Now what?

How to get where you want to go...it's as easy as 1, 2, 3

Inspiring stuff from Doug Dub, talking about how he got his job at Twitter:

“Alex, I have noticed you are running what amounts to a one man show on the API front, and tend to a lot of developer relations when I assume you would rather be developing. That said, is Twitter looking for someone to help manage the developer community (answer API questions, serve as liaison to development, etc…)? …”

1. Get involved with the community

2. Notice specific ways you can help out

3. Take a chance, prove your value, and hold on tight.

Later, Rinse, Repeat.

Reverse engineer your job description

One of the best things I did during my recent job search was to collect key bullet points from my favorite job descriptions (see: http://jobs.37signals.com/categories/3/jobs.rss). Subscribing to the job feeds was an easy way to see what was out there, and it made my procrasting with RSS reading somewhat productive :)

Even better, if you’re lucky you’ll get asked what key things you’d like to work on at your new job, and you’ll already have a list waiting. And you can also use that same list to keep yourself honest and make sure you’re working on what matters to you.

Ditch the resume to get hired?

As usual, Seth’s got some interesting advice for those hoping to do interesting things…this time around it’s resume advice, or more accurately, advice on why you shouldn’t have a resume. Some notes:

I think if you’re remarkable, amazing or just plain spectacular, you probably shouldn’t have a resume at all. 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.

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

So, what should you have in place of a resume? How about…

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

(another option is think of your own idea that isn’t on this list)

Got any good examples of an un-resume?

update on 10/26: Came across a related link on 6 steps to Resume 2.0 which offers simple tips on how to make your resume more dynamic. But in addition to that, it talks about how even in this world of social media “all communication should really be crafted with the receiver in mind.” With that being said, I’m going to try starting this blog back up with one important receiver in mind….me :)

It really is a hunt

I had a realization yesterday that searching for a new job (particularly at a startup) really was more of a hunt than I originally thought…as in, if you look in the right places (not Craigslist) you can find better opportunities that aren’t always obviously available.

Here are some of my favorite treasure chests so far:

• Browsing Crunchbase by location
• Checking VC firms pages for job openings
• Looking at job boards of specific blogs
  

Any others?