How To Get Hired at Your Dream Company?

At SmartCue , we're hiring & have got a ton of applications from our postings on AngelList, Braintrust & Toptal. After sifting through hundreds of them, I can empathize with hiring managers & recruiters because it is an admin nightmare to separate the wheat from the chaff!

A lot of people simply hit the 'Apply' button without REALLY reading the job description or the requirements. It is tempting to simply want to throw a ton of 💩 at the wall and hope something sticks. Especially when these platforms make it easy to mass apply. Reality check - It doesn't!

The 1st thing I do is reject candidates that don't have a tailored cover letter. I have a very specific and bolded request at the top of my JD to make it easy for the applicant to stand out. I've even called it out as 'Fast Track your application to SmartCue'! Despite that, if you're going to send me a canned application, it tells me that you didn't even bother to read that. If you don't have the inclination to even read the JD, I think we can both agree that this isn't going to work for either of us. So - No-go.

Conversely, if you DID read and do the things I asked for (not unreasonable asks by the way), you can expect a response, an interview, and a yes/no within a week of applying. Guaranteed. That is because you've already self-qualified yourself. Also - it tells me you actually care!

2 of my recent hires have been interviewed, hired & started work in less than a week. My Product Management Intern was adding value on Day 1 since we got introduced & my UX designer took a total of 3 days to kill it with a redesign of a crucial process in our product!

What did both of them have in common? Super impressive applications - thoughtful, methodical, and well-researched. It was evident that they were excited by the problem we're trying to solve and put in the effort to demonstrate their excitement. I am eager to see what they achieve in the coming weeks! 🤞

The absolute worst thing you can do? - abuse my Calendly link. I've had 3 such experiences - one from AngelList and 2 from Braintrust. I got on the call and gave them the benefit of doubt, but immediately ended the call when they asked - So tell me about SmartCue and how I can help. Seriously?

The more I think about it, the clearer it is to me. If you want to (really) work for a co, demonstrate it. Your application is your first and clearest chance to showcase your desire and skills.

Now you know how you can get hired at SmartCue 😊

PS - We're hiring for a Founding Engineer/CTO. Just filled our PM and UX positions but will open up the PM intern position again in April. All positions listed here - https://angel.co/company/smartcue/jobs