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Custom resume from someone who wanted to work at Airbnb (2015)

nina4airbnb.com

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Re: Custom resume from someone who wanted to work at Airbnb (2015)

#31

Post by giarc »

schnide05095 wrote: post #11
danso wrote: post #5

Holy shit, putting on my protective suit before all the "DONT BREAK MY BROWSER'S BACK BUTTON" comments come pouring in :). Actually, I don't think it would break browser interaction, but yeah, I think she should consider re-creating the page as text rather than screenshots of text. First of all, much easier to edit (and style) when it's just text. Second, makes it much easier for the employer to Cmd-F search for keyw…

Not to mention, all of the images take a hell of a lot longer time to load than text plus a font. I had a 16 second load time, granted my connection isn't the best. But she's not applying for a web designer/software position, so I guess we shouldn't be too hard on the site...

Exactly - she's not being judged on her CSS skills, so why does it matter. She did something that is the top of HN right now. Seems like whatever she did (however bad) accomplished what she wanted, to get noticed.

Re: Custom resume from someone who wanted to work at Airbnb (2015)

#32

Post by winter_blue »

It's strange she emphasizes "Bedouin Hospitality" because bedouins[1] comprise a really small percentage of the natives/citizens of the U.A.E., Qatar, Bahrain, etc.

Bedouins are a seminomadic group of people sort of like the gypsies of Europe. Most of the citizens of Arab countries are not bedouins. They're permanently settled in one location/area, and they do not identify as bedouin.

This cultural gaffe indicates that she should have done more research before making such a prominent statement. "Arab hospitality" or "Middle eastern hospitality" would have been more appropriate.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedouin

Re: Custom resume from someone who wanted to work at Airbnb (2015)

#34

Post by djscram »

winter_blue wrote: post #32

It's strange she emphasizes "Bedouin Hospitality" because bedouins[1] comprise a really small percentage of the natives/citizens of the U.A.E., Qatar, Bahrain, etc. Bedouins are a seminomadic group of people sort of like the gypsies of Europe. Most of the citizens of Arab countries are not bedouins. They're permanently settled in one location/area, and they do not identify as bedouin. This cultural gaffe indicates th…

Perhaps, but that Bedouin hospitality is part of the self-identity of most Arab groups, I believe. (source, was married to a Palestinian from Kuwait for several years and was exposed to a variety of Arab cultures in U.S.)

Re: Custom resume from someone who wanted to work at Airbnb (2015)

#35

Post by rym_ »

nashashmi wrote: post #13
vonklaus wrote: post #2

This is awesome and a great way to get hired. Finding a company(or several) you really want to work at and targeting them specifically with a tailor made strategy is probably better than a shotgun approach. Best of luck to Nina.

FWIW, she did this in April and talks about it as her most successful campaign yet. I don't think she got a job at Airbnb, but she did get an interview. Unfortunately, the kinds of talent she showcases on her website is the kind of talent "RESERVED" for higher ups. I see "too much ambition" there and HR may not exactly be willing to approve of her. (Such is the impression I have received from working in big corporate…

Too much ambition is bad?

Re: Custom resume from someone who wanted to work at Airbnb (2015)

#36

Post by geverett »

I love this and I'm still surprised AirBnb didn't take a chance on Nina, though she seems quite happy in her current job. I'm still not sure why AirBnb largely ignores the Middle East, especially considering the popularity of couchsurfing in the region. I watched AirBnb explode in popularity in Istanbul, where I lived 2009-2012, and saw many services like Pillow-style concierges spring up there well before we heard of them in the States. As Nina points out, Muslim hospitality is a natural cultural fit with the type of exchange that is core to the AirBnb experience.

Re: Custom resume from someone who wanted to work at Airbnb (2015)

#37

Post by eigenvalue »

bitwize wrote: post #26

I was half expecting some Aleksey Vayner bit of hilarity but there's actual skill on display here.

Off topic, but I feel terrible every time I see him referenced given his very tragic suicide as a result of the endless humiliation he suffered from his one youthful indiscretion.

Re: Custom resume from someone who wanted to work at Airbnb (2015)

#38

Post by misterbwong »

startupfounder wrote: post #25

1. This has been submitted before, 302 days ago in fact: https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=nina4airbnb.com 2. This is actually a case study in how to market yourself: https://web.archive.org/web/20150714043548/http://media.wix.... 3. From the case study: These are the numbers: • 445,000+ Visits to Nina4Airbnb • Hundreds of thousands of Tweets and millions of impressions • 30,000+ New visitors to my personal blog…

The blog post is worth a read.

This part was especially interesting to me:

the person interviewing me was saying he couldn’t contextualize my experience because i “hadn’t worked at facebook or google or studied at stanford”.

Re: Custom resume from someone who wanted to work at Airbnb (2015)

#39

Post by alexashka »

The bigger story here is that given that she's clearly way above average at what she does - she couldn't find a job for a year and did this as a last resort - an act of desperation.

Which also did not work out - she ended up with Elance. If we measure success by job vs no job, then yes, otherwise... eh...

People 'say' they want creativity, passion, etc - but in reality, most people who work in successful companies didn't get there based on merit but largely, just dumb luck. If you know you're in a cushy spot, do you want to hire people who are way better than you?

Nope.

The job market is broken, and most people you know are the reason why. The people holding down the jobs are interested in keeping it that way - or else they'd get replaced.

Imagine a basketball player who could choose his/her own teammates and knew that if he/she gets kicked off the team, nobody will hire him/her ever again... They'd rather see the whole team destroyed, they'll get to collect cheques a while longer that way.

With regular jobs - this is much less obvious but truth of the matter is - there are too many young people hungry to replace the old, that the only way to prevent the whole system from beginning to collapse is to impose classicisms in subtle and not so much ways.

Re: Custom resume from someone who wanted to work at Airbnb (2015)

#40

Post by czinck »

rym_ wrote: post #35
nashashmi wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, she did this in April and talks about it as her most successful campaign yet. I don't think she got a job at Airbnb, but she did get an interview. Unfortunately, the kinds of talent she showcases on her website is the kind of talent "RESERVED" for higher ups. I see "too much ambition" there and HR may not exactly be willing to approve of her. (Such is the impression I have received from working in big corporate…

Too much ambition is bad?

Can be, if it seems likely that the ambition would cause them to leave the company, especially if within a year or 2 of hiring. There are a lot of costs to hiring someone (both money-wise and in opportunity cost) and if they seem likely to leave in less than 2 years than the company could end up net-negative for hiring them.
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