Shopify is known for setting up examples for other businesses. This time, the Canadian e-commerce company has offered VIP Access to extraordinary people from all walks of life on its careers page. After the evaluation of submitted profiles, Shopify will make exceptions and create a specific jobs beyond the conventional roles.
Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke took to Twitter to make the announcement. “This has always been true, and we wanted to make it more explicit. If you have any proofs of applied extraordinary ability outside of academic credentials, our careers page now has a VIP-Access section,” he tweeted.
This has always been true, and we wanted to make it more explicit. If you have any proofs of applied extraordinary ability outside of academic credentials, our careers page now has a VIP-Access section: https://t.co/4J5rnpiL9S
— tobi lutke (@tobi) December 20, 2022
What is VIP Access?
The link he tweeted landed on the VIP Access segment on the Shopify Careers page. It defines VIP Access as a career platform for the world’s best talent. Shopify wants these extraordinary people to join the company and “apply their extraordinary ability” to its mission.
“Of course, everyone we hire is exceptional at what they do. However, folks who get VIP access are extraordinary, often globally unrivalled in their skills and experience, and world-class at something beyond the roles we already hire for,” Shopify states.
“From astrophysicists and Reddit influencers to pro gamers and Olympic athletes, we welcome extraordinary people and make exceptions for them. If you’re world-class, we’ll fast-track you through our application process and create you a new high-performance role—and personal growth trajectory,” the Canadian company adds further.
The page also has a section for vacancies based on Shopify’s core disciplines. Here are top highlights of the VIP Access.
1. Life Defining Job
Shopify states in its mission for VIP Access that the extraordinary employees will leave a direct impact on people’s lives. “Opportunity is not evenly distributed. Shopify puts independence within reach for anyone with a dream to start a business. This is life-defining work that directly impacts people’s lives as much as it transforms your own,” it explains.
2. No Location Bound
Shopify promises to hire these extraordinary people from wherever they are based. “Office centricity is over. We are digital-first. You do your daily work wherever you work best. Most of us then gather in real life several times a year to solve hard problems and align as a team. We hire you wherever you are,” Shopify says.
This is in line with Shopify’s recent decision to not move its physical workplace to a bigger place in Toronto. It abandoned its plan to move to the newly built 254,000-square-foot space at The Well. The sudden change of plans is not caused by increased expenses but because of its remote-first approach.
“We have a bold vision for the future of work at Shopify, and are no longer a workforce that centres around a physical workplace for day-to-day work,” Shopify spokesperson Alex Lyons told Toronto Star in an email interview.
“We recently made the decision not to move forward with developing a new office space at The Well. Shopify continues to value highly intentional, in-person gatherings, and will continue to do so at our primary Toronto space located at King Portland Centre, with plans to further develop and expand into one central space to accommodate our needs,” Lyons added.
3. Flexible Pay
Shopify also mentioned about its recently launched Flex Comp system to explain how each of these extraordinary people will be paid. “The Shopify Flex Comp system allows you to choose your own balance of total reward between cash (base salary) and equity (RSUs and options). You’ll increase your compensation as your positive impact on Shopify’s mission grows,” the company said.
In September, Shopify announced Flex Comp, a flexible compensation to reward talent working for the company. It challenges the norms set by tech companies worldwide, though Shopify believed that its rewritten story of compensation will soon inspire other giants to follow Flex Comp.
Flex Comp allows employees to decide if they want to get paid in cash (the conventional way) or in equity. “Bringing agency to our people was a foundational principle for our build. Why should a company decide for you how much of your total reward should be in the form of cash vs equity? This makes no sense. Now, our employees can choose exactly how they want to allocate their total reward,” Shopify states.
With examples, Shopify explained if one wants to save for a house or big asset, cash is the right choice. Similarly, if one is young and has just started his career, then he should go for “restricted stock units (RSUs)”. Having said that, Shopify explained the flexibility of choice one could make.
“We also killed the one-year cliff on equity, so vesting begins right away, and, because life happens, allocation windows will open a few times a year. This means your equity will no longer be tied to the quarter you started, and you can adjust your choices as your needs change,” the company explained.
Featured VIPs
On the VIP Access page, Shopify also featured some profiles as examples of what it means by “extraordinary people”. First of the three profiles was Emma Coats, who worked as a story artist at companies like Pixar, Dreamworks and Paramount Pictures. She was part of “the most renowned animated films of the last decade, including Brave”.
“Emma became a storytelling legend after publishing a viral Twitter thread on her storytelling rules. After writing the personality behind Google Assistant, she joined Shopify as a senior writer and archivist for our CEO, Tobi Lütke,” Shopify added.
The next featured VIP was Nick McNeese, a production engineer and former professional gamer. “Known as “Silky”, Nick started playing Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty after retiring from playing Halo competitively. He achieved Masters league within 8 months of playing. Nick is now a production engineer at Shopify, working to deliver reliability and speed for our platform and devs,” Shopify described his profile.
Shopify also featured Charles Anderson as a VIP for having a double-world record for indoor endurance rowing. “To gain the world record, Charles rowed one million metres in four days. As a certified indoor rowing instructor. He founded and opened Atlanta’s first indoor rowing gym. He now works at Shopify as a senior staff developer on the Retail Expand team in Merchant Services,” Shopify states.
