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Shred Your Resume: How To Get a Job
at a Startup
/anuary ((, (0'1 career, interviewing 2 3omments
4 !rev5 6e"t 7
Lots of people want to work at startups these days5 #nd for good reason5 +hen 8 left my former positions at &ig
companies like Microsoft and #ma9on, 8 caught the startup &ug and got hooked on the challenge and opportunity they
provided5
)ut the thing that we all love a&out startups that they:re different is also the thing that can make getting a
jo& at one a little tricky5 he rules for getting a jo& at a startup don:t e"actly conform to the traditional wisdom
out there for jo&;seekers applying to &ig companies5 8f you are looking to &reak into the world of startups,
shedding the idea that a good suit and a polished resume are all you need to get in the door will &e key for
landing your awesome new position5
,ven though startups and startup culture have &ecome so prevalent in &usiness today, most of the jo&;searching
guides and wisdom availa&le to jo&;seekers has to do with how to get hired at a traditional company with
traditional rules5 +hat you used to do to get a jo& doesn:t necessarily apply in the startup world, and many of the
traditional re<uirements need a new spin to catch the attention of one of these fast;moving, driven teams5
8n my career, 8:ve interviewed over =00 people and hired over >0, many of those for the startups 8:ve worked at
or was helping as a consultant5 )ased on that e"perience, 8:ve put together a simple guide for getting hired at the
startup of your dreams5
+hy is startup hiring different?
#t a &ig company, you might su&mit your resume to the H$ department and then wait weeks &efore you first
hear &ack a&out an interview5 #t startups, there are compressed timelines, and not enough people to do
everything5 hings move a lot faster and you have to make more noise ?or &e more noteworthy@ to get noticed5
8f you haven:t worked at a startup &efore, you:ll likely &e surprised &y the intensity of the work and the
environment and this intensity is no different for the hiring process5 he people in charge of hiring at a startup
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are often working on lots of different items than at your typical large company ?hence the saying Bwear many
hatsC@5
8nstead of meeting with an H$ rep or recruiter whose entire day is a&out screening employees, you could &e
communicating directly with a &usy founder, 3. or 3,.5 his means they don:t have tons of time and if you
don:t make an impact right away, they might just skip over you5
)ecause of the fast pace and limited resources, hiring managers are looking for candidates who can hit the
ground running and &e passionate a&out their role, without a lot of prodding5 3ulture fit and willingness to do
the hard work it takes to launch a company are some of the &iggest factors that folks doing hiring at startups
look for5
+ere you a superstar at your last jo&?
8f you want to work at a startup, you should &eD and your resume, cover letter, and communication with the
company should reflect that5 %idn:t do so great at your last jo& or in school? +ell, you:ll have to counteract that
&y making a splash somewhere else, like with your own personal projects, an open source project, or with an
organi9ation you participate in5
Startups look for people who are going to have the a&ility to make meaningful changes within their organi9ation5
+ith smaller teams and more at stake, the impact an individual can make on the company or their team is
potentially huge5 Standards are high and priority is given to candidates who show they:ve got the passion and
skills to get the jo& done55
How can 8 improve my odds of getting hired at a startup?
E Look at local tech news for companies that have &een funded recently5 Look at local tech news for companies that have &een funded recently5 Look at local tech news for companies that have &een funded recently5 Look at local tech news for companies that have &een funded recently5 his means they likely have
money to pay you, and that someone has done some due diligence &efore you ?ie5 the investors@5 Look at
F3s who you know and respect, or who have funded companies you know that have had successful e"its,
and see what companies are in their portfolio5 Gou may find a company you weren:t aware of &ut who fits
your criteria5
E 3onnect with employees 3onnect with employees 3onnect with employees 3onnect with employees5 Hse witter and other social media to follow employees of companies you:re
interested in5 Gou can judge pretty <uickly which employees are open to connecting online just take a look
at the pu&lic;ness of their Linked8n and witter profiles, whether they maintain a personal we&site, and how
often they communicate with other people pu&licly5 his way you:ll &e a&le to focus your time and energy
on people who are already showing they are open to &uilding relationships58:ve mentioned this statistic here
&efore, &ut it &ears repeating: over I0J of jo& offers come through referrals5 he startup world is no
differentD if anything, it relies even more heavily on referrals, as high;<uality employees strive to &ring in
more of the same to make their teams even &etter5 8f you &uild relationships with people on teams you want
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to join, you:ll stand out from a crowd of applicants as a known <uantity who:s proven an interest in the
organi9ation5
E Have something compelling to offerK Have something compelling to offerK Have something compelling to offerK Have something compelling to offerK !ersonal projects ?&onus points if they:re related to your future jo&
like open source contri&utions to the tools they use@ give 3,.s and hiring managers something they can see
and evaluate for <uality &efore even meeting you in person5 Lreat e"amples of this include a personal
we&site, &log posts, or even just &eing present and having a network ?so start meeting people and attending
local events@5 hey shouldn:t Loogle you and find nothing5his is your way of demonstrating how awesome
you are &efore you ever sit down for an interview or write a line of code5 Show them e"actly what you:re
into and how much work you:re willing to put into something you care a&out, even when you:re not getting
paid for itD they will make the connection and &e a&le to see how you:d function on their team, and &e more
inclined to &ring you in5
E Lo to local events in your vertical5 Lo to local events in your vertical5 Lo to local events in your vertical5 Lo to local events in your vertical5 Lo where your targets are at ?as saying 8 shamelessly stole from a
pickup artist@5 his means going to meetups, conferences, networking events, and anything else you can find
where you can meet other people doing your kind of work and may&e even who work at a company you:ve
got your eye on5#nd just like meeting high;<uality ladies in a pickup scene, you:ve got to actual talk to your
targets when you go to these networking events5 %on:t &e shy a&out introducing yourself5 $emem&er, you
are pursuing them so you can:t wait for the 3,. to notice you &e a little &old and introduce yourself5
E ell them you like them5 ell them you like them5 ell them you like them5 ell them you like them5 +hen 8:m hiring, 8 always want to pick a candidate for whom my company their
first choice5 8n my opinion, if someone is passionate a&out engineering the kind of software my team is
&uilding in the specific market we work in, then they:re going to work harder and more passionately than
someone who just needs a jo&5 his means candidates who make that clear will certainly get my attention
over others5 8f you want to work somewhere specific, don:t &e coy a&out it let them know you want themK8
once got an email from someone who e"plained that he had heard a&out %ecide on the radio, and our work
was such a perfect match for his interests and skills that he just had to get in touch with us5 #lthough he
wasn:t looking for a new jo& at that time, if he had applied for a position on my team = months later, 8 would
have remem&ered his passion for our technology and &een much more inclined to find a place for him5His
email was so memora&le &ecause he had clearly made a point to &ecome <uite familiar with our company,
our technology, and our team5 He didn:t just e"plain his own skills, &ut also mentioned that he was the Bgo;
to guyC in his group of friends for finding deals online so what we were doing at %ecide was of particular
interest to him5 8f you feel the same way a&out the work a particular company is doing, don:t &e shy a&out
letting them know5 hey:ll notice5
Landing a jo& at a startup isn:t easy5 8t:s a competitive field where most of your competition is the &est of the
&est5 )ut that:s why it:s such a great place to work, and why it:s worth taking the steps to improve your odds as
much as possi&le5
8f you work in the startup world, what were your secrets for getting hired? #nd if you:ve hired people for startup
jo&s what have successful candidates done to get your attention?
$elated !osts:
E ,pic List of 8nterview Muestions
E +hy Gou Shouldn:t !ut !erks in a /o& %escription, and How to !rove Me +rong
E he ransition the culture shock of corporate to startup in your 10s5
E )uild the Skills Gou 6eed to Mualify !art ': How to Let #ny /o& Gou +ant
E Muestions for 3andidates to #sk in an 8nterview
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3omments
#nuraag Sachdeva (1rd /anuary (0'1 at 0(:'1
Love this article5
8 agree with the o&servation that a lot of referral comes into picture when startup teams are &uilt5
#nother aspect of working in small teams is the culture fitment5
,ngineers who are working in start;ups tend to like to work with similar kind of people5
#s you mentioned, they wear multiple hats5 However, startup teams generally to rule out ideas
like Nred;tape:, Nnot;my;jo&: etc5
he team of engineers working in the starting days of a startup tends to &ecome a family and fast
paced working unit5
#lso, the first thing 8 do when 8 get a profile is to Loogle the person5 #lways good to see the
Linkedin profile immediately5 #lways a good idea to make your githu& profile, linkedin profile or
some online community profile in your resume5
$eply
#nuraag Sachdeva (1rd /anuary (0'1 at 0(:'O
8 meant to say B#lways a good idea to make your githu& profile, linkedin profile or some
online community profile linked from your resume5 *or easy access5C
$eply
kate (Oth /anuary (0'1 at '1:02
hanks so much #nuraagK Lood point and 8 appreciate the comment
$eply
!eter Maloof, the .3% !roofreader (Oth /anuary (0'1 at '':1>
Hi -ate,
8 really liked this post5
8nstead of, B3ulture fit and willingness to do hard work is takes to launch a companyC, did you
mean, B3ulture fit and willingness to do H, hard work 8 takes to launch a companyC?
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a&out me
katemats
-ate is known as one of the top
technology leaders and 3.s5 Her
technical &ackground is in creating
and operating large;scale we&
applications5 Her focus has
primarily rested on SaaS
applications and &ig data5 She has
e"tensive e"perience &uilding and
managing high;performance
teams, and considers herself a fan
of agile development practices and
the lean startup movement5 She is
currently founding her own
startup, popforms, &ut has held
roles as developer, project
manager, product manager, and
people manager at great
companies including #ma9on and
Microsoft5 he last seven years she
has &een a F! of ,ngineeringP3.
for companies like Mo9, %ecide
?ac<uired &y e)ay@, and %elve
6etworks ?ac<uired &y Limelight@5
-ate is a keynote speaker, and she
is also the curator of the
echnology and Leadership
6ewsletter ?L6 ;
www5techleadershipnews5com@
and has a personal &log at
katemats5com5
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,pic List of 8nterview Muestions
Systems ,ngineers 8nterview
Muestions ?also for System
#dminstrators and 6etwork
,ngineers@
# surefire formula to deal with
difficult employees
8nterview Muestions for
Software %evelopment
Managers and Leaders
(0 hings ,very i.S #nd Mo&ile
%ev Should 3onsider in heir
#pp !romotion Strategy
%istri&uted Systems )asics ;
Handling *ailure: *ault
olerance and Monitoring
leadership
3onversations with Gour eam,
!eers and )oss ; 6ew ech
Leader Series
!eople are la9y5 HereQs how 8 get
shit done5
echnical 8nterview Muestions
for Software %evelopment
Managers
R (0'1 kateSmatsT5
please leave a reply
#re there proofreading jo&s at any startups?
$eply
kate (Oth /anuary (0'1 at '1:0O
HghK Gou are so right5 hanks !eter it:s corrected now
$eply
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