Mikael Cho, founder of Crew, wrote an awesome article titled Why I didn’t look at your resume where he describes his way to filter emails about job applications.
On average, the person looking at your application gives it 6 seconds.
I’d like to say we give more time than that but if I think about the fast ‘no’s’ compared to the applications we give more time for, 6 seconds might be our average too.
So instead, we look for early signs. Although it doesn’t work all the time, it works most of the time. The people who are looking to hire you are likely using some set of early signals to determine if you’re the right fit. It’s the only way they can afford to spend 6 seconds per application without feeling like they missed something.
If you’re looking for a new gig or career, I wanted to share this list of hiring red flags publicly. These things to watch out for will vary by industry and company, but if you’re looking for a position at a startup, an agency, or something in the online industry, this list may help you avoid ending up in the immediate ‘no’ pile.
The Red Flags of Hiring (Don’t do these things)
If you apply to a position we’re hiring for, we want to see an email that feels like a human wrote it and says what you’ve done in as a few words as possible. We want to follow up with a video call or meet in person. We want to grab beers, coffee, wine, or water and share stories into the night about how we see the world the same way and want to change it for the better, together.
There is also a bonus: email examples from people they hired.
I thought it’d be helpful if I dug up a few emails my current teammates wrote when they were interested in joining Crew.
Every message is a bit different but they mostly avoided the red flags above and grabbed my attention by focusing on what they had done and saying it in a human way.