I'd just like to put it out there that when I run a company we will automatically disqualify anyone who tries to get a job w/ us in this way. So remember that if you'd like to work for me sometime in the near future.
...why on earth would you do that? This person wants to work at instagram, if she gets the job, she'll be absolutely floored about coming in to work every day.
This is exactly the type of employee I would think everybody would want. Why would you want something else?
So, you will discourage applicants from creating targeted webpages both expressing their love for your product (giving you more exposure) as well as doing something extra to stand out? Harsh.
Employees who love their own product are a cancer that must be treated. Complacency with a product necessarily leads to a dangerous inability to find ways to improve upon it.
I do speak from long experience, here. This isn't a crazy idea I read out of a dogfooding blog entry.
I don't want employees who love my product, I want employees who are competent. this example is telling in that although the prospective employee clearly wants the job she is also clearly not a particularly talented designer.
Well all power to you! But should you be put in such a position some day, I suggest being open to learning from some of the great leaders in history. Not to say you want to hire an army of groupie lightweights, but passion is not a quality to undervalue.
Exactly. If this woman was to be hired, she'd probably take in everything shown to her. Honestly, if there's a position open for someone that passionate but a bit rough around the edges, find a junior role to put them in within a team she can really learn from.
Depending greatly on the short and long term situations, I'd rather hire someone enthusiastic and wait a few months for them to get up to speed than hire someone with more experience who is dispassionate about the job. There's just so much more room for growth with the former (and initial salary negotiation should be a cakewalk from a management perspective).
Sure you could bitch and moan about her portfolio, the grammar used, etc... But this still stands out and her passion is there. These kinds of people soak up whatever you give them.
Plus it takes balls to do something like this, and that's a good trait.
"Be civil. Don't say things you wouldn't say in a face to face conversation. "
It's a pretty good rule for writing things on line whether it's in the guidelines or not. Sometimes you (meaning: all of us) get tempted to be snide or snarky, but if you think that there's another person out there, and if you pretend you're saying whatever you have to say to them directly, I find that it greatly improves what you write.
It doesn't mean "don't criticize", just do it as if that person were in front of you.
If you wouldn't say it to my face, don't say it here. Pretty simple concept. I'm sad to see your only contributions here have been negative comments, all but one of which were on this story. People on Hacker News don't discourage criticism, but do prefer that it is done politely, and with reason.
As for 'poorly typeset', I have no choice to agree, if only because her portfolio page implies that her name is "Netta & Design".
Her customer work looks good though, so if, as I assume, she's seeking a design-oriented role, she'd likely do well in a team (where somebody else can say 'Hey, what's up with this bolding?') The fonts in her personality chart are barely there.
Completely offtopic, I'm always wary of people who tell me how funny they are. If you're funny, I'll almost certainly figure that out organically.
I was addressing this part of said comment: "clichéd, obsequious". I do agree with your last point. Most people who tell me how funny they are turn out to be the exact opposite.
It's all open for interpretation, of course, but I think, by this point, these sorts of 'I want to work at X' websites ARE cliched, so I personally would agree there.
I don't particularly find it obsequious, though I probably wouldn't have to look too far to find another word that I could apply disparagingly to reference the points I mentioned before.
Regardless, as I stated, it IS a nice looking website, and if they have openings, they probably would do well to hire somebody so obviously passionate and motivated to work there.
I don't really see how statements like "I learned from Pooh bear that it takes guts to be different but my differences only make me that much more unique." - and indeed the entire "active application" format - can be described as anything but clichéd & obsequious.
I disagree with your disagreement ;). We see one of these every week; Some kid lacks the qualifications for a job, so they make an uncreative boilerplate web page bullshitting about how much they love the company they're applying to work at.
They usually work, but that doesn't make it any more ambitious or creative than the last 20,000 of them.
It's a two-hour webpage that says "I wanna work at Instragram", but doesn't answer the important questions. Why do you want to work at Instagram? How are you uniquely qualified to work at Instagram?
I feel sorry for companies that fall for this sort of thing.
How are they falling for something if they reach out to her? You can call it a "two hour website" but that only means that she sent about 1 hour and 57 minutes more "applying" for this job than the average schmoe who visits Monster.com, checks a few boxes and clicks "Submit Resume."
That, IMO, shows a fairly meaningful level of initiative and ambition. It shouldn't guarantee somebody a job, but if somebody applied to my company that way, I'd definitely give them a meaningful look and consider reaching out to them. But I want people who are passionate about their work.
Hell, I'll go so far as to say that passion and attitude trump raw talent.
ambition isn't posting a mediocre and derivative personal website, replete w/ trite copy, on Hacker News in a (hopefully quixotic) attempt to get a job at a small startup.
