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Interviewing for startups : are formal cover letters + suits necessary, neutral, or harmful?

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Re: Interviewing for startups : are formal cover letters + suits necessary, neutral, or harmful?

#71

Post by bbgm »

I've interviewed people a bit. While I might wear jeans and t-shirts to work, if an interviewee does not have the decency to dress smartly (maybe not a suit, but at least business casual) for an interview, here is the question that would come to mind. If this job isn't important enough to this person to at least look professional, how important is it going to be after the person starts?

So dress smartly. Most companies I've been to let you know that they don't require suits if that is the case, but don't go below business casual.

As for cover letters, throw out the template. Every job is different and there has to be a reason you're interested. Right that down and do it honestly. If you feel you have to just cause you have to, chances are that it isn't worth it.

Re: Interviewing for startups : are formal cover letters + suits necessary, neutral, or harmful?

#72

Post by LKM »

gaius wrote: post #21
cperciva wrote: post #2

In my CL template, I end up talking about how, in high school, I woke up at 5:00 am to practice for contest math tests Take that out. It doesn't matter what sort of job you're applying for -- the words "high school" should never appear in the resume or cover letter of anyone who has a college degree. As for the rest: Dress like the job you want to have, not like the job you're applying for. If I was applying for a ma…

My company is completely casual, in fact my boss dresses more casually than I do, but I still expect every interview candidate suited and booted - it's no different from expecting no spelling mistakes on their CVs.

Fact: You lost a ton of excellent employees that way.

Re: Interviewing for startups : are formal cover letters + suits necessary, neutral, or harmful?

#73

Post by [deleted] »

gaius wrote: post #21
cperciva wrote: post #2

In my CL template, I end up talking about how, in high school, I woke up at 5:00 am to practice for contest math tests Take that out. It doesn't matter what sort of job you're applying for -- the words "high school" should never appear in the resume or cover letter of anyone who has a college degree. As for the rest: Dress like the job you want to have, not like the job you're applying for. If I was applying for a ma…

My company is completely casual, in fact my boss dresses more casually than I do, but I still expect every interview candidate suited and booted - it's no different from expecting no spelling mistakes on their CVs.

[deleted]

Re: Interviewing for startups : are formal cover letters + suits necessary, neutral, or harmful?

#74

Post by bluelu »

It depends on you. Wear what you feel the most confortable with. If you are genuinely interested in working in that company and you have a nice CV, it doesn't matter if you turn up in a suit or not. You are not yet working for them, so you don't have to obey their rules. But you must fit into that image. Don't forget that you are evaluating them as well.

I never wear a suit when interviewing (jeans, tshirt) and at a career day at one of the larger consulting companies, I was the first to get the job. But they said I would be obliged to wear a suit when I would work for them, as I would travel often to clients, which is a fair deal, as everybody else does.

Re: Interviewing for startups : are formal cover letters + suits necessary, neutral, or harmful?

#75

Post by byrneseyeview »

LPTS wrote: post #66
byrneseyeview wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a source for the typo thing? That would be very useful information.

I emailed you info, we're getting too far off topic here.

I don't think I got an email. Subject line?

Re: Interviewing for startups : are formal cover letters + suits necessary, neutral, or harmful?

#76

Post by pjackson »

hunterjrj wrote: post #4

You'd do well to wear a suit to any job interview. Programmer or not, startup or not, walking into an interview in a suit conveys a sense of professionalism. First impressions are hard to change. So start off well. Also, I'd take the advice of those who who say "Wear sandals and a t-shirt" with a grain of salt - I suspect that the majority of people who give that advice are not (and haven't ever been) in a position t…

I agree. I think a lot of the advice that I see above is: "come as you are, and if they won't take you, you didn't want to work there anyway."

This is wrong. I work for a startup (my third one). I wore a suit to the interview. My now-boss said to me, "We should have told you that you didn't have to wear a tie to the interview. Sorry!". I would have worn the tie anyway.

I have personally hired 16 people since starting work at my current startup. They all dressed professionally for the interview, and subsequently changed into shorts and t-shirts.

The issue is: while the startup is casual dress, I might need to take you with me to pitch Fidelity Investments for the B-round of funding. If I'm taking you with me to my investment bank, you better wear a suit and be comfortable in it.

Re: Interviewing for startups : are formal cover letters + suits necessary, neutral, or harmful?

#77

Post by pjackson »

gaius wrote: post #68
LPTS wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not what I mean. You are deliberately taking the worst possible interpretation of what I wrote. No one wants typos in code. But, a programmer who's written english is bad, but who is highly intelligent will probably not evidence the same typos in programming as in typing written english. It's the same sort of thing as dyslexia being different at a neurological level in chinese then in english. English dyslexic…

OK, every word processor these days can check your spelling for you. You don't even need to do anything; it will underline words it doesn't know by magic. Given that big a shove in the right direction PLUS the manual proof-reading that ought to be done, it is incomprehensible that typos get through. It can only be carelessness. This isn't an IRC conversation; it's a professional document. Clumsy use of English from s…

I agree with the first paragraph and disagree with the last sentence.

For me, it's less about the typing or language skills and more about proving that you can produce a complete work-product. A typo-laden resume indicates to me that you failed to have at least one native speaker of the language review it.

If you have a known weak area (English is not your most fluent language and is also required for the job), I would expect a thorough individual to seek help.

Just like I would expect a rock-star hacker to call tech support or post on open-source forums for help if they have a particularly difficult bug that they aren't making headway with.

Re: Interviewing for startups : are formal cover letters + suits necessary, neutral, or harmful?

#78

Post by pjackson »

ig1 wrote: post #57

When you phone them up to arrange an interview time, ask them about the dress code . Problem solved.

I interview a lot of people. When candidates ask me this, they often say "I'm coming from work, and I don't want to over-dress and tip them off that I am interviewing. May I dress casually?"

I never say "no." This is always acceptable to me.

Re: Interviewing for startups : are formal cover letters + suits necessary, neutral, or harmful?

#79

Post by nradov »

edw519 wrote: post #25

"I dislike cover letters because they feel extremely artificial." Then make yours natural. Write like you speak and say what you want to say. "is this over-the-top or absurd" A suit is never absurd, except at the beach. When in doubt, overdress. You can always take off your jacket (and tie). And don't forget the handwritten and sincere Thank You Note.

Handwritten thank-you note? I do a lot of interviewing and would find it bizarre and annoying if a candidate sent me something by snail mail. Only a fax would be worse.

Re: Interviewing for startups : are formal cover letters + suits necessary, neutral, or harmful?

#80

Post by nradov »

My company is somewhat larger and older than your target, but probably still similar. When deciding who to interview I don't even read the cover letter (if any). Instead I just skim through the resume and if the candidate seems to have some sort of reasonable software development background then I'll arrange a phone screening interview. The phone screen is where I make the decision about who to bring in for a real interview. If the candidate turns out to be completely unqualified then I can cut it off after a few minutes, no great loss.

As far attire, it's also irrelevant to me. Just don't show up in anything wildly inappropriate.

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