Ever wondered what it’s like to work for a digital marketing agency in New York City? We got an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at work and culture at GALE, a full-service digital marketing agency with offices in NY, Toronto and Bangalore. The company is growing rapidly and hiring, so be sure to check out their open positions here.

In addition to combining data, creative and top-tier technology to create great brand experiences for their clients, GALE is connected by a set of core values that influence both the culture and the work they do.

Communications Manager Andrea Toop and Recruiter Geoff DeMoss tell us more about those values and what it’s like to work for GALE:

What is the most rewarding part of working for GALE?

As a recruiter, it’s rewarding to bring people into an organization where they can grow in their careers. With over 200 employees worldwide and an impressive roster of clients (including BMW, McDonalds, and SodaStream), GALE is just over two-years-old and we’re continuing to grow at a rapid pace. What this means for our people is they have the unique opportunity to help shape GALE’s legacy as we continue to grow. We’ve seen how much the agency has evolved over the past few years, and it will be exciting to see our agency growth over the next five years.

Can you tell us a little about your core values? Where did those 7 mantras come from?

At GALE, we’re driven by a set of seven core values: Building a Legacy, Everyone Matters, No Silos, Friends Collaborating, Masters of Our Craft, Be Creative, and Passion Is Not Optional. Prior to launching GALE, our founders spent days discussing these values at length. It was important to them to create an agency that stood for a set of shared values that would stand the test of time.

These core values are central to everything we do: from the way we hire, to the way recognize our people, to the way we partner with our clients. When we interview prospective candidates, we have an interview round dedicated specifically to determining how well our values fit with those of the candidate. We do this to make sure we’re hiring people who are great at what they do, and are also a great fit for our culture.

Growth is extremely important to FindSpark community members. What does GALE offer in terms of professional development opportunities?  

One of GALE’s founding ideas was that we would hire, grow, and mentor great people – as a part of that we have a number of growth focused programs for our people. The program that is at the core of this is our Goals & Objectives process – this is an annual activity that gives our people the opportunity to define their career aspirations and to work towards these with the support of their manager.

In addition, we provide skills based training and are currently in the process of launching a Lunch and Learn series for our people. This will provide the opportunity to gain valuable knowledge about industry trends, new innovations, and domain specific skills on an ongoing basis.  

What’s it like to have team members in different parts of the world? How does that affect the culture and work life?

Being part of an agency with a global base opens up your professional and personal opportunities to interact with the world. It exposes you to different cultures and new ways of working. Even though we have three offices, we work as one agency. We assemble the best teams for our clients from all our offices, giving our people a real opportunity to gain unique perspectives from around the world.

In marketing, diversity of experience is especially important. Marketing is about connecting with a wide range of consumers, and we find that working collaboratively with people from different backgrounds helps to offer valuable insight into diverse customer needs.

As a global agency, we work hard to create an open dialog across our three offices – working in a no silos approach. We’re continually striving to improve our internal communication processes to allow for a seamless workflow across geography.

What can applicants do to stand out when applying for a position at GALE?

Ultimately, what makes someone stand out is a passion for what they do, an inherent curiosity about what’s happening in the industry, and a desire to continuously learn and be creative every day. Whether a candidate is on the technology or marketing side, we like to see this passion, curiosity, and creativity spill over into their everyday life. A lot of people at GALE have passion projects they work on at home, which we think shows motivation to learn and grow. We’ve hired candidates who have darkrooms set up in their basements, who play competitive sports, or who organize charity hackathons on the weekend.

What’s the most memorable thing an applicant has done to stand out?

One of our data scientists juggled during their job interview. We asked him if he had any secret talents and he told us he could juggle…so, we called his bluff. He started juggling on the spot. It was amazing! We love when people show off their personalities during interviews.

What is your best piece of advice for an applicant?

Do your research. If we sit down to talk about GALE and you don’t know anything about the company, it seems like you aren’t that interested in the position. Companies have websites and social media pages that are easy to come across. Find out who our clients are, see what projects we’ve worked on, and look into who you might end up working with if you are hired.

Think you want to work for GALE? Check out the jobs they are hiring for here, and meet them IRL at Hustle Summit (HustleSummit.co) on Sept. 27th at Irving Plaza.