Posted on March 17, 2008
Filed Under Job Seeking

{repost} Why bother having a resume?

In the last few days, I’ve heard from top students at Cornell and other universities about my internship.

It must have been posted in some office or on a site, because each of the applications is just a resume. No real cover letter, no attempt at self marketing. Sort of, “here are the facts about me, please put me in the pile.”

This is controversial, but here goes: I think if you’re remarkable, amazing or just plain spectacular, you probably shouldn’t have a resume at all.

Not just for my little internship, but in general. Great people shouldn’t have a resume.

Here’s why: A resume is an excuse to reject you. Once you send me your resume, I can say, “oh, they’re missing this or they’re missing that,” and boom, you’re out.

Having a resume begs for you to go into that big machine that looks for relevant keywords, and begs for you to get a job as a cog in a giant machine. Just more fodder for the corporate behemoth. That might be fine for average folks looking for an average job, but is that what you deserve?

If you don’t have a resume, what do you have?

How about three extraordinary letters of recommendation from people the employer knows or respects?
Or a sophisticated project they can see or touch?
Or a reputation that precedes you?
Or a blog that is so compelling and insightful that they have no choice but to follow up?

Some say, “well, that’s fine, but I don’t have those.”

Yeah, that’s my point. If you don’t have those, why do you think you are remarkable, amazing or just plain spectacular? It sounds to me like if you don’t have those, you’ve been brainwashed into acting like you’re sort of ordinary.

Great jobs, world class jobs, jobs people kill for… those jobs don’t get filled by people emailing in resumes. Ever.

(original article at http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/03/why-bother-havi.html)

Posted on March 5, 2008
Filed Under Job Seeking

Someone asked me yesterday what she should do to get ready for her upcoming interview. That’s a big question, with a lot of answers. She indicated that she’d done a lot research on the company, research on the specific role and had found some basic information about the interviewer. She read all of the recent press releases, and even researched the company’s competitors.

She seemed to have the bases covered. My recommendation — the only thing left is to practice an actual interview. The dreaded role playing. You don’t need to make it overly formal, but pull some of your friends together and have them pepper you with interview questions. Ask them to hit you with you all of the common interview questions and have them throw in a few zingers. We’ve all heard the basic questions before, but you still need to be prepared. Here is a list to get you started:

• Why do you want this job?
• Why do you want to leave your current job?
• What are your personal and professional goals?
• What do you like most about your current job?
• Where do you see yourself in five years?
• What are your strengths?
• What are your weaknesses?
• What do you like least about your current job?
• … and don’t forget the old standby… What are 3 words that best describe you?

Good Luck. Go get ‘em!