goes on. Five years ago there were very few of these jobs and now you can find them on every tech job board. “London’s tech boom is more than just hype”, as Mike Butcher wrote a couple of months ago, and this also reflects in the number of startup jobs available. Exciting news, aye?! But how do you actually find a job in a London startup?
#1 Google it!
You’ve heard of an exciting startup lately? Great! The very first step is researching the company. How else would you understand if it’s the right fit for you, or if they’re hiring? There’s a bunch of startup online databases (CrunchBase, F6S, AngelList) where you can find details about their employees, when they were founded and most importantly– funding rounds. Raising money means that they want to scale faster, hence they’re also looking to grow their team.
#2 Take a cookie!
So you don’t know anything about startups, do you Captain? Well, it’s time to get back to school, read some books and learn how to speak startup! It sounds more complicated than it actually is. Fitting in in the startup ecosystem is not that hard, but you’d still need to get used to the language. We all know (more or less) what a marketing person does… but wait, what?! A growth hacker? What is that?! Lean methodology?! Never heard of it? Lucky you– there are so many startup blogs now that you could subscribe to and so many influencers writing about tech in your area of interest. Eze Vidra, Matt Buckland, Jon Bradford, Eileen Burbidge, Tom Hulme are just a few of London’s tech influencers worth following and learning from.
Learning the lingo
#3 Brush up your skills
You don’t have to be an expert to work in a startup, but you have to start from somewhere. Are you a recent grad or transitioning from a corporate job? Working in a startup is very different from other jobs. It requires passion, engagement, ownership, excitement, initiative and so on. And it requires you to be startup-ready. There are a couple of courses/programmes in London (Startup Institute, Makers Academy, Course Academy) that you can take based on what you want to do next. Some only teach skills, while others will teach you skills, give real-world experience, and immerse you in a network to help you find a job. Be sure to do your research so you know which programme is right for your goals.
#4 Develop a strategy
Startups are always looking for great people. Long-term strategy: join the ecosystem with a specific area of expertise and you’ll meet a lot of like-minded people. Meetup is perfect for this. You’d probably find around one event a day on a specific topic that you’d want to attend. Short-term: once you have a couple of connections you can start emailing them directly. You can either ask for introductions or use a lot of tools to make your way in easier: Linkedin, Rapportive, Conspire etc.
Startup meeting
#5 Build relationships
An “I want to help you” mindset will make you more successful. Don’t expect for anything in return, and trust that everything will pay forward. Also make sure you find the “fox”! And no, I’m not talking about those cute animals walking on London’s streets! Foxes are startup connectors, they’re the ones that can intro you to decision makers. You can find them wandering at the hottest events and spreading a lot of startup love. And yes, it is vital to attend events if you want to stay connected. If you’re new to the scene you’d most likely have to check out 3 beards, co-working spaces (TechHub, WeWork, Warner Yard etc), Google Campus, startup accelerators (Techstars, Seedcamp, Oxygen etc), and conferences to get used to the vibe. London’s tech scene is pretty divided, but there are so many things going on if you know what to search for.
Attend startup events and conferences
#6 Startup Job boards
UnicornHunt, “a magical beast of a job board” has just been redesigned and launched by the 3 beards guys this week. It looks really sparkly and new! They’ve been doing this for 2 years now, making sure that you can find the hottest jobs in startups. Workinstartups is another oldie but goodie “where startups meet rockstars employees.” Escape the City, Hackajob, Tyba – and many more – are also trying to disrupt the hiring process. Just search for “startup jobs in London” and they’ll all magically appear!
Ultimately, it’s all about getting out there. There’re so many resources that can help you start a career in London’s startup scene but the most important thing is for you to understand what you’re embarking on and to embrace the challenge.
For more advice on breaking into startups, download Startup Institute’s free guide to career change and discover success stories of people that did this before.
Author’s Bio
Iulia Tudor is a Community Marketing Manager at Startup Institute, an 8-week program that gives individuals the skills, networks, and mindset they need to get a job and thrive at a startup. She’s been working with London-based startups for more than two years and went through the first Techstars London programme. She loves wearing multiple hats and being a dot-connector.
Find lots of startup jobs in London through Indeed.co.uk
---
You may also want to check out the Job openings at Facebook in London in January.
