yeah, I'm too old for this.
That's a lot of work to go through just for an application ... How to "woo" a startup? What was that about a shortage of tech talent?
I'm curious how many other startups she sent basically the same template to...
Best Resume Ever: How to Woo a Startup
61–70 of 73 posts
Re: Best Resume Ever: How to Woo a Startup
#62This is one of the few times I've disagreed with hacker news. Sorry. Not a fan. :(
Re: Best Resume Ever: How to Woo a Startup
#63Re: Best Resume Ever: How to Woo a Startup
#64It's not the best resume ever but a terrific example of using some creativity to make a connection. I'm surprised more people didn't take that away from this slide show. It's about hustle, creativity, putting yourself out there. The essence of this is doing something to set yourself apart from the 10 other people looking for the same job.
Re: Best Resume Ever: How to Woo a Startup
#65This is a sort of weird criterion, but I'm partial to the CVs done in LaTeX...
Re: Best Resume Ever: How to Woo a Startup
#66Killjoy, 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 trac…
Good point! My understanding, from speaking with the SlideRocket team, is that it's kosher to use another artist's song as your presentation soundtrack as long as you attribute the song in your presentation somewhere. But if I were doing a similar project in the future, I'd absolutely love to work with a musician to record something - that's a terrific suggestion. EDIT: Just spoke directly with a representative at Sl…
"is that it's kosher to use another artist's song as your presentation soundtrack as long as you attribute the song in your presentation somewhere."
No, it's not kosher at all.
Regardless of your opinions on copyright, etc - this is simply not correct as it stands.
Re: Best Resume Ever: How to Woo a Startup
#67What happens when this "best resume" becomes "best practice" and people really take it seriously that this is "How to woo a startup"?
Do companies really want to sift through video slideshows for, say, engineering jobs?
Re: Best Resume Ever: How to Woo a Startup
#68Too long, didn't watch. Seriously though, she could learn a thing or two about brevity and efficiently communicating a message. I lost interest quickly.
Well, it's boring but also it's good resume : she shows her interest and passion.
If someone send me such a resume for " engineering position ", i would probably stop watching after 10 seconds.
Re: Best Resume Ever: How to Woo a Startup
#69Not 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,…
It's a bit irrational to put this much effort into a job app
It's perfectly rational if you're being savvy about how you approach your job search. If you're playing a numbers game and sending out 200 resumes a day to jobs you're poorly qualified to work at, this is very irrational, since it will not meaningfully increase your hit rate but will severely decrease the amount of resume spam you're capable of. Don't do that.
If, on the other hand, you've done your research and know that there are three positions out there you'd be perfect for, spending two hours (or ten hours) on a sales presentation is a pretty good use of your time. The NPV of a job upgrade, particularly from unemployed or student to "first gainful employment in a meanginful role", is staggering. Heck, I'd do this just to close consulting sales if I thought it would meaningfully affect outcomes -- it's a LOT less work than often goes into getting five figure engagements on the calendar.
Now is it the best possible job search tactic ever? No. Major points for creativity, and "do the job before you have the job" is one of the most effective things you can do in sales, but you'd probably do even better to get a warm intro to the hiring manager and convince them in person that you're the perfect candidate for the position. The resume is optional at that point, but if you've already met them, you're essentially guaranteed that they'll actually review it. (The likelihood of falling out of the funnel before your content is even seen is a major reason why I would suggest not just e.g. throwing one of these into someone's inbox and praying.)
Re: Best Resume Ever: How to Woo a Startup
#70Not 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.
I agree. Although the format has its drawbacks, the effort will get attention if the startup's culture is right. If it isn't, somebody like Margot probably would not be interested in working there anyways.