Crash Course on Breaking into Startups

Meet the Instructor

Hey there! I’m Eric. After interviewing over 100+ founders and companies and spending 8+ years in the startup space, I’m thrilled to bring you this course that tackles the job search. You can connect with me on Linkedin.

Who is this course? 

For those that are looking into breaking into startups. Whether you’re a student, recently graduated or want to work at a great company this is for you. 

Specific Goals of the Course:

Get fully equip and organized to tackle the job search 🙌
Get more calls on the resume 🔥
Get out of a dead-end job 😮
Advance your career faster 💰
Build up your army of supports (i.e. network) ❤️
Land an awesome offer 💼

Lesson 1: Get that freakin resume ready!
Lesson 2: No experience. No problemo!
Lesson 3: Polish social media profiles
Lesson 4: That networking thing
Lesson 5: What the heck is informational interview?
Lesson 6: Connect with recruiters
Lesson 7: Online Resources and Tools
Lesson 8: Personal Brand
Lesson 9: Personal Portfolio
Lesson 10: Talk with the Coach

Chapter Preview

Lesson 1: Get that freakin resume ready!

While we are still away from the days that resumes are gone completely most companies still ask for the resume. The key with the resume is to have focus. Think like a marketer. Would a marketer blindly go out and start marketing a product to everyone? No! They come up with personas, right messaging, and market to the right channels, and experiment. When it comes to resume you need to have a laser-focus approach! Let’s start with building some focus on that resume.

Have a laser-focused approach:
What roles are targeting? Job titles? Not sure what to target start working a project to see what you like and what you don’t like. Your resume can’t be everything to everyone. What are some competencies needed for this roles? Skills sets. Technical skills. Soft skills.

Here are tips on the resume:

There’s no doubt attentions spans are getting shorter and shorter. We live in the Tinder age. Recruiters on average spend 6 seconds on that resume. How much? 6 seconds. So it’s super important to keep it concise and to the point. Here are some tips to follow:

Include: Professional profile, Technical and soft skills, Experience, Volunteer, Awards, Languages, and Interest

Why interest? This is to potentially connect with the hiring manager and show you are more than just a resume. List things you like to do such as sports, reading, or cooking!

Keyword Optimization is the key. So let’s say you’re applying to a marketing role? Get the right keywords onboard such as inbound, outbound and email marketing to name a few. If you don’t have experience for a particular skill sets you can build it using side-projects or volunteer at a startup or a not-for-profit and get involved with those relevant projects.

Keep it maximum to two pages unless you’ve got a phD! Attention spans are super short. It’s probably even shorter for recruiters. Use action verbs and use past tense for positions you no longer work there. 

Lesson 2: No experience? No problemo!

This is the total nonsense you have to go through once you graduate or even before. Forget this catch-22. Let’s do our own hack. So How do you get around this?

Get a side-project with a startup. Side-projects are those projects you work on like say a hackathon or on weekend. They are not paid jobs but it’s a great way to build up portfolio and show expertise. One of the best ways to build up the portfolio is with a startup. Reach out to founders and say:

“Hey Jane,
I came across your startup on FoundersBeta community. I love what you’re working on! I think travel-space is bound for innovation and your platform greatly brings value to the end-users. I want to explore and see if there are opportunities where help your startup in potential volunteer capacity with my skill sets in marketing. I can help out in part-time capacity while working on my studies. Please let me know if we can have a chat about this. Thank you for your time”.

The skill sets in the projects had be aligned with your interest and the startup.

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About the Instructor

Eric Rafat is a passionate founder with wealth of expertise in startups, building high-performing teams, and product development. He is a top ranked tennis player and always up for a conversation about startups. Connect with Eric here.