Resume: For each position on your resume, be sure to cover what, how and impact.</strong></p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p><strong><em>What did you work on?</em></strong> Assume that recruiters and hiring managers don’t know much about your last company or role. So provide a brief description about the product line or initiative, so they can find you the right role or team.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p><strong><em>How did you get your work done?</em></strong> With each position, be sure to include technologies you used — programming languages, frameworks, libraries, etc. Do not dump them all into one big “Technology” section at the bottom of your resume. Technology is very contextual and time-specific: my SOAP/XML-RPC work at Salesforce made sense 20 years ago, but it makes no sense for a modern web stack today. Also, provide team size and departments you worked with. It’s useful for a hiring manager to know if you’ve successfully worked cross-functionally — with product, designers, ops, and more.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p><strong><em>What impact did you have?</em></strong> Share your impact on the business — growth numbers, cost savings, sales increase, marketing distribution. This shows you’ve been given responsibility — and delivered — to benefit the business.</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n<p>Lastly, do some spring cleaning. Remove side projects that don’t necessarily match the job, especially if there are more recent examples on your resume. For example, if you’re a lead of a team in your current role, having leadership roles from 10+ years ago in college isn’t as relevant. And trim down each position to 3-4 bullet points, maximum. It makes it easier for the recruiter/hiring manager to read it all, and shows you can be concise and direct.</p>\n<p><strong>Cold outreach: Highlight 2-3 things you’d be excited to work on at the company — and why.</strong></p>\n<p>When applying to a position, be sure to suggest ways you’d be excited to contribute; include these suggestions on your resume, cover letter or in an intro email. Being a genuine user is a huge plus. These things can helps you stand out from the hundreds of other resumes in the recruiter’s inbox.</p>\n<p>At Twitter, I hired a few people who stood out because they showed initiative: suggesting strong product ideas/improvements, outlining plans for go-to-market, or even writing sample code showcasing skills and interest. And I practice this myself; when I interviewed at Lyft, I reversed engineered the API and built a small SDK to perform common tasks. It took a couple nights learning WireShark, but it ultimately helped me land the job.</p>\n<p><strong>Considering startups: Ask about runway & burn rate.</strong></p>\n<p>Many YC startups are well funded (some even with $10M+ raised) and offer benefits and job security equal to more established companies. If you’re considering startups, know what to ask about, like runway and burn rate.</p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><em>Runway</em></strong> is the number of months the startup has to operate, based on money raised and revenue. There is no “right” answer, but you likely want to work somewhere with enough runway to weather this pandemic, and still get the business in good shape after that (if it’s not already). </li>\n<li><strong><em>Burn rate</em></strong> is the company’s monthly spend. During my time at Zuora, we made it a goal to be “in the black” (not burning more than we were earning), and it helped us survive the 2009 market crash. Not all startups have the luxury of early revenue, but knowing the financial levers to the company will help you understand the business (and how the founders think about it).</li>\n</ul>\n<p>You should be discussing these things with the founders at least at the offer stage, if not earlier. We tell YC founders to be transparent with this information, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but also because it helps establish mutual trust. You should be wary of founders — YC or otherwise — who are not forthcoming and honest, as a reflection of what to expect later down the road.</p>\n<hr />\n<p>There are a lot of great companies that are actively hiring (including thousands of YC companies), and 2.) job offers are as strong as they have ever been.</p>\n<p>Hopefully the above helps you stand out and get conversations going. At YC, we’ll continue to share more on job hunting, including interviewing and negotiating offers. Reach out if YC or I can help. And create a profile on YC's <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://workatastartup.com//">Work at a Startup</a> to apply to 100s of companies at once -- and find the next role for you.</p>\n\n<center>\n<a class=\"ycdc-retro-btn ycdc-retro-btn-gold mt-[-10px] ml-[13px]\" href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://account.ycombinator.com/authenticate?continue=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.workatastartup.com%2Fapplication&defaults%5BsignUpActive%5D=true\%22 style=\"text-decoration: none;\" title=\"Sign up for YC's Work at a Startup.\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up for YC Jobs</a>\n</center><!--kg-card-end: html--><p>\t</p>","comment_id":"1104322","feature_image":null,"featured":false,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2020-05-19T04:53:35.000-07:00","updated_at":"2022-12-14T16:33:17.000-08:00","published_at":"2020-05-19T04:53:35.000-07:00","custom_excerpt":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a710bf","name":"Ryan Choi","slug":"rchoi","profile_image":"//www.gravatar.com/avatar/36ba914c5f191f813e96db0296154469?s=250&d=mm&r=x","cover_image":null,"bio":"Ryan works with YC companies to find great engineers — from 2-person startups to larger ones like Airbnb, Stripe and Instacart.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/rchoi/"}],"tags":[{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71174","name":"Advice","slug":"advice","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/advice/"},{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71171","name":"Work at a Startup","slug":"work-at-a-startup","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/work-at-a-startup/"},{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71178","name":"#jobs","slug":"hash-jobs","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"internal","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/404/"}],"primary_author":{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a710bf","name":"Ryan Choi","slug":"rchoi","profile_image":"//www.gravatar.com/avatar/36ba914c5f191f813e96db0296154469?s=250&d=mm&r=x","cover_image":null,"bio":"Ryan works with YC companies to find great engineers — from 2-person startups to larger ones like Airbnb, Stripe and Instacart.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/rchoi/"},"primary_tag":{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71174","name":"Advice","slug":"advice","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/advice/"},"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/advice-for-job-seekers-on-resumes-and-standing-out/","excerpt":"In my role here at YC, I spend a lot of time with job seekers doing 1-1s and\nresume reviews. Below are my most common pieces of advice.\n\nMail us your resume (workatastartup@ycombinator.com) if you want feedback or\npointers. And if you’re looking for a job, check out our active jobs list on \nWork at a Startup [https://www.workatastartup.com], which makes it simple to\nbrowse the 400+ YC companies that are well-funded and actively hiring, including\nlarger ones like Segment [https://www.workatastart","reading_time":3,"access":true,"og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"email_subject":null,"frontmatter":null,"feature_image_alt":null,"feature_image_caption":null},"mentions":[],"related_posts":[{"id":"62715e7254a948000183a4e9","uuid":"ad69e66f-6dc4-4508-bf77-31aab125dcd3","title":"Y Combinator’s (Virtual) Summer Career Expo - June 8th","slug":"yc-tech-expo-s22","html":"<p>Y Combinator is hosting our Summer Career Expo online on <strong>Wednesday, June 8th,</strong> <strong>4 pm PT</strong>. This is our way to introduce engineers, PMs, and designers to the latest batch of YC startups (<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies?batch=W22&isHiring=true\%22>W22) that are looking to hire.</p><!--kg-card-begin: html--><center>\n<a class=\"ycdc-retro-btn ycdc-retro-btn-gold mt-[-10px] ml-[13px]\" href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.workatastartup.com/events/startup-tech-expo-summer-2022/?utm_source=ycblog\%22 style=\"text-decoration: none;\" title=\"title for your link\" target=\"_blank\">Meet the Startups</a>\n</center><!--kg-card-end: html--><p>We’ve vetted these startups to make sure they’re in a good position to hire, in terms of funding, strong teams, and impactful products to work on. (We’re also including a few older startups, in case you’re open to larger 25-100 person companies!)</p><p>At the expo, founders will give rapid-fire pitches about themselves and their companies. After those, we’ll open up an event hall for you to meet them virtually. It’s a great way to survey top YC startups all at once, instead of having to seek them out individually on your own.</p><p>Among the 40+ startups attending this year’s event are:</p><ul><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/simplehash/">SimpleHash (W22)</a>: Organizing NFTs and digital assets by allowing web3 developers to query all NFT data from a single API</li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/kable/">Kable (W22)</a>: Helping API companies bring their products to market faster through usage-based billing and analytics</li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/kalshi/">Kalshi (W19)</a>: The first federally regulated exchange where you can trade on the outcomes of events</li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/sieve/">Sieve (W22)</a>: AI infrastructure for video, enabling software developers to easily process and understand visual data</li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/agave/">Agave (W22)</a>: Plaid for construction, building an API to help construction companies share data between systems and parties</li></ul><p>If you’re considering a job change – or are just curious about what’s out there – we welcome you to apply to join us for an informative and efficient evening of networking with founders. Come meet the latest YC startups that could be the next big thing.</p><!--kg-card-begin: html--><center>\n<a class=\"ycdc-retro-btn ycdc-retro-btn-gold mt-[-10px] ml-[13px]\" href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.workatastartup.com/events/startup-tech-expo-summer-2022/?utm_source=ycblog\%22 style=\"text-decoration: none;\" title=\"title for your link\" target=\"_blank\">Apply Now</a>\n</center><!--kg-card-end: html--><p><em>Special shoutout to </em><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/welcome/">Welcome (W20)</em></a><em>, the company building the virtual events platform that we’re running the expo on!</em></p>","comment_id":"62715e7254a948000183a4e9","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/05/Expo.png","featured":true,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2022-05-03T09:55:14.000-07:00","updated_at":"2022-06-27T17:41:13.000-07:00","published_at":"2022-05-04T11:02:26.000-07:00","custom_excerpt":"Y Combinator is hosting our Summer Career Expo online on Wednesday, June 8th, 4 pm PT. This is our way to introduce engineers, PMs, and designers to the latest batch of YC startups (W22) that are looking to hire.","codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"622171e69235bd0001dc9f6f","name":"Paige Omura","slug":"paige","profile_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/03/Paige-headshot.jpeg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Paige is Operations & Programs Manager at YC, running programs to help YC companies hire top talent. She previously led operations at early-stage hard tech startups. ","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/paige/"}],"tags":[{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71179","name":"YC Events","slug":"yc-events","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/yc-events/"},{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71171","name":"Work at a Startup","slug":"work-at-a-startup","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/work-at-a-startup/"},{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71177","name":"Jobs","slug":"jobs","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/jobs/"},{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71178","name":"#jobs","slug":"hash-jobs","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"internal","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/404/"},{"id":"62740ed954a948000183a557","name":"#26425","slug":"hash-26425","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"internal","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/404/"},{"id":"62740f6254a948000183a55c","name":"#25644","slug":"hash-25644","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"internal","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/404/"},{"id":"62740f6254a948000183a55d","name":"#11943","slug":"hash-11943","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"internal","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/404/"},{"id":"62740f6254a948000183a55e","name":"#25307","slug":"hash-25307","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"internal","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/404/"},{"id":"62740f6254a948000183a55f","name":"#25273","slug":"hash-25273","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"internal","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/404/"},{"id":"6274101e54a948000183a569","name":"#13227","slug":"hash-13227","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"internal","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/404/"}],"primary_author":{"id":"622171e69235bd0001dc9f6f","name":"Paige Omura","slug":"paige","profile_image":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/images/2022/03/Paige-headshot.jpeg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Paige is Operations & Programs Manager at YC, running programs to help YC companies hire top talent. She previously led operations at early-stage hard tech startups. ","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/paige/"},"primary_tag":{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71179","name":"YC Events","slug":"yc-events","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/yc-events/"},"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/yc-tech-expo-s22/","excerpt":"Y Combinator is hosting our Summer Career Expo online on Wednesday, June 8th, 4 pm PT. This is our way to introduce engineers, PMs, and designers to the latest batch of YC startups (W22) that are looking to hire.","reading_time":1,"access":true,"og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/images/2022/05/Expo-1.png","twitter_title":"YC's Summer Career Expo on June 8th","twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"email_subject":null,"frontmatter":null,"feature_image_alt":null,"feature_image_caption":null},{"id":"61fe29f1c7139e0001a71c0b","uuid":"b1eb2ee4-3d41-496d-9a91-6d84ecb4cac3","title":"What startup hiring looks like in 2021 — and during a pandemic","slug":"what-startup-hiring-looks-like-in-2021-and-during-a-pandemic","html":"<p>When we first created <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.workatastartup.com//">Work at a Startup</a> in 2018, our goal was to eliminate friction in finding a job at a startup. Our initial thesis was to build a common application to apply to many YC companies at once. It quickly became the most efficient way to meet multiple founders and have a more natural conversation to find a job.</p><p>Since then, we’ve collected a lot of data about the startup job landscape, and the changing needs of both job seekers and our founders. We wanted to share some trends we’ve seen over the last year that show where we’ve been – and inform where we’re going as a product.</p><h2 id=\"startup-hiring-was-resilient-amid-a-volatile-2021\">Startup hiring was resilient amid a volatile 2021</h2><p>The number of jobs on our platform exploded in 2021 with 7,300 jobs posted – even despite the uncertainty of a global pandemic. That was 4.5x growth from the prior year, and 10x from when we started. And now, there are over 1,200 startups across a wide range of industries: tech, bio, logistics, media, and many more.</p><p>Part of this growth has to do with our increased batch sizes. But another part is a reflection of the resilience and adaptability of our startups. While hiring nearly stopped at the beginning of the pandemic (much to our guidance of frugality and “being a cockroach”), our startups came back strong. And by September 2020, we saw a record number of hires.</p><p>It is equally important to us to do right by job seekers: we’ve spent countless hours vetting startups and founders to make sure each one is in a great position to hire – well funded, early traction, and clarity of what to build next. The result of which is a job platform that showcases some of the most resilient and business-minded startups you’ll find anywhere.</p><h2 id=\"digital-nomads-are-the-new-startup-workforce\">Digital nomads are the new startup workforce</h2><p>While 2020 was the year of WFPJs<sup><a>1</a></sup>, 2021 was when digital nomads became a real thing. Last year, a massive 82% of job seekers on the platform looked for remote work – up from 15-20% pre-pandemic. Startup jobs also moved in the same direction: remote jobs grew 6.4x in the last year, and now 69.5% of all jobs are remote or remote-friendly.</p><p>Not surprisingly, the changing landscape meant that our startups looked worldwide for talent: hires were made in over 40 countries. And while the common belief is that companies hire abroad to lower costs, we’ve already started seeing the opposite. Some of our international startups are hiring US-based talent in IC and even leadership positions.</p><p>Lastly, our smaller startups (< 50 people) were quicker to adapt to remote, moving to fully remote a good 6+ months ahead of our larger ones. With better HR infrastructure like <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/deel/">Deel and <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/pilot/">Pilot, both tools to onboard and pay employees wherever they are, we expect our startups to continue to adapt to the changing landscape.</p><h2 id=\"waiting-for-founders-to-contact-you-isn%E2%80%99t-always-the-best-way\">Waiting for founders to contact you isn’t always the best way</h2><p>Last year, we saw a whopping 150,000 messages sent on our platform, at a 4.5x YOY growth. 53% of first contact messages were sent by a founder to a job seeker. And our founders are equally responsive to interested candidates: some companies kept up a 60% response rate to inbound applications.</p><p>One thing we’ve learned, however, is that job seekers with high agency made it happen: 25% of new hires in 2021 were initiated by the candidate. To help them, we need to give more signals and tools to help them find “the one” — by size, funding, team makeup, and even the interview process. On that last point, our team works hard to teach founders how to hire with transparency and candidate experience top of mind, and we aim to build this more into the platform.</p><h2 id=\"how-can-we-help-in-2022\">How can we help in 2022?</h2><p>At YC, we tell founders to make something people want. We operate by this same mantra at YC’s Work at a Startup, and we’re seeing early signs of success – 600 people found jobs through our platform last year, at a clip of 1.5 per day. While that’s a drop in the bucket for larger companies, we know that a great hire at an early startup can be transformative – and be the difference maker in building the next Instacart or Dropbox.</p><p>And while it’s easy to just monitor metrics, building this platform has become closer to my heart. My own friends and former colleagues have found jobs on the platform: first a designer at a pre/seed startup, then an engineering manager at a Series C growth company, and later a CTO of a biotech startup. Similarly, our founders trust us to help build their teams. Yin Wu, founder at <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/pulley/">Pulley, called our hiring platform “one of the best things about YC.” That’s high praise, and we aim to help out even more.</p><p>Reflecting on 2021, we are thankful for every single person who has given us a shot — checked out the site, met with founders, possibly found a job, or even just sent us an email for feedback. We’re still learning, and we’re here to build the best way for you to find your next job — and just maybe something as resilient as our most enduring startups.</p><hr><p><sup><b>1</b></sup> Work from pajamas <a>↩</a></p>","comment_id":"61f5fc11eb74f90001a957b7","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/01/BlogTwitter-Image-Template--21-.png","featured":false,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2022-01-29T18:46:41.000-08:00","updated_at":"2022-06-24T15:17:52.000-07:00","published_at":"2022-01-17T06:00:00.000-08:00","custom_excerpt":"Since launching Work at a Startup in 2018, we’ve collected a lot of data about the startup job landscape.\n\nWe wanted to share some trends we’ve seen over the last year that show where we’ve been – and inform where we’re going as a product:","codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a710bf","name":"Ryan Choi","slug":"rchoi","profile_image":"//www.gravatar.com/avatar/36ba914c5f191f813e96db0296154469?s=250&d=mm&r=x","cover_image":null,"bio":"Ryan works with YC companies to find great engineers — from 2-person startups to larger ones like Airbnb, Stripe and 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During sessions, you will hear from women who joined startups as early engineers, meet YC alumni and alumni company engineering managers, and build a community of peers. The program will culminate in at least two interviews for each participant.</p>\n<p>Topics discussed will include:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>Why join a startup? What are the pros and cons? </li>\n<li>How do you determine where you should work and what should you look for in a startup and founding team?</li>\n<li>How to prepare for the interview process and interview practice</li>\n</ul>\n<p>Each session, we will also host small breakout sessions with founders, engineers and managers across a range of YC startups — from early stage to growth — including:</p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.workatastartup.com/events/yc-women-eng-in-startups-2021/">Christina Caccioppo, Cofounder & CEO of Vanta</a></li>\n<li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.workatastartup.com/events/yc-women-eng-in-startups-2021/">Cadran Cowansage, Cofounder & CEO of Elpha</a></li>\n<li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.workatastartup.com/events/yc-women-eng-in-startups-2021/">Diana Hu, Cofounder & CTO of Escher Reality and YC Visiting Partner</a></li>\n<li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.workatastartup.com/events/yc-women-eng-in-startups-2021/">Lucia Huang, Cofounder & CEO of Osmind</a></li>\n<li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.workatastartup.com/events/yc-women-eng-in-startups-2021/">Reshma Khilnani, Cofounder & CTO of MedXT and YC Visiting Partner</a></li>\n</ul>\n<p>If you are currently an engineer working at a tech company and you’re looking for your next role and might want to transition to a startup, this series is for you.</p>\n<p>To apply for the program, visit <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.workatastartup.com/events/yc-women-eng-in-startups-2021/">YC’s Work at a Startup</a> and create a profile by September 13th. 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She was Chief of Staff to Alexis Ohanian, cofounder of reddit, before joining YC as its Director of Outreach. Prior to that, Kat was at WIRED Magazine.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/kat-manalac/"}],"tags":[{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a7117b","name":"Ask a Female Engineer","slug":"ask-a-female-engineer","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/ask-a-female-engineer/"},{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71177","name":"Jobs","slug":"jobs","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/jobs/"},{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a7117c","name":"Women Founders","slug":"women-founders","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/women-founders/"},{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71171","name":"Work at a Startup","slug":"work-at-a-startup","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/work-at-a-startup/"},{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71179","name":"YC Events","slug":"yc-events","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/yc-events/"},{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71178","name":"#jobs","slug":"hash-jobs","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"internal","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/404/"},{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a7119c","name":"#1781","slug":"hash-1781","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"internal","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/404/"},{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a7119d","name":"#1880","slug":"hash-1880","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"internal","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/404/"},{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a7119e","name":"#21930","slug":"hash-21930","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"internal","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/404/"}],"primary_author":{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a710a2","name":"Kat Mañalac","slug":"kat-manalac","profile_image":"https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/c15939b217561ebda4c129bfea5f65f3?s=512&d=mm&r=g","cover_image":null,"bio":"Kat is the Managing Outreach Officer at YC. She was Chief of Staff to Alexis Ohanian, cofounder of reddit, before joining YC as its Director of Outreach. Prior to that, Kat was at WIRED Magazine.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/kat-manalac/"},"primary_tag":{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a7117b","name":"Ask a Female Engineer","slug":"ask-a-female-engineer","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/ask-a-female-engineer/"},"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/yc-jobs-series-women-eng-in-startups/","excerpt":"This fall, YC and Elpha (S19) will bring together a cohortof women engineers who are interested in finding roles at fast growing startups.YC will host a month-long series where participants will meet once a week fortwo-hour sessions. During sessions, you will hear from women who joined startupsas early engineers, meet YC alumni and alumni company engineering managers, andbuild a community of peers.","reading_time":1,"access":true,"og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"email_subject":null,"frontmatter":null,"feature_image_alt":null,"feature_image_caption":null}]},"url":"/blog/advice-for-job-seekers-on-resumes-and-standing-out","version":null,"rails_context":{"railsEnv":"production","inMailer":false,"i18nLocale":"en","i18nDefaultLocale":"en","href":"https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/advice-for-job-seekers-on-resumes-and-standing-out","location":"/blog/advice-for-job-seekers-on-resumes-and-standing-out","scheme":"https","host":"www.ycombinator.com","port":null,"pathname":"/blog/advice-for-job-seekers-on-resumes-and-standing-out","search":null,"httpAcceptLanguage":"en, *","applyBatchLong":"Winter 2024","applyBatchShort":"W2024","applyDeadlineShort":"October 13","ycdcRetroMode":true,"currentUser":null,"serverSide":true},"id":"ycdc_new/pages/BlogPage-react-component-514509ac-5eaf-4b15-8593-eebd0ba893c1","server_side":true}" data-reactroot=""> by Ryan Choi5/19/2020 In my role here at YC, I spend a lot of time with job seekers doing 1-1s and resume reviews. Below are my most common pieces of advice. Mail us your resume (workatastartup@ycombinator.com) if you want feedback or pointers. And if you’re looking for a job, check out our active jobs list on Work at a Startup, which makes it simple to browse the 400+ YC companies that are well-funded and actively hiring, including larger ones like Segment, Brex and Instacart. Resume: For each position on your resume, be sure to cover what, how and impact. What did you work on? Assume that recruiters and hiring managers don’t know much about your last company or role. So provide a brief description about the product line or initiative, so they can find you the right role or team. How did you get your work done? With each position, be sure to include technologies you used — programming languages, frameworks, libraries, etc. Do not dump them all into one big “Technology” section at the bottom of your resume. Technology is very contextual and time-specific: my SOAP/XML-RPC work at Salesforce made sense 20 years ago, but it makes no sense for a modern web stack today. Also, provide team size and departments you worked with. It’s useful for a hiring manager to know if you’ve successfully worked cross-functionally — with product, designers, ops, and more. What impact did you have? Share your impact on the business — growth numbers, cost savings, sales increase, marketing distribution. This shows you’ve been given responsibility — and delivered — to benefit the business. Lastly, do some spring cleaning. Remove side projects that don’t necessarily match the job, especially if there are more recent examples on your resume. For example, if you’re a lead of a team in your current role, having leadership roles from 10+ years ago in college isn’t as relevant. And trim down each position to 3-4 bullet points, maximum. It makes it easier for the recruiter/hiring manager to read it all, and shows you can be concise and direct. Cold outreach: Highlight 2-3 things you’d be excited to work on at the company — and why. When applying to a position, be sure to suggest ways you’d be excited to contribute; include these suggestions on your resume, cover letter or in an intro email. Being a genuine user is a huge plus. These things can helps you stand out from the hundreds of other resumes in the recruiter’s inbox. At Twitter, I hired a few people who stood out because they showed initiative: suggesting strong product ideas/improvements, outlining plans for go-to-market, or even writing sample code showcasing skills and interest. And I practice this myself; when I interviewed at Lyft, I reversed engineered the API and built a small SDK to perform common tasks. It took a couple nights learning WireShark, but it ultimately helped me land the job. Considering startups: Ask about runway & burn rate. Many YC startups are well funded (some even with $10M+ raised) and offer benefits and job security equal to more established companies. If you’re considering startups, know what to ask about, like runway and burn rate. You should be discussing these things with the founders at least at the offer stage, if not earlier. We tell YC founders to be transparent with this information, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but also because it helps establish mutual trust. You should be wary of founders — YC or otherwise — who are not forthcoming and honest, as a reflection of what to expect later down the road. There are a lot of great companies that are actively hiring (including thousands of YC companies), and 2.) job offers are as strong as they have ever been. Hopefully the above helps you stand out and get conversations going. At YC, we’ll continue to share more on job hunting, including interviewing and negotiating offers. Reach out if YC or I can help. And create a profile on YC's Work at a Startup to apply to 100s of companies at once -- and find the next role for you. Categories Other Posts What startup hiring looks like in 2021 — and during a pandemic January 17, 2022 by Ryan Choi Ryan works with YC companies to find great engineers — from 2-person startups to larger ones like Airbnb, Stripe and Instacart.Advice for job seekers on resumes and standing out
Author
Ryan Choi
