How to Join a Startup
But First
Let's get my credentials out first before we dive deep, I mean you wouldn't want to take advice from a noobie right?
Yours truly has been in the startup world since year 2012 and just FYI - even though I am now much more experienced and slowly easing my way towards building a career in Corporate, I believe one can never learn as much as in a startup while another can at a huge, multinational enterprise. This topic will need a separate post, let me know if you'd like me to cover this!
The first month in my first startup and I already knew that I wanted to be in it for the long run - I was in love guys.
The first month in my first startup and I already knew that I wanted to be in it for the long run - I was in love guys. Since then, I have been serving a total of x6 startups, all based in Malaysia (ahem, Klang Valley) in the IT-Software, Incubator - Accelerator, Social Media - Content Marketing industries and most of them are of less than 10-man to just a shy 30 employees. My success rate with my job applications with startups are quite high i.e more callbacks, interview invites and offers as I got more experienced - also probably due to my thoughtfully designed CV and list of my achievements as the Special Officer / Executive Assistant to CEO, Founder or Chief Technology Officer (CTO).
How to Join a Startup
I am assuming most of you reading this post are fresh grads or a seasoned executive from the blue collar world who are thinking about making a career jump, drop your stuff at your swanky office at Hartamas and dive into the startup world.
Let's get down to it! You ready?
Skills That Startups Love
Startups are highly result-driven, filed with opportunities to learn and widen your skillsets. They cannot afford to be slacking off or feel comfortable, because there is always a possibility that there is someone else out there crunching their hardest and become a major competitor one day.
- Google Suite: Familiar with Gmail, Google Drive and the other most-used applications such as Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Sheets.
- Comfortable with Technology: Also known as IT-literate, you are comfortable with learning a new software or use a different hardware or operating system for work
- Great at Teamwork: "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together". This phrase applies heavily in the startup world and so they need members who are great team players and cooperative when the need arises.
- Great Communicator: Startups needs their members to be able to relay their thoughts articulately and properly. It should be a given that most of us went to school and would have the desired flair of communicating with another human being, but unfortunately that is not the case with some of the candidates I have encountered.
- People Skills: Other than you hard skills, achievements and all the Dean's List that you show in your resume, startups actually want to work with people that they like AKA would like to work with. This is because startups are generally small in size and the whole team will probably be like a second family where you eat, work, laugh and grind together. So bring your personality to the interview, set yourself apart from the rest!
- Critical Thinking: Without this you won't be able to survive. Really. Startups will need you to be able to think on your feet and most of the time under pressure, in a fast-pace environment. Sometimes it can be as stressful as Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen show. If you need to have manuals or check with your boss on every single little thing, startups are probably not for you.
- Self-Starter and Proactive attitude: These are bonus traits that will make your career in the startup thrive and prosper. Your Founder or future boss may even check for these traits right before they call you in for interview i.e whether you ask for an information that could easily be found via Google Search during a quick call with HR or provide your portfolio along in your application.
Now let's move on to your CV.
Prepare a Startup-Worthy Resume
I'm going to be honest here. There is a high chance that the person who reads your CV is actually the Project Manager cum Team Lead, Admin cum Accounts, some Manager from Finance or Sales and Marketing. A startup member will sometimes need to wear multiple hats, especially if your role is the assistant to the Founder like I was *wink*.
This means your resume has just 3-5 seconds before the hiring person moves on to the next one - especially if the company is on growth mode and they offer higher-than-average salary. Startups generally don't have those fancy Ai or softwares that scan resumes and CV's for the desired keywords. So your resume needs to give the hiring person what they need, where they need it and is easy to read.
So your resume needs to give the hiring person what they need, where they need it and is easy to read.
Here is how you can give your resume the best shot with startups, with the order that I think would be best:
- Nice Headshot photo
Show a nice headshot photo with your best smile! We'd love to place a face with your name, it is human nature to be more drawn to faces than words. - Your Education
We obviously want to know where have you gone to study. State the university name in full and the major that you took, and whether it was a Certificate, Diploma, Degree or Masters.
Tip: Show off your CGPA 3.9 grade, sports / co-curricular activities or even the Secretary title you got in Kadet Remaja Sekolah (KRS) here - Show Off Your Achievements
Show what you achieved in university or high school, or even with your own personal passion projects. Tell me that you run a part time Graphic Design service, or had a successful project on sustainable livestock feeding using big data and Ai, or your team at school won a 3-day Hackathon in Beijing for the Most Innovative Idea. Your part time work at Starbucks can come after or just ditch it if not necessary. - Your Work History
Remember I talked about Critical Thinking earlier? If you're applying to a startup that offers brand activations and event solutions and you have experience doing part time events for the last 2 years in uni, you would want to put your work history first before your education. Experience usually weighs more to a startup because sometimes in life, being a book smart doesn't make you a street smart.Experience usually weighs more to a startup because sometimes in life, being a book smart doesn't make you a street smart.
- Your Skills
Sometimes the hiring person is an Admin and wouldn't know what Javascript is. So it's important that you list out the skills that you know of, starting from the ones that you are very confident with down to the least. You may also list out your soft skills here (psst..remember the Skills that Startups Love I told you earlier?).
Tip: Yes, you may put in your languages here as well and do state whether you can read, write and speak in each - it'll make my life easier. TQVM. - Miscellaneous Stuff
Add some flair and set yourself apart from your competitors with other related information about yourself i.e hobbies, volunteering work or sports, but don't get too far with it. We just need to know that besides your Type A achievements at school and work, you are also passionate, personable, inspiring or at least fun to be around with. - 2-3 Fonts and 1-Page Only
Have you heard of Typography? Having 2-3 fonts max for your resume with coordinated, matching colour theme will make it stand out from the rest and most importantly, a joy to read. And unless you are an experienced candidate, I expect your resume to be just a one-pager. So make your content easy to read and succinct. Also play with the formatting styles i.e Bold, Italic and Underline to make it easier to find information on your resume.
Submit Your Application
Now that you have the skills and a resume that startups (hopefully) would want to interview for, it's time to submit! Generally there are more opportunities with startups at Hiredly (previously known as Wobb) compared to LinkedIn and JobStreet.I highly recommend Hiredly because they are a startup as well, and they know how we think. =)I highly recommend Hiredly because they are a startup as well, and they know how we think. =) Their app is like Tinder, swipe Right to submit your resume to the Poster Company or swipe Left to reject and show the next opportunity on your mobile screen. Your resume will be put under review once you upload it to their system, so give them 24 hours to approve your resume - usually the wait time is within 4-12 hours.
And that's it! Feel free to follow up with the startup directly for the position that you applied for - sometimes you'll even be given the HR's direct mobile number and email address. Hope this helps you in one way or another.
Good luck and happy job hunting!
The Not-So-Tiny-Fine-Print:
You may find that this post is targeted for fresh grads and you are right! Note that this post is merely based on my experience with several startups as their Special Officer, Executive Assistant and Office Manager - feel free to check them out on my LinkedIn profile here. Cheers!
You may find that this post is targeted for fresh grads and you are right! Note that this post is merely based on my experience with several startups as their Special Officer, Executive Assistant and Office Manager - feel free to check them out on my LinkedIn profile here. Cheers!
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Hi there, leave a comment! You can subscribe comments on this post by clicking the link below (if you're logged in). Thanks!