Hired by Association

Hiring by association is a false shortcut, unicorn companies are not for everyone and does anyone read cover letters?

Author

The Deputy
March 07, 2024

“Some of these Ivy League kids want to have it both ways. They want to be baby members of the 1 percent, which they most certainly are, and yet still portray themselves as the oppressed”

Jordan Peterson

☕️ Despite its name, the French Press, there is an unsettled debate on where the French Press started. One legend dates back to the 1850s where a Frenchman accidentally discovered the French Press brewing method when he forgot to put the coffee in his boiling water. He later found a piece of metal screen from a passing Italian merchant and used the metal screen over the boiling pot to press the coffee down and pour himself an incredible cup of coffee. This style of brewing was patented in 1852 by the French, but a simpler version of what we use today was patented by the Italians.

Like French fries, the French Press style of making coffee isn’t so French.🔥

☕️ Get some freshly roasted coffee beans below. These beans are roasted out of SLC, Utah for the badger in every worker👇

Coffee Options

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In today’s email:

  • Job News:  Guilt Hired by Association 🙋🏽‍♂️

  • Overheard at coffee: Remember back in 2013 when nobody was a unicorn stage company? 🦄

  • Trending AI Tools: Make Cover Letters Great Again 💌

  • Hot Jobs: (keep scrolling down ⬇️)

  • Recruiting Fails:  Meanwhile candidates are still struggling to impress employers with cover letters ❌

Job News

The job market is tough for candidates and if you are a candidate you should go where you are celebrated, not tolerated…

Hiring by association is a hiring manager’s shortcut way to describe the type of candidate they want. They want candidates who have either worked at certain companies OR graduated from certain schools. If you are looking for a job, be aware of this mentality. It doesn’t mean you will not get the job, it means that you need to overcome the hiring manager’s association. 

In technology recruiting, many times a company wants someone from Facebook/Meta, Apple, Amazon, Netflix (i.e., FAANG or MAANG). We have a client right now that gets real excited if a candidate has FAANG on their resume. 

I am guilty of this myself as a candidate. Years ago, I learned it was important to grow my career by working at Pepsi, Honeywell or GE. That’s what I did. I went to work for BIG companies and 6 corporate relocations later I learned that I didn’t want to work at a BIG company and I joined a start-up company called HireVue, which I enjoyed. 

I remember recruiting candidates back then and only looking at BIG company names. I look back and wonder how many great people I overlooked. Yes, there is great talent at FAANG and BIG companies but there are many smart and talented people who are working at FileVine in Lehi, Utah. I know because I hired a recruiter out of there a few years ago and she was incredible.

The same thing happens with colleges. No hiring managers say, “can you hire me someone out of Wayne State University?” 

Instead a hiring manager will say they want candidates out of Ivy League or BIG league schools like Ohio State University or Michigan State. PS - I used to work with a “stud executive” who was from The Ohio State University and he was a terrible leader and later fired. I have worked for and with great people too from Ivy League and Big League schools.

It comes down to your association with companies and schools. If you are associated with a great organization, chances are you will be sought after. If you are a recruiter or hiring manager do not get fooled into thinking everyone at your favorite associated company is great. Remember crypto scammer Sam Bankman-Fried? He went to MIT…

It's a false belief that all people out of the popular and successful companies and schools are good. Find out what people were hired to do, see if they did what they were hired to do. If you can find out if your future hire did what he/she was supposed to do at their last job, then you have won half the battle.

PS - If you know any senior level engineers with FAANG experience - I can get them an interview. Assuming they did what they were hired to do and our client finds what they do valuable.

Overheard at coffee ☕️

Over ten years ago the mother of all unicorns, Aileen Lee coined the phrase “unicorn” to describe US based start-ups valued at over $1B. Back in 2013 when she was starting her own VC firm, Cowboy Ventures she came up with this term.

In 2013, there were 39 venture backed Unicorn start-ups. Now that number is around 532 companies. 

Cowboy Ventures predicts the number of unicorn companies is expected to dwindle to 350 in the next couple of years. Being valued as a unicorn company is a special breed of companies and typically they all have one thing in common. $100M in ARR.

The next time someone throws around the phrase “unicorn”, you can credit Alieen Lee. At Ramp Talent we work with unicorn stage companies and here are few things they all have in common:

  • Chaos - Working with them is chaos, but they end up getting the job done.

  • Communication - it’s tough to find the decision maker at times. You have to break rules to meet with the key person in charge. 

  • Product - All unicorn companies have some type of awesome product everyone wants to use or buy.

Unicorn stage companies are not for everyone. That’s why they are rare. 

🚀 Let’s make cover letters great again, said no one ever…

While I don’t recommend spending a lot of time or money on a cover letter for a job because few hiring managers and recruiters read them there is a great GPT tool called Cover Letter for this.

No sponsor here but a great AI tool to help you craft the winning letter to get the job you are applying for. Get it!

🔥 Hot Jobs - $1K Referral Fee

  • LVT - LiveView Technologies (come build technology to decrease crime and make communities safer) - $1B Unicorn valuation

  • VP of Growth - CONFIDENTIAL SEARCH. Need DTC experience w/ growth stage startups. Must be in NYC or willing to relocate.

  • Proposal Coordinator at Westland Construction

  • Design Engineer with a focus on UI/UX at Canto Reality. Ideal candidates in the Palo Alto, CA area. Hybrid role.

  • Founding Backend Engineer at Mintlify - Hybrid in the San Francisco area.

  • Founding Full Stack Engineer at Paraform - Onsite in the San Francisco area.

  • New :

    • Product Marketing Executive (coming soon) - Remote role for a profitable Professional Learning company

    • Infosecurity Engineer at a robotics company (SLC based)

    • Director of Operations at Construction company (Park City based)

    • (coming soon) Sales Director at ecommerce company opening in SLC, Utah

Recruiting Fails: There are people working late nights writing cover letters. As a recruiter you should read them or click that button on your ATS that says cover letters are optional or not required.

Do you have recruiting Fail Stories? Reply with your epic fails – we'll feature them. Own your blunders, embrace vulnerability, and let's all level up together.

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Today’s email was brought to you by Ben Martinez and Nathan “misses Mountain Biking” Smith