( Mashable ) -- So you want to work at Facebook , one of the world 's hottest companies -- what do you have to get your foot in the door and get noticed ? It 's not going to be easy -- you have competition . Facebook received 250,000 job applications last year and is consistently rated as one of the best places to work . And with Facebook 's IPO around the corner , the competition for jobs is only going to heat up . There are plenty of ways to get noticed and stand above the crowd , though . I chatted with Thomas Arnold , head of recruiting for the social network , on what the company looks for and what it takes to get a job at Facebook . What jobs are available at Facebook ? Ever since Facebook announced it was moving to a bigger office and raised $ 2 billion in funding , it has been ramping up its hiring . While there are many openings in legal , communications , HR , marketing , online operations , business development , IT , design , user experience and internationalization , the company is especially looking for technical talent , especially software engineers and product managers . The Facebook interview process . I actually went through the entire Facebook interview process in 2008 , before I joined Mashable as an associate editor . And while it 's definitely changed since I applied for a job on the company 's User Operations team , the basic format has remained the same . The first step is almost always a recruiter phone-screening -- Facebook will begin exploring your resume , asking you about your previous work , especially about what you 've built and what leadership roles you 've had in the past . Sometimes there 's a second screening , depending on the role . If you pass the screening , the company will fly you out to its Silicon Valley headquarters for a series of on-site interviews with the hiring manager ( your potential future boss ) and a group of your peers -- in other words , you will be interviewed by the members of the team you 're hoping to join . As Arnold explained to me , these interviews are designed to determine whether you have the skills for the job and whether you 're a cultural fit . The group then makes `` a collective decision on whether you 're a great fit '' for the position . The process itself greatly varies from group to group -- expect more technical skill challenges if you 're applying for an engineering job . Oh , and one extra piece of advice from me : Always put the user first in any scenario or interview question . Standing apart from the crowd . With more than a quarter of a million applicants , how does Facebook whittle down the applicant pool ? `` We 're primarily looking for builders , '' Arnold says . He explains that Facebook has an entrepreneurial spirit and is a flat organization , and thus it 's looking for people who can thrive in that environment . Employees need to be self-starters who do n't need a lot of direction , so autonomy and self-motivation are highly valued . Builders -- especially engineers who like to build projects on their own and have cool , working products or apps they can show off -- are sought after by the Facebook team . If someone builds a unique application and/or solves a problem in a way that has n't been done before , he 's going to get Facebook 's attention . Strong applicants to Facebook also `` just get the social space , '' Arnold says . They not only understand the product , but can see the company 's vision . Even more important is that they 're active users of the product . This may seem like a no-brainer , but Arnold says his team finds a lot of applicants who have n't used their Facebook accounts in weeks or even months . And that is a very clear sign to Facebook that the person wo n't be a good fit . Finally , it 's very helpful to know someone at Facebook who can vouch for you -- this was true even when I interviewed with the social network three years ago . While I got special consideration due to my unique history with Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook , I still had a Facebook reference . Final thoughts . While I ultimately failed to secure a job at Facebook , you do n't have to let that be the case for you . For those of you applying to non-technical roles , be sure you 're active users , understand the company culture and have a resume filled with leadership and `` builder '' activities . It 's more impressive if you launched an organization or product than if you simply took it over . For technical talent , the best thing you can do is build something . If you build a really impressive iPhone application that gains some traction , you 're going to get noticed . If you are a major contributor of open source code to various projects , you 're going to get noticed . In the end though , the big filter is cultural fit . There is n't really much you can do to prepare for that -- the Facebook team simply knows if you 're going to mesh well with them or if you 're not going to be able to keep up . And as I said before , be sure to have an employee refer you . Otherwise , you 're going to have a really difficult time just getting the phone screening . © 2011 MASHABLE.com . All rights reserved .
The company is especially looking for technical talent . Strong applicants to Facebook `` just get the social space , '' Thomas Arnold says . In the end , the big filter is cultural fit .