I am working on adding a team page to our company's website and I'm wondering:
- can you recall an example of a team page that'd just really lovely/informative/awesome?
- what information do you look for on such a page? is it helpful at all?
- when do you typically check team page?
Thank you!
From my side, I remember that React team page helped me with my OSS contributions because I noticed they are just humans with hobbies 😂
I also remember visiting UPchieve's team page and "getting to know" the folks who make the team when I interviewed there. I looked at the skills distribution and roles, as well as the demographics. I wanted to imagine what working there could be like given the size of different working groups.
(not relevant but while I decided to take another offer, I think about the UPchieve interviewing experience only fondly)
Top comments (17)
You mean like one of those pages where there's a headshot of every team member? To me those aren't terribly useful. They give a sense of the "vibe" that the company gives off (a young startupy vibe with a strong team cohesion).
The one thing it is useful for is for getting a sense of the company's diversity and for that it's helpful when the page includes folks' titles so I can see if the company has true diversity at all levels or if it's just the marketing team and a few token junior engineers.
Other than that it's always fun when the page includes something fun and light-hearted about each team member, it shows that the company doesn't take itself too seriously.
Also, keep in mind that not everyone is comfortable having their picture up, so try to be flexible with the style of headshots you let folks choose and let them choose a drawing, or one that's from a distance so you can't make out their face or other identifying features (or even a picture that represents them but isn't them if you're okay with that).
Your final point is a really important one; there are many reasons why people might not want their photo, along with their real name and place of work, on a public website. A lack of flexibility on this from an employer is a red flag!
Oh no, how come I've missed this treasure of a comment! Thank you. All noted and really valuable points!
I don't usually look at team pages, but I do sometimes get curious about who's running things and how big the "team" is, and occasionally about background and skillset.
Nothing I actually have any level of concern about though. I'm just a curious person.
I’m a curious person too! With regards to the person/people who are running things -if you had to choose, which one is more important to you: knowing their past experience or rather where they heart is at? Like, who they are as people or what they did as professionals?
Sorry, I don't really have a concrete answer.
I like both parts, although I probably look at their experience if I'm on the team page for any serious reason.
I admit I was trying to avoid giving this boring answer before, but oh well. 🤷♂️
I always look for the number of people on the team. I know it doesn't mean anything, but I feel like a team with more people is more legit.
Thank you! Is there any other information like roles or titles that's important to you?
I am mostly interested in the founder or CEO of a company; however, I also review the other team members.
I see - are you interested in the CEO's accomplishments to date or more what kind of person they are?
I'm interested in what they've accomplished, as well as what they are like as people. I like to know about their life adventures and the way they turned out to be successful in spite of the obstacles they had to face.
I think having a team page is good for knowing about the companies views on culture fit. So seeing the profiles of other team members gives you an insight into their experience so you can imagine what it would be like to work with them. And also if you already have stuff in common.
It's also a great way to see how diverse the team is and if the company really lives up to its expectations.
Usually when I check out team pages now, it's to look for a point of contact on the partnership front -- but all other times, it's been for job search reasons. I care a lot about the demographics!
Thank you! Partnerships are definitely an important point that I didn’t think about too much, actually.
if I can ask a follow-up about those times you looked for a job, were you just checking the demographics or were you also interested in some background info about the team members? And if so, what background felt relevant to you?
Like to check their expertise and social presence.
Thank you! When checking expertise, what do you look at? Do you check their LinkedIn, read a bio (and is it more about education/work or the technologies they work with), or something else?
We usually look for humans. If there are too many dogs working there... it's a bit of a red flag.