#StartupHiring #CandidateSelection #StandingOut
Hey there, fellow job seekers and startup enthusiasts! 👋 Have you been struggling to land a job at a startup despite having all the right qualifications and experience? I feel you! It can be tough out there, especially without the perfect connections or experience tailored to the specific company.
So, for those of you who hire for startups, what makes a candidate stand out to you? How can someone like me, with 10 years of marketing experience and a killer resume, grab your attention in a sea of applicants? Share your insights and tips below!
Here are a few potential solutions that might help us all stand out in the competitive startup job market:
– Showcasing passion and enthusiasm for the industry
– Highlighting adaptability and willingness to learn new skills
– Building a strong personal brand through online presence and networking
Let’s help each other navigate the world of startup hiring and find our dream jobs! 💼✨ #JobSearch #CareerAdvice #Networking
first I’ll answer your question. I look for someone who really finds their own work interesting, who finds what I’m working on interesting, and who is good at what they do. The first signals that they are creative in their work, the second signals that they’ll bring a fresh perspective to the company and the third is a track record that indicates I’m not just a school for people to learn their craft.
I also look for red flags. I’m not great at this but I’m getting better. some Red flags can include a background where they managed more than got their hands dirty, a complainy attitude, and pretending to be interested in what the company does when actually knowing nothing about it.
Now a question: Why do you want to work for a startup anyway? with 10 years experience a corporate job would pay better.
For me it depends on the startup stage. In seed stage (pre product market fit) you probably need different people compared to after product market fit stage and it is imo also highly dependent on the position you hire.
Seed Stage:
The experience level mostly doesn’t matter except for sales and software engineer roles.
But in any case they should be personally motivated to build something from almost scratch. They should not need guidance, given procedures to reach their goals.
In this stage I looked for:
– Curiosity for the topic
– Motivation to build something
– Self-Reflection
– Learning while building > Salary Expectations
Red Flags in this stage:
– Someone asking for benefits of your company
– Someone telling you they needed a team of x people to make progress
– A enterprise career ( my personal experience: people working in a 10k+ company size their whole life 1. ask the two above questions frequently and 2. got a romantic imagination of how it is to work in a startup)
After PMF:
You want to look for more specialists rather than generalists. It is time to build the system, it is time to build teams and structures.
Here it is cool to hire people that either have done already what you plan to achieve (e.g. bring the company from 5 people to 80) or you can start to promote your first hires into leadership roles because they know the company already and can speed up the onboarding process and knowledge transfer for new hires.
The after PMF stage is also very different if you are at a stage with 30, 80 or 400 people. I‘ve never been to the stage of 400 so I can’t give first hand experience. So I stop here 🙂
Hope it helps.
I don’t think this is a general idea but I check if the candidate knows how to do the job. I know this might not apply to all startups and some of it might be just specific to my situations.
1. Most candidates, even those with a lot of experience, will utter out buzzwords and talk about models and stuff when asked about experience. Very few can actually explain how the model gets implemented or when the model actually fits the need.
2. A lot of candidates don’t know what to do when shit hits the fan other than escalate to the next person, at a startup there is no escalation and you have to know how to get out of shit.
3. At a startup there is no luxury of another person telling you when you are about to do something stupid. So you should be capable of handling both positive and negative outcomes with little to no support
Sort of tongue-in-cheek, but sort of true as well:
1. Be under 35, and preferably under 30. And dress like it.
2. Use every opportunity to promote the fact that you don’t have a family, a significant other or a life, and that you are passionate about building stuff, innovating, disrupting, changing the world, etc.
3. Don’t raise the issue of compensation, and don’t negotiate hard (or at all) when you get an offer.
4. Be super stoked.
Actually wanting to do the work contained in the job available.
A high percentage of people just want “a job” not “this job”. Or they want to work at “this company” but actually dislike the daily work of the job offer.
So if we are hiring for a book-keep, I’m looking for someone who is jazzed to do book keeping day-in and day-out for years…
…Not a copy writer who is “willing to do budget stuff (but essentially under duress) on the basis that they did it once as a temp gig, and copy writing is dead these days, so they might as well switch now.”
Besides that a good attitude, where they are internally motivated to do work, and are emotionally functional. Not flakey, arrogant, entitled, or controlling.
Then third, I like bright people that are promotable somewhere in the future. Like could this person run a lemonade stand successfully? Or do they kinda bumble through life, waiting for other people to give them direction in 1 hour intervals? My Uncle Al said you need about 20% of hires to be promotable. Otherwise your company can’t grow on in-house promotions.
My Dad was a hiring doc for one of the busiest trauma hospitals in the country, he used to say he hired on “The Three A’s”
Available, Affable, Aptitude.
In that order.
If you know yourself…and you understand what “my” startup is about…it takes two sentences max to (a) make me believe you get our mission, and (b) make me understand why you want it to be your mission, too.
But this raises a question…why am I having to explain marketing to the marketing guy…? 😉
To stand out when applying for startup jobs, consider these tips:
1. **Tailored Applications**: Customize your resume and cover letter for each startup, highlighting how your skills and experience align with their specific needs and mission.
2. **Showcase Impact**: Focus on the results you’ve achieved in your previous roles, such as specific metrics or projects that demonstrate your effectiveness and impact.
3. **Networking**: Attend industry events, join relevant online communities, and connect with people in the startup ecosystem. Personal connections can significantly improve your chances.
4. **Proactive Approach**: Reach out directly to founders or hiring managers with a brief pitch on how you can add value to their startup. Demonstrating initiative can make you memorable.
5. **Portfolio**: Ensure your portfolio is easily accessible and includes case studies that showcase your problem-solving abilities and successes in previous marketing roles.
6. **Cultural Fit**: Startups often value cultural fit highly. Research the company’s culture and values, and reflect those in your application and interviews.
7. **Side Projects**: Highlight any relevant side projects or entrepreneurial endeavors. This shows your passion and ability to work independently.
8. **Referrals**: Leverage LinkedIn to find mutual connections who can refer you or introduce you to someone at the startup.
Persistence and a strategic approach can help you break into the startup world. Good luck!
Have a complete answer to the question: How will you make money for the company?
You should be able to tell them exactly, how your role directly impacts the business from your day to day tasks to money in the bank.