Advice for job seekers on resumes and standing out

We're Ryan & Paige, and in our roles here at YC, we spend a lot of time with job seekers doing 1:1s and resume reviews. Below are our most common pieces of advice.

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, analytical equipment, etc. Do not dump them all into one big “Technology” section at the bottom of your resume. Technology is very contextual and time-specific: Ryan's 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, then delivered, to benefit the business.

Lastly, do some spring cleaning. Remove side projects that don’t 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 that 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, Ryan 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 he practices this himself: when he interviewed at Lyft, he reversed engineered the API and built a small SDK to perform common tasks. It took a couple nights learning WireShark, but it ultimately helped him land the job.

Most importantly, make sure that you personalize your outreach to the company you're apply to. Founders and recruiters get many messages a day, so they'll prioritize tailored messages.

Considering startups: Ask about runway & burn rate.

Many YC startups are well funded (some with $10M+ or $50M+ raised) and offer benefits and job security equal to more established companies. If you’re considering startups, know what to key points to ask about, like runway and burn rate.

• Runway?is the number of months the startup has to operate, based on money raised and revenue. There is no “right” answer, but you want to know what you're getting yourself into prior to joining.
• Burn rate?is the company’s monthly spend. During Ryan's time at Zuora, they made it a goal to be “in the black” (not burning more than they were earning), and it helped them survive the 2009 market crash. Not all startups have the luxury of early revenue, but knowing the financial levers of the company will help you understand the business (and how the founders think about it).

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.

Hopefully the above helps you stand out and get conversations going. We’ll continue to share more on job hunting, including interviewing and negotiating offers, through our posts and events, so follow us to get updates on future articles. And when you're ready to find your next role and chat with founders, join YC's Work at a Startup.