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I Read 2,216 Resumes. Here’s How You Stand Out 🚀

2022-06-14 · Long video (solo, talking head or whiteboard) · Ali · recording, 29:31 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Work and career · mode: List of tips or lessons · tags: His own numbers, Lesson from a book, Sponsor segment present

Drawing on the thousands of applications his company has read, Ali gives tips for getting hired: take the third door with cold emails and DMs, make it easy to say yes, build a portfolio, keep the CV short, lead with value, go above and beyond, match the company's vibe, back up claims, write plainly, keep enthusiasm in check, check for typos, send a video, and do your current job really well.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — The third door: life and business are like a nightclub with three doors

  • ★★ Over the two years before this video Ali went through hundreds, if not thousands, of job applications, resumes and CVs for his company. — 00:00:00
  • ★★★ Ali says life and business are like a nightclub with three doors: besides the queue and the celebrities' back door, there is always a third door, sneaking in through the kitchen. — 00:00:29 · also in: I Asked 5 Millionaires for Their Best Financial Advice

00:01:05 — Slide into people's DMs: Angus's cold email

  • ★★★ Instead of only applying to advertised vacancies that match you perfectly, Ali advises cold-emailing or cold-DMing people and companies you might want to work for who may be looking to hire. — 00:01:05
  • ★ Ali shows the email Angus, now general manager of his company, sent him two years earlier. — 00:01:05 · Angus
  • ★★ Angus's email arrived just when Ali was thinking of hiring another writer. — 00:01:40 · Angus
  • ★★ Angus has been with Ali's business about two and a half years and risen to general manager, his dream job; Ali says at 25 or 26 he would not have it without that first cold email. — 00:02:09 · Angus
  • ★★ If a cold email gets no reply, Ali advises simply sending another, and another. — 00:02:09

00:02:38 — Be an opportunist: Elizabeth's Instagram DM

  • ★★ Elizabeth Filips started about two years earlier as Ali's personal assistant; she got the job by DMing him after an Instagram Live he did at one in the morning during lockdown. — 00:02:38 · Elizabeth, Instagram
  • ★★ Elizabeth Filips is no longer Ali's personal assistant: after two years with the company she has risen to help make the Part-Time YouTuber Academy the success it is. — 00:03:15 · Elizabeth, Part-Time YouTuber Academy
  • ★★ Many CEOs are hard to reach by email but have personal Instagram accounts; Ali advises following them, sliding into their DMs and finding the platform where few others vie for their attention. — 00:03:44 · Instagram
  • ★★ Elizabeth Filips made hiring her easy: she offered Ali a one-month trial and said he need not pay her if he did not like her work. — 00:03:44 · Elizabeth

00:04:04 — Make it easy for them to say yes; Naval's free month; hiring is hard

  • ★★★ Everyone Ali has hired through third-door channels made it super easy for him to say yes to giving them a shot; he advises making hiring you a no-brainer for the employer. — 00:04:22
  • ★★ Naval Ravikant (quoted): Naval Ravikant says that if he were broke in a new city he would build up a portfolio and offer to work for people for free for a month or several weeks. — 00:04:51 · Naval Ravikant
  • ★★ Ali only realised once he became an employer that hiring is really hard for companies, and that firing someone who does not work out is a nightmare. — 00:04:51

00:05:57 — Build a portfolio: Gordon, Jamie and Johnny Harris

  • ★★★ The work of getting a job starts before you apply, Ali says: build a portfolio of skills and assets that convinces the employer to take you on rather than another applicant. — 00:05:57
  • ★★ Ali's team hired Gordon as videographer after looking through 400 video applications and trialling about 15 people; his strong portfolio got him on the shortlist. — 00:05:57
  • ★★ Jamie was hired as a YouTube producer for Ali's team on the strength of his own YouTube channel and body of work. — 00:05:57
  • ★★ Johnny Harris was paid to make lots of things at an architecture regulation firm (as heard), experience that led to a job at Vox Media doing animation and journalism. — 00:06:27

00:06:56 — Sponsor read for 80,000 Hours

  • ★ Will MacAskill, co-founder of 80,000 Hours, will soon feature on Ali's Deep Dive podcast. — 00:07:55 · Deep Dive

00:08:53 — Keep it short: a one-page CV tailored to the job

  • ★★ Reading through hundreds of applications, Ali has no time for a six-page CV. — 00:08:53
  • ★★ Becky, now on the core team and leadership team of Ali's company, applied with a one-page CV, his example of a good one. — 00:08:53
  • ★★★ Ali advises against the scattergun approach of sending the same CV to 5,000 jobs: pick the jobs you really want and tailor the CV to each. — 00:09:38
  • ★★ Ali advises fitting a CV onto one page, two at the absolute most, cutting everything not relevant to the job. — 00:10:08

00:10:20 — Lead with value: bad and good cover letters

  • ★★★ In a job application, cold email or DM, Ali advises leading with value. — 00:10:20
  • ★★ An employer does not care why a job or internship would benefit the applicant, Ali says, only why it would benefit the employer. — 00:11:20
  • ★★ A cover letter need not be paragraphs like a personal statement, Ali says: it just needs to be clear, and can be a numbered list of reasons to hire you. — 00:12:05 · Personal statement

00:12:33 — Go above and beyond in your application: Ryan's video, a ghostwritten newsletter

  • ★★★ For a job you really want, Ali advises going above and beyond in the application, which really sets you apart from the crowd. — 00:12:33
  • ★★ Ryan was invited to a trial shoot day because, of 400 people who applied to be Ali's videographer, he was the only one who made a video. — 00:13:02
  • ★ Ryan's trial did not work out in the end: he lacked the experience Ali's team was looking for. — 00:13:02
  • ★★ One applicant for Ali's writer internship, unasked, ghostwrote an email newsletter in Ali's tone, an example of going above and beyond. — 00:13:49

00:14:48 — Understand the vibe: no "Dear hiring manager"

  • ★★ Ali advises really understanding the vibe of the people hiring you and passing their vibe check. — 00:14:48
  • ★★ Ali says the vibe of his company is the opposite of corporate. — 00:15:28
  • ★★ "To whom it may concern" is a red flag, Ali says: find out who will read your application and write "Hey Ali and team" instead. — 00:15:57

00:16:58 — Please don't bullshit: substantiate your claims

  • ★★★ Ali's message against buzzwords in applications: back up any claim you make with actual details of why you make it. — 00:18:05
  • ★★ Ali would much prefer an honest letter admitting a lack of experience and giving reasons to hire anyway; keeping it real is one of his company's values. — 00:18:34

00:19:05 — Write for clarity rather than impressiveness

  • ★★ In job applications people see through big words used to sound intelligent, Ali says, and nobody wants to read them. — 00:19:05
  • ★ George Orwell (quoted): George Orwell's writing advice: never use a big word when a shorter one would do. — 00:19:05
  • ★★ To learn to write conversationally, Ali advises following David Perell or Dickie Bush or reading On Writing Well. — 00:19:50

00:20:20 — Dial in your level of enthusiasm: Christian's advice

  • ★★ Christian (quoted): Christian, the first employee of Ali's company, advises getting to the point fast instead of writing thousands of words about how excited you are. — 00:20:20 · Christian
  • ★★ Christian (quoted): Christian would not hire someone who exudes enthusiasm like an excited child at Christmas, because he finds that tiring to engage with. — 00:20:50 · Christian
  • ★★ Christian (quoted): Christian suggests offering to help with the employer's side gigs even without full competence in them, and no "dear sir" or over-the-top praise. — 00:21:20 · Christian
  • ★★ Ali likes some enthusiasm: a good level is a line saying you love his content and have watched for years, followed by the reasons to hire you. — 00:21:20
  • ★★ Ali does not want to hire someone too much of a fan, which makes a weird power dynamic: he wants to hire people better at the job than he is. — 00:22:02

00:22:44 — Be paranoid: check for typos

  • ★★★ Ali advises checking an application for basic errors, for example by writing it in Google Docs, which flags typos, or with a free tool like Grammarly. — 00:23:12
  • ★★ Typos are a red flag, Ali says: a reviewer bins such an application, as it shows a lack of attention to detail. — 00:23:59

00:24:28 — Consider video applications

  • ★★★ Ali advises sending a short video with an application, a tip used by people he knows who got interesting jobs: record a Loom or phone video and upload it unlisted to YouTube. — 00:24:28
  • ★★ Of the thousands of applications to Ali's team, he thinks only three included a video: one from a videographer and two Looms. (hedged) — 00:24:58
  • ★★ Even for a traditional job such as law, Ali calls sending a video an absolutely underrated way to stand out. — 00:26:06

00:26:34 — Do the thing really well: references and A players

  • ★★★ Ali's final tip, which he calls a secret: whatever you are doing, do it really well, and you will probably never have to look for a job again. (hedged) — 00:26:34

  • ★★ Charlie Munger (quoted): Charlie Munger, from his time as a lawyer: the best source of legal work is the work already on your desk. — 00:26:34

    “the best source of legal work is the work that is already on your desk.”

  • ★★ A reference from a past employer that is not glowing is understood as code that the person was not very good, Ali says. — 00:27:32

  • ★★ Performing really well at your job naturally connects you with other very good people, Ali says: A players recognise each other, a virtuous cycle that brings job offers. — 00:28:17

00:29:05 — Side hustles as a plus for employers; end card

  • ★★ Ali says side hustles built in your own time show initiative and are a massive plus for basically every employer. — 00:29:05

In the description and comments

  • ★★ Ali Abdaal (channel): The channel says employers are careful never to say bad things in a reference call, which is why those ringing for a reference listen for anything short of a glowing recommendation. — creator comment
  • ★★ Ali Abdaal (channel): Asked about working for free for a month, the channel says it would help you stand out but is optional: there are plenty of ways to get a job without working for free. — creator comment
  • ★ Ali Abdaal (channel): Asked when Ali's skincare routine video is coming out, the channel answers that it is coming soon. — creator comment
  • ★ Ali Abdaal (channel): Asked whether Ali is involved in effective altruism, the channel says yes. — creator comment
  • ★ Ali's team has a few roles open at the time of this video. — video description

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: the third door (concept)

Also: People: Angus · Becky · Bill Gates · Charlie Munger · Christian · Dan (staff, mentioned from 2021) · David Perell · Dickie Bush · Elizabeth · George Orwell · Gordon · Jamie · Johnny Harris · Marques Brownlee · Naval Ravikant · Ryan · Steven Spielberg · Warren Buffett · William MacAskill

Projects: Deep Dive · Part-Time YouTuber Academy

Works: On Writing Well · The Almanack of Naval Ravikant

Organizations: 80,000 Hours · Instagram · Skillshare · Vox Media

Concepts: effective altruism · halo effect · Personal statement

Products: Google Docs · Grammarly · Loom

Only in the description or credits: The Third Door (book)

Also centred on the third door (concept): Smart Passive Income + The Third Door - Monthly Favourites #11 · I Asked 5 Millionaires for Their Best Financial Advice

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