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

nina4airbnb.com

71–80 of 108 posts

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

#71
post #35

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?

It can be.

Too much ambition can lead to losing sight of practicality, burn out, high stress, anxiety, depression, high turnover, as well as losing site of the bigger picture.

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

#72

I wouldn't hire a designer who's application does not degrade gracefully - had to allow JS just to see her resume.

Agreed. I viewed the source of the page and immediately saw one of my pet peeves--a blank document body that is dynamically replaced via script.

As I typically browse unfamiliar sites with scripts disabled, loading a blank page is instant failure for the site.

You build a barebones static page first, and then you add bells and whistles.

But then, after enabling script, what do I see? Images filled with mostly text. Aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrgh... I bet they weren't even crushed.

Luckily for her, no business in its right mind would ask someone like me to evaluate any new marketing hires. Engineer-types and marketer-types in the same company are like mortal enemies, forced by circumstance to work together toward a common goal.

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

#73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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”.

What in hell does that even MEAN? "contextualize an experience?"

My best guess is the interviewer didn't know shit and could only use "facebook," "google," "stanford" as indicators that someone who did know shit considered the interviewee worthwhile.

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

#74
post #33

I do believe that ATL (Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport) is the busiest airport in the world, and has been so for quite some time. Dubai, indeed, is not.

Just changed it up: http://www.ibtimes.com/chicago-ohare-knocks-atlanta-title-bu...

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

#75
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What in hell does that even MEAN? "contextualize an experience?"

My best guess is the interviewer didn't know shit and could only use "facebook," "google," "stanford" as indicators that someone who did know shit considered the interviewee worthwhile.

probably. Most pre-interview programs are heavily biased for those keywords too. So, when her resume when viral, she got a interview through the front end PR campaign called "this resume went viral, do something about it". Then, the interview was exactly the same as the software screening, but with doublespeak.

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

#76

Speaking as someone who works in a Middle Eastern country, most of these countries would totally lose their minds if AirBnB made serious penetration into the Middle East. They absolutely do not want/tolerate these types of services (Uber also comes to mind).

Totally fascinating! Why on earth would anyone care what someone else does with their home/car?

I care what my closest neighbors do with their apartment as I share a floor, ceiling, and common spaces with them. If I owned a car, I might care what neighbors on my street do as it could reduce availability of on-street parking (there's little off-street parking here).

But I think the main point was not about the citizenry but the governments in the Middle East. The governments there would care for the same reasons governments in other countries do, companies like Airbnb and Uber are violating and/or inciting violation of zoning laws, regulations, avoiding relevant taxes & fees, etc. Relative to countries like the U.S. they might "lose their shit" because it's more novel to have such disruption. Such outfits might also not fit well with their forms of corruption, reducing bribe opportunities (e.g. why pay a bribe to get a zoning change for a hotel when you can just call the rooms "apartments" and list them on Airbnb?).

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

#77

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 di…

>most people who work in successful companies didn't get there based on merit but largely, just dumb luck

Do you have evidence for this, or are you just speculating? My experience (based on my employment history and the employment history of those close to me) is that ability to get hired correlates very closely with merit (including technical skill, amicability, etc.)

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

#78
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems like an instance of Job's "A players hire A players, B players hire C players." [1] Results will vary by who is hiring. [1] http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story...

> This seems like an instance of Job's "A players hire A players, B players hire C players." Tangentially, I've always wondered, in that model, how B players ever get hired.

when B players found the company. For example software companies started by people who aren't excellent at writing software. And B hires C isn't even a bad outcome in that case, the founders may have other advantages and go on to be successful.

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

#79
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems like an instance of Job's "A players hire A players, B players hire C players." [1] Results will vary by who is hiring. [1] http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story...

> This seems like an instance of Job's "A players hire A players, B players hire C players." Tangentially, I've always wondered, in that model, how B players ever get hired.

Interesting comment...

Given the limits imposed by Job's comment, which parameters the construct, it may be that the set of "B Players" are (failed) A players, who've involuntarily been forced a step down the ladder, or, alternatively, they are C players who've convinced some unspecified hiring intermediary that they're on the rise...

However one becomes a B player, by definition, one is constrained...one can only hire C players...dimming the prospects for success...so, for B, there appears to be little chance of ascending, or re-ascending, to A player status...

Whimsical, but fun to think about...

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

#80
post #33

I do believe that ATL (Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport) is the busiest airport in the world, and has been so for quite some time. Dubai, indeed, is not.

Looks like it depends on how you count. Atlanta moves the most people, Chicago moves the most planes, Dubai move the most people between countries. Dubai is also #3 for the most people regardless of origin and destination which makes me think they'll remain tops for moving people internationally; all the other top airports would have a much larger proportion of domestic passengers (unless flights between Hong Kong and the rest of China don't count as domestic).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_busiest_airport

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_world%27s_busiest_...

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