Four things to know about getting a job and growing your career at Southeast Asian e-commerce giant Shopee

You’ve seen their ubiquitous ads and shopped many a sale from them. And nowadays, it has made headlines for worldwide expansion — including in Latin America, France, Spain and Poland.? The meteoric rise of Shopee — which was founded just six years ago — has been accompanied by a hiring boom.?

The e-commerce giant has been on a hiring spree, with more than 1,600 roles up for grabs. It’s also consistently been among the top 10 employers across four Southeast Asian countries, according to LinkedIn data.

Head of Learning and Development at Shopee Elijah Yong tells me this fast growth has helped to shape the way it’s attracted and developed talent.?

Hiring: people who can act fast and dream big

What does it take to work at Shopee? As expected with the rise of the digital economy, there’s been a strong demand for workers with data and analytics capabilities (including know-how of Python, SQL and more), a STEM or engineering background.?

But ultimately, Yong said that they look out for certain traits that they believe could spell a long runway at the company, and befit the fast moving nature of e-commerce.

These include the ability to think fast and adapt quickly to change — like how Shopee snapped into action when Covid-19 first hit Singapore — pivoting quickly towards the fast-moving consumer goods business. “We need people like that, who's able to deliver these quick changes,” he said.

A penchant for innovation and problem-solving — “constantly rethinking and reevaluating whether the work you're doing has been legacy work, or actual work, they can create an impact” — is also important. And candidates who like to work in teams, and improve themselves, are also highly desired, he added.

Diverse backgrounds, one culture

With Shopee prioritising innovation and creativity, and especially as it matures, Yong said that the company is open to people from all backgrounds — ranging from healthcare, civil service, professors to teachers.?

And while the workforce’s age is a relatively young average 28, he said that the company is putting an increasing emphasis on mid-level workers.

Yong said, “We don't just want to hire people that've been in tech industries, because it gets a bit tired, right? … You want to bring on people with fresh ideas and perspective.”?

That’s partly why the company partners various government organisations like IMDA, who may have outreach to candidates with non-traditional backgrounds.

But regardless of background, the company says they need one thing from all candidates — a strong fit with the company’s culture of connectivity, collaboration and the ability to form communities within the organisation.?

That, Yong said, is tested at the last round of interviews after all other screening and technical evaluations by the hiring manager, who “asks the right questions” to probe the candidate’s personality and values. And even if a candidate is a technical genius, they might get the axe even if they aren’t deemed a culture fit.

They’re open to remote work

The pandemic has disrupted relocations and business travel for many workers, while simultaneously enabling workers to work from anywhere.

Shopee hasn’t been immune to the flexible work trend — and having a big network of offices across Southeast Asia has helped.?

Yong cited examples of current staff who might have been hired in another Southeast Asian market to work in Singapore, but are working from their home country and sometimes out of the local office when local regulations permit.

“We're lucky we have this infrastructure so that they don't have to fully work remotely, even though the stakeholders that they manage are in Singapore, and are able to feel that spirit in the (other) office.”?

You can have multiple jobs within Shopee through your career

While he didn’t share numbers, he said that the company strongly supported internal mobility, allowing employees to rotate and gain exposure within different parts of the company.

“We are growing so fast that I would say that short term inconvenience that's caused by mobility is actually outweighed by the long term and midterm benefits of keeping well trained staff within our organisation and learning about the different aspects of the business,” he said.

Not only that, he said that it makes for more well-rounded future leaders of the company — and is something today’s workers increasingly want.

“In general, people really crave generalist roles,” he observed. “Long gone are the days where only management associates have this opportunity. And we have found that if we set the right structure, we send the right messaging and get the buy-in from managers, this has been quite fruitful for us while we are expanding, because we do need good people to lead in expansions.”

? What does it take to work at a fast-growing tech company? Do you agree that people want to gain generalist experience? Most people are voting that people should aim to be specialists in their career, but the results are close! Vote in our poll and join the conversation — there's one week left to participate.

?Thinking of breaking into a tech company? Check out Senior News Editor Andrew Seaman’s recent article.

? And check out our Top Companies (in Singapore — which includes Shopee parent Sea, Malaysia and Philippines) and Top Startups lists (in Singapore and Indonesia) for our lists of great companies to join.??

Methodology

This analysis represents the world seen through the lens of LinkedIn data, drawn from the anonymised and aggregated profile information of LinkedIn's 800+ million members around the world. As such, it is influenced by how members choose to use the platform, which can vary based on professional, social, and regional culture, as well as overall site availability and accessibility.

In order to identify employers who are hiring in the selected geography over the selected 3-month period, we calculate profile changes that members make to the Company they currently work for, and calculate the growth relative to that Company’s employee count at the end of the previous 3-month period. We rank Companies by the total number of changes made. Senior designer Greg Lee created graphics.