Best Resume Ever: How to Woo a Startup • Hacker News Board

Re: Best Resume Ever: How to Woo a Startup

#11

Post by jasonshen » Thu, Feb 09, 2012, 9:16 PM UTC

grecy wrote: post #7

Not trying to be a buzz-kill. It's a neat idea, sure... 1. It's too slow. I want to know about you, now. I'm a fast reader and want to get on with reading at my own pace, not the pace you've decided to have fancy transitions slide in. 2. I don't have a ton of time to sit through this. 3. There is no detail. You show logos of some impressive places you've (presumably) worked... but... what did you do there? What did y…

I agree that if this was the only thing Margot sent, it would not be as compelling. But she also sent a resume and an exceptionally well-written cover letter with a lot of great ideas about how she'd engage the Ridejoy community (we ask for 5 ideas from all job applicants).

I think we would have at least phone screened her without this video slideshow, but it took us from "interested" to "wow, this girl looks super legit and really wants this job". If you're a job applicant, that might be worth a lot.

Re: Best Resume Ever: How to Woo a Startup

#12

Post by maneeshgoel » Thu, Feb 09, 2012, 9:16 PM UTC

As a way to separate oneself from other candidates, this cannot be beat. Amazing job, Margot, and RJ for the great reply.

I am so sick of that song.

Re: Best Resume Ever: How to Woo a Startup

#13

Post by dmd149 » Thu, Feb 09, 2012, 9:18 PM UTC

jasonshen wrote: post #11

grecy wrote: post #7

Not trying to be a buzz-kill. It's a neat idea, sure... 1. It's too slow. I want to know about you, now. I'm a fast reader and want to get on with reading at my own pace, not the pace you've decided to have fancy transitions slide in. 2. I don't have a ton of time to sit through this. 3. There is no detail. You show logos of some impressive places you've (presumably) worked... but... what did you do there? What did y…

I agree that if this was the only thing Margot sent, it would not be as compelling. But she also sent a resume and an exceptionally well-written cover letter with a lot of great ideas about how she'd engage the Ridejoy community (we ask for 5 ideas from all job applicants). I think we would have at least phone screened her without this video slideshow, but it took us from "interested" to "wow, this girl looks super l…

I now see what I was competing with. Great choice!

Re: Best Resume Ever: How to Woo a Startup

#14

Post by dasil003 » Thu, Feb 09, 2012, 9:19 PM UTC

grecy wrote: post #7

Not trying to be a buzz-kill. It's a neat idea, sure... 1. It's too slow. I want to know about you, now. I'm a fast reader and want to get on with reading at my own pace, not the pace you've decided to have fancy transitions slide in. 2. I don't have a ton of time to sit through this. 3. There is no detail. You show logos of some impressive places you've (presumably) worked... but... what did you do there? What did y…

> 2. I don't have a ton of time to sit through this.

What startup do you work for and how many resumes do you get? If someone made the effort to submit this to mine, I would "sit through" it.

Re: Best Resume Ever: How to Woo a Startup

#15

Post by tptacek » Thu, Feb 09, 2012, 9:32 PM UTC

Killjoy, I know, but you'd probably want to have permission from Spoon (or, more likely, Merge Records) before repurposing their most popular track commercially.

Similarly, annoying as it probably sounds, virtually anything a startup would ever want to do with a piece of music anyone has heard of before† is probably not kosher. On the flip side, there's thousands of amazingly talented musicians willing to record tracks for tiny amounts of money, so maybe investigate that instead of just grabbing random tracks from iTunes.

The obvious and (please presume) prolific apologies apply if rights to You Got Yr Cherry Bomb were secured for this. Totally possible.

† Including but not limited to putting it center stage on a cheerful and uplifting branded company blog post about resumes.

Re: Best Resume Ever: How to Woo a Startup

#16

Post by SomeCallMeTim » Thu, Feb 09, 2012, 9:35 PM UTC

ericdykstra wrote: post #5

I'm a big proponent of resumes that show personality and break the mold. Do a search for examples of designer resumes and you'll see how much of a person can be expressed through just the design choices, while still expressing all of the relevant content that you expect. I've heard from resume screeners that a lot of them are told to throw out anything that doesn't match one of the standard formats, or that has color…

Thinking about it, I am absolutely certain that I'm not interested in working for a company that would throw out resumes with color.

In fact, I'm going to have to add color to my resume now just so that I don't accidentally get an offer from a company like that. ;)

Re: Best Resume Ever: How to Woo a Startup

#17

Post by pitdesi » Thu, Feb 09, 2012, 9:36 PM UTC

We've found that candidates who submit a dynamic resume are good because

1) it shows personality

2) it shows initiative

and 3) a willing to think outside the box, all of which we value.

Obviously the content of the resume has to be great and everything else has to line up too, but this gets you a lot of facetime that not everyone gets. We were looking for a UI guy and got a ton of interest from folks (thanks HN!), but one applicant stood out to us because he went through the effort of making a site focused on getting the job with us (http://jaredhardy.com/fee-fighter/). We hired him.

Re: Best Resume Ever: How to Woo a Startup

#18

Post by SomeCallMeTim » Thu, Feb 09, 2012, 9:42 PM UTC

kalvin wrote: post #3

Not sure if this is too adorable (adorkable?) for Hacker News, but it's certainly relevant! It's a bit irrational to put this much effort into a job app-- but it's also an incredibly strong positive signal. For early-stage startups, passion for the space, the people, makes a huge difference. You don't just want the right skills and talent (which Margot also had in abundance), you want people who care. (And of course,…

I disagree on the "irrational" part: I think it raises your chance of getting an interview by a huge amount, and getting that interview sooner rather than later.

Also, consider: The whole effort doesn't need to be unique. Yes it would need to be customized for each employer, but once you've done the work, you can potentially use it again.

Unless it gets featured on Hacker News, of course. At that point you'd pretty much need to start over for your next job application. But hopefully at that point it's earned you a job. :)

Re: Best Resume Ever: How to Woo a Startup

#19

Post by medius » Thu, Feb 09, 2012, 9:42 PM UTC

Looking at all this incredible talent makes my mind boggle with amazement. It's more than just the skill, it's being able to reach out to people in innovative ways that make the best impression. Pumping up a resume seems to be less and less relevant than showing what kind of person you are.

Re: Best Resume Ever: How to Woo a Startup

#20

Post by TomGullen » Thu, Feb 09, 2012, 9:44 PM UTC

Unrelated but something that irritates me with company blogs is no easy link to view to product/go to homepage. I keep clicking logos on the page trying to reach their homepage and see what their company is about, but it's all in vain, I get frustrated and leave. I know I could manually type it in but I'm too stubborn.