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Hunter S. Thompson's brutally honest Canadian job request

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Re: Hunter S. Thompson's brutally honest Canadian job request

#3
post #2

[deleted]

Hint: Despite its name, Hacker News isn't really about news. It's about discussing content that is relevant to the interests of our community. This usually mean fresh business and technical articles, but that's not necessarily the case.

Re: Hunter S. Thompson's brutally honest Canadian job request

#5
I think the letter is a great example of how I would like to see resume submissions / job requests written. It gets to the point pretty directly in "this is how I think I can help" and "here is the type of environment I am/am not interested in".

Instead, a lot of time these days is wasted in "here is my resume", phone back and forth with some HR person, phone with the hiring person, if in person, then you may or may not get a good feel for the work environment.

If only it were possible for both sides to be frank about "this is what we do" and "this is what we want".

Re: Hunter S. Thompson's brutally honest Canadian job request

#6
post #2

[deleted]

Hint: Despite its name, Hacker News isn't really about news. It's about discussing content that is relevant to the interests of our community. This usually mean fresh business and technical articles, but that's not necessarily the case.

Hiring practices of course being totally irrelevant to the vast majority of HN readers

Re: Hunter S. Thompson's brutally honest Canadian job request

#7
post #2

[deleted]

Hint: Despite its name, Hacker News isn't really about news. It's about discussing content that is relevant to the interests of our community. This usually mean fresh business and technical articles, but that's not necessarily the case.

Well if you liked this article I can't help but suggest The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967 (The Fear and Loathing Letters, Vol. 1) -- more depth & background than any sane person needs to have regarding HST. This letter was published in same in 1998.

Re: Hunter S. Thompson's brutally honest Canadian job request

#8
post #5

I think the letter is a great example of how I would like to see resume submissions / job requests written. It gets to the point pretty directly in "this is how I think I can help" and "here is the type of environment I am/am not interested in". Instead, a lot of time these days is wasted in "here is my resume", phone back and forth with some HR person, phone with the hiring person, if in person, then you may or may…

Of course it's possible -- people just don't do it, and I don't know why.

I recently needed to bring someone on to take over the basics on a bunch of my web projects, because I'm overcommitted, as usual, and trying not to be. I tried a local resource first, and then I went to Craigslist, which has worked out well for me in the past.

My ad was simple and direct; it spelled out what we were about, what we were looking for, and what we could offer, and then it had instructions: if someone wanted the job, they needed to solve an easy puzzle, not send a resume, and instead send about a paragraph talking about their skills and experience.

It worked out great.

As far as I'm concerned, resumes are next-to-worthless. I don't really care who you've worked for or what you've done for them. I'm not going to call them and see if they say good things about you. I just want to know if you can figure things out and communicate well. During the interview, I'll sort out whether or not you actually know what you're doing.

Re: Hunter S. Thompson's brutally honest Canadian job request

#9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hint: Despite its name, Hacker News isn't really about news. It's about discussing content that is relevant to the interests of our community. This usually mean fresh business and technical articles, but that's not necessarily the case.

Hiring practices of course being totally irrelevant to the vast majority of HN readers

sarcasm? you really think the majority of HN users are startup founders?

Re: Hunter S. Thompson's brutally honest Canadian job request

#10
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hiring practices of course being totally irrelevant to the vast majority of HN readers

sarcasm? you really think the majority of HN users are startup founders?

No - but many of them have dreamed about getting jobs in vancouver
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