Scale matters more than name recognition. If you worked at a 50,000 employee F100, your skills aren't going to be suited for a 10 person startup, and vice versa.
What effects do startups have on your resume?
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Re: What effects do startups have on your resume?
#12I have worked with a number of people in the industry over the years and have seen a bias against startup founders, more than a desire to hire them. But on the flip side people want to hire engineers from startups. Basically being at a startup is desirable because they often think it bring good qualities (of course evaluating the position and individual too) but being a found brings the concern of them being disconte…
> I think you have to look at the individual, their specific fit and how old they are.
Congratulations on confessing (without a lawyer present) to breaking anti-discrimination law (and being ignorant).
Re: What effects do startups have on your resume?
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was in exactly that situation a couple of years ago. It definitely closed some doors for me. At every single interview I was grilled about my desire to start another company. It definitely cost me a job I really wanted. They freely admitted that I was well qualified, but their concerns over my bolting for another run at my own thing kept them from hiring me. Of course, they were right. I was out on my own again wit…
It's all in the presentation. If you write 'programmer for xxx.com' on your resume that's one thing, if you put 'CEO of startup xxx.com' on there then that's quite another. In both cases you do the same work but the first is not going to raise too many follow up questions.
Then when you are asked about your work as a programmer for ___.com, do you entirely neglect to mention you were the founder?
Re: What effects do startups have on your resume?
#14Interesting article, but I'm actually more interested in what effect having started your own startup (and failed after, say, a year) has on your resume.
I was in exactly that situation a couple of years ago. It definitely closed some doors for me. At every single interview I was grilled about my desire to start another company. It definitely cost me a job I really wanted. They freely admitted that I was well qualified, but their concerns over my bolting for another run at my own thing kept them from hiring me. Of course, they were right. I was out on my own again wit…
I've found you get questions about anything non-standard you've done for any institutional like job. I used to teach English in China, it was fun, but I'd never do it again. Still, it's come up in a negative light in interviews years after the fact: "How do we know you won't just leave for China?"
(I want to be generous and think it's because in large companies the how-we-do-it-here knowledge has to be taught, so it's more valuable than the how-to-get-it-to-compile knowledge and they need long tenures)
Re: What effects do startups have on your resume?
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's all in the presentation. If you write 'programmer for xxx.com' on your resume that's one thing, if you put 'CEO of startup xxx.com' on there then that's quite another. In both cases you do the same work but the first is not going to raise too many follow up questions.
Then when you are asked about your work as a programmer for ___.com, do you entirely neglect to mention you were the founder?
If they don't ask you are under no obligation to volunteer.
As a rule though, those that have worked for start-ups and/or were founders will not normally go back to big-corp to do a 9 to 5, and in the age of google even if you don't disclose it you may be found out anyway.
Yes, that's illegal in plenty of places but it happens quite frequently regardless of that.
Re: What effects do startups have on your resume?
#16Scale matters more than name recognition. If you worked at a 50,000 employee F100, your skills aren't going to be suited for a 10 person startup, and vice versa.
Why not?
Re: What effects do startups have on your resume?
#17I have worked with a number of people in the industry over the years and have seen a bias against startup founders, more than a desire to hire them. But on the flip side people want to hire engineers from startups. Basically being at a startup is desirable because they often think it bring good qualities (of course evaluating the position and individual too) but being a found brings the concern of them being disconte…
> I think you have to look at the individual, their specific fit and how old they are. Isn't that descriminatory ?
Neither here nor there, but I've found government programs that only fund people under 30 (Canada's Youth Employment Program) for enough that it would be foolish to look at anyone over-30 for a lot of positions.
Re: What effects do startups have on your resume?
#18Re: What effects do startups have on your resume?
#19Perhaps, other things equal, it's better to have a big-name company on your resume. However, consider that you'll probably make more contacts doing a startup which may be useful when you need to find a job later on -- you'll never be sending your resume "cold" again.
> you'll never be sending your resume "cold" again. That's the takeaway. If ten years into your career (baring a situation such as a move to a new area or wanting to work on something completely different from what you're doing now), you're sending in your resume cold to HR you're doing something wrong. You should have made connections in the industry: people who can vouch for you, whom you respect and want to work w…
Agreed. 10 years in Silicon valley, I have never had need to submit a cold resume for a decade. That includes 5 job changes including 3 startups.