3 ms·

I've occasionally taken to send out a 'nano' CV - with my contact details, a paragraph of text and 3 URLs. My Stackoverflow account, Github, and my tech blog.

by abulman 14y ago

I've occasionally taken to send out a 'nano' CV - with my contact details, a paragraph of text and 3 URLs. My Stackoverflow account, Github, and my tech blog. I've also been responsible for hiring developers over the last five years and if I saw something like that, and there was anything useful to see on those links, the person would be at the top of the shortlist. The only time I ever came close to it - I offered the guy a job within the first hour of meeting him. I've also worked with that guy again since then.

Peroni 14y ago
Absolutely spot on. Any hiring manager will have at least a dozen CV's in his inbox. Nano CV's take seconds to read and you are instantly made aware of the candidates ability plus it also gives an excellent indication of confidence in said ability which is a crucial factor in finding good people.
- zalew 14y ago
  There's a deep secret of HR most of us programmers don't know of or understand - CVs are often printed on paper and transfered to other desks by hand. While it'd be exciting for a nerd to receive, in a traditional HR dept such a 'nano-cv' or what you call it will quickly become a piece of garbage just as it hits the printer.
  - Peroni 14y ago
    To be fair, if you are applying to a HR contact, then traditional is the way to go. I'd only ever recommend the use of 'nano' CV's if you can directly contact the person who makes the final decision.
    - zalew 14y ago
      Let's be honest: that only can work for small startups ran by young technical people or very small software houses where the 3-5 employees are in one room next to each other. In any company where there's even a slight hint of a corporate structure, you have to provide just what they are asking for or you'll be that dude who sent us a cv with no cv on it. //edit: Actually, now I remember I was that guy many years ago. I was applying for a programmer at the tech dept of a publisher. Sent a very short cv with some basic data and a link to portfolio. The head of IT (actually a clueless older dude on sweatshop wage) came with a print, took a look at it very disappointed and said "that's the shortest cv I've received". And there wasn't even a laptop around to check my portfolio while speaking. From what I saw there I didn't want to work for them anyway, but it still proves my point.
    - kstenerud 14y ago
      Do a CV even if you're not applying to a HR contact. The CV has one purpose: To give the salient points of why you are the right person for the job. A good startup is absolutely swamped by resumes. The less I have to hunt around for info about you, the better (remember: I don't know you from crappy-developer-x. Make it easy for me to differentiate!). I want to know what skills you consider relevant to the job, and how proficient you are in them. I want to know where you've worked before, what you did, and for how long. I don't want a bunch of URLS I have to click through, then navigate a bunch of sites, only to discover that you're a web developer with no Objective-C experience applying for an iOS position. Once I have the essential info to decide that you at least have the basic skills for the job, THEN I want to see blogs, github accounts, etc.
aangjie 14y ago
OTOH, i have had phone screens, where the interviewer seemed to have no idea of what i have done or had asked questions that seem irrelevant if you visited some of the links in my profile. It's actually a weird feeling. if you ask me.
- spqr 14y ago
  It's almost as if the people interviewing you had a full time job before you came along! Is it possible that you really aren't the most important thing in their world!?
deleted 14y ago
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by abulman 14y ago

Peroni 14y ago

Absolutely spot on. Any hiring manager will have at least a dozen CV's in his inbox. Nano CV's take seconds to read and you are instantly made aware of the candidates ability plus it also gives an excellent indication of confidence in said ability which is a crucial factor in finding good people.

zalew 14y ago
There's a deep secret of HR most of us programmers don't know of or understand - CVs are often printed on paper and transfered to other desks by hand. While it'd be exciting for a nerd to receive, in a traditional HR dept such a 'nano-cv' or what you call it will quickly become a piece of garbage just as it hits the printer.
- Peroni 14y ago
  To be fair, if you are applying to a HR contact, then traditional is the way to go. I'd only ever recommend the use of 'nano' CV's if you can directly contact the person who makes the final decision.
  - zalew 14y ago
    Let's be honest: that only can work for small startups ran by young technical people or very small software houses where the 3-5 employees are in one room next to each other. In any company where there's even a slight hint of a corporate structure, you have to provide just what they are asking for or you'll be that dude who sent us a cv with no cv on it. //edit: Actually, now I remember I was that guy many years ago. I was applying for a programmer at the tech dept of a publisher. Sent a very short cv with some basic data and a link to portfolio. The head of IT (actually a clueless older dude on sweatshop wage) came with a print, took a look at it very disappointed and said "that's the shortest cv I've received". And there wasn't even a laptop around to check my portfolio while speaking. From what I saw there I didn't want to work for them anyway, but it still proves my point.
  - kstenerud 14y ago
    Do a CV even if you're not applying to a HR contact. The CV has one purpose: To give the salient points of why you are the right person for the job. A good startup is absolutely swamped by resumes. The less I have to hunt around for info about you, the better (remember: I don't know you from crappy-developer-x. Make it easy for me to differentiate!). I want to know what skills you consider relevant to the job, and how proficient you are in them. I want to know where you've worked before, what you did, and for how long. I don't want a bunch of URLS I have to click through, then navigate a bunch of sites, only to discover that you're a web developer with no Objective-C experience applying for an iOS position. Once I have the essential info to decide that you at least have the basic skills for the job, THEN I want to see blogs, github accounts, etc.

aangjie 14y ago

OTOH, i have had phone screens, where the interviewer seemed to have no idea of what i have done or had asked questions that seem irrelevant if you visited some of the links in my profile. It's actually a weird feeling. if you ask me.

spqr 14y ago
It's almost as if the people interviewing you had a full time job before you came along! Is it possible that you really aren't the most important thing in their world!?

deleted 14y ago

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