Getting A Startup Job In The Tech Market

Today’s emerging markets center around evolving technology, and forward thinking entrepreneurs are translating new technologies into marketable businesses. Over the last decade, technology improvements have surpassed all technology up to this point. Case in point: it wasn’t that long ago that social media giant Facebook was a startup, and now, it’s not only a social platform but a major advertising funnel.

Entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg are paving the way and pushing the boundaries of technological interaction. More companies are looking for unique ways to solve problems, and investors around the world are backing those ideas financially.

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The Startup Culture

As more startups appear, more and more job seekers realize the potential for working for them. The startup culture alone has attracted the masses. To get a feel for what we mean, consider the most popular tech startups in the world. Google offers free lunch, nap rooms, slides, scooters, and more across its global campuses, all in the name of keeping employees happy in the workplace. And Asana (a project management software company developed by two former Facebook engineers) takes a full week off to invite all employees to participate in planning the new year’s company goals and allows even junior team members to take ownership of important projects.

Startups foster collaboration, creativity, and communication, and so it’s no wonder more people are looking for tech startup jobs. Fortunately, you don’t have to be a technology whiz to work for a tech startup. While it’s important to be passionate about the product and technology, these startups require all types of roles, from dedicated sales teams to word-savvy marketers.

Designing Your Resume For A Startup

When applying to a tech startup, understand that it’s not your average corporate job. Startups expect you to be able to juggle multiple responsibilities and projects and to be able to come up with creative ideas for solving problems. Within the tech market, there’s little room for idle work. Don’t expect to show up at the job and always be told what to do; in a startup role, you have to be able to determine the best way of achieving company goals and getting things done. As a result, your resume should reflect that your proactive nature. So, when you write a resume, make sure it reflects all of this.

Your resume is the first impression you give a company. For this reason, it should be well-designed and well-written. It’s best to review resume samples for examples of clean and well-organized documents. Doing this research will also save you the time of having to design a resume from scratch.

Startups also expect you to demonstrate your entrepreneurial spirit. You can achieve this by identifying the results your work produced, and not just listing your tasks. By quantifying your experience, you help tech startups understand exactly what your achievements were and what you’d bring to the table in a new role. For example, if you were previously the Marketing Assistant at another company, a quantifiable achievement might be “rewrote web copy and improved landing page views by 28%.”

What To Know About The Hiring Process

Many job seekers make the false assumption that getting a job at a startup will be easier than landing a corporate job, but this simply isn’t the case. Startups typically have strict budgets and do not make swift hiring decisions. Many will continue to interview until they find the right candidate, caring less about filling a role than finding the right person.

[pullquote]Because teams at startups are typically small, a single person can wear many hats.[/pullquote] They are looking for candidates who can grow with the organization and help shape the company’s future. Therefore, hiring decisions are carefully calculated. Not only are they seeking professional experience and passion, but the ability to help a business become profitable. On the flip side, applicants should be prepared for the responsibility that comes with being employed by a growing startup. These jobs often aren’t your typical nine-to-five roles, but the results can be extremely rewarding. If the startup does well, early employees often receive the best benefits and are the first to own stock and equity in the company.

Startup Research

Before you join any company, you should do your research. However, pre-interview startup research requires a different approach than research on an established company. Investigate the startup team, any previous startups they have held, and the company’s funding efforts.

Start by researching the founders and CEO. Check out their LinkedIn, CrunchBase, and AngelList profiles, which will tell you if they’ve raised any money, and who their investors are, if any. It will also provide insight into the direction they’re headed. Armed with this information, you can tailor your questions for the company based on what you’ve learned and want to know.

If you are interested in even more job-related stories and information from us here at Bit Rebels then we have a lot to choose from.

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