Hulu is a premium streaming TV destination that seeks to captivate and connect viewers with the stories they love. Hulu creates amazing experiences that celebrate the best of entertainment and technology. Hulu looks for great people who are passionate about redefining TV through innovation, unconventional thinking and embracing fun. It’s a mission that takes some serious smart, intense curiosity and determination to be the best.
Check out the latest openings at Hulu on the FindSpark job board here.
In preparation for Rising Closers: A Sales Career Summit on Saturday, November 3, 2018 in NYC, we sat down for a special interview with Arista Moultrie, Campaign Lead, Robyn Green, Sales Planner, and Michael Artis, Manager, Ad Tech Operations from Hulu. Check out their tips and insights below to learn more about working and growing professionally at Hulu, a premier entertainment and media company!
What makes the culture and work life at Hulu different from other media companies?
Arista: What makes the culture and work at Hulu so unique from other media companies is the passion that all of the employees (which we refer as Hulugans) have for maintaining the company values. Most people at other media companies wouldn’t be able to list off their company values. At Hulu, they are exercised every day.
The collaboration that takes place at Hulu is organic and stimulates growth opportunities for individuals that you might not find elsewhere. Hulu is also a fun place to work, which I think is great because it offers a balance to all the efforts we put in to see Hulu continue its success.
Arista Moultrie, Campaign Lead at Hulu
How has technology impacted your role as the Campaign Lead over time?
Arista: My role as the Campaign Lead would not exist if it weren’t for technology, specifically the Internet and the emergence of digital media. As there are more advancements in technology, the reach of my role in Digital Ad Operations has also expanded. My role started, because advertisers wanted to be on digital sites, where millions of people were – they wanted to increase their brand awareness as more traditional linear streams of advertising weren’t as effective.
As technology has continued to grow, there were, and continue to be, so many more online products and spaces where audiences are that advertisers see as markets for them to increase their exposure. One of the biggest tech growth spaces is the emergence of OTT (over-the-top) platforms, such as Hulu. Of course, with all of these new tech spaces increasing in popularity, tools had to be developed to monitor and offer insights to advertisers on what lift they were receiving for the ads they were running.
In my role, I work a lot with internal tech development teams and third-party vendors who use pixels on the backend of videos running on our platform to ensure campaigns run smoothly. All these platforms, pixels, and servers have to work in tandem at all times. In my role, you have to be able to speak at least on the baseline of all these things.
As technology improves, operations and all parties we work with also have to grow and be able to foresee any issues that can arise. My role is always moving parallel to the continued growth and advancement in technology.
Robyn, you’ve spoken at conferences before. How have you developed your public speaking skills over time? What are your tips for those who want to become better at communicating face-to-face and in real-time– in other words, not on text or email.
Robyn: Oddly enough, speaking in front of big crowds never really scared me! What I had to really work on honing was my timing and keeping my thoughts as direct and as clear as possible. My tip for public speaking would be to focus on getting out your specific talking points and ideas, rather than worrying about how you sound or look to the crowd. The people who are listening to you are there because they’re open to what you have to say, so there’s no use in being nervous!
What do you love most about being in sales?
Robyn: I love collaborating and working with other people. Sitting in a cubicle silently working was never something I wanted in my career, and this office (an open floor plan no less) is so interactive and fun that it keeps every workday fresh.
Michael, you’ve moved up in the ranks at Hulu over what some might says is a “long” period in millennial years, almost four years. What are your biggest tips around growing within a company?
Michael Artis, Manager, Ad Tech Operations from Hulu
Michael: It’s important to be aware of your personal brand constantly, and know that the fact that most of the decisions around your growth at a company are made when you’re not present. This means that you should always have your brand positively displayed, so when your upper management makes decisions about growth opportunities, you’re at the top of their minds.
Also, never limit your opportunities to gain cross-team visibility within your workspace. Every little bit matters and being visible across your entire org will only amplify your growth opportunities. Awareness of your strengths and weaknesses and continuously working to sharpen and improve in those areas is essential in professional growth. Always be receptive to feedback and open to change.
Lastly, creating a clear road map early on for how you envision your career trajectory is also imperative to growth. If you don’t know where you want to go, chances are, your management will not know either.
What are your tips for young people looking to build mentor relationships at work? Do you have any particular stories of how mentors at Hulu have helped you succeed?
Michael: Something I’ve never been shy about is sending the occasional calendar invite for a coffee talk or quick sync with someone that I’d like to mentor me or guide me. My first step is to identify someone in a leadership position that you relate to and find ways to break the ice.
Do some research on what the person is working on at your company and their career growth path in general. Use a potential meet up between you two as a way to show your interest in their work, as well as your interest in growing and learning at the company.
After I gained the needed confidence in my previous role and knew what career path I wanted to take, I then reached out to connect with my VP of Sales Ops. The VP of Sales Ops at Hulu is someone whom I admired and had already began building a casual rapport with, so reaching out wasn’t a surprise for him. After we connected, I was able to express my long term and short term goals and share with him my career growth as I envisioned it at Hulu.
We then continued to meet occasionally over the next 10 to 12 months to discuss how his growth vision for his team aligned with my vision for myself, and him giving me feedback on how to maneuver in the media landscape. As opportunities became available within my organization, our discussions had already helped me improve in needed areas and subsequently gain the exposure required to move into a managerial role.
Check out the latest openings at Hulu on the FindSpark job board here.
Want to know how mentors really want you to network with them at events? Check out our article featuring members of the FindSpark Community here.
