So You Want To Work at a Startup? Hone These 11 Soft Skills First.
“How do I get a job at a startup? What skills do they look for in an employee?”
These are probably the two most frequent questions I’m asked about my time at a startup. After spending my first ~3 years out of college working at a startup in New York City, I’m finally taking a step back to reflect and share my thoughts on what skills* are most helpful to hone and to have if you’re interested in working for a startup.
*Skills in this post only refer to “soft” skills, not technical or “hard” skills.
But let’s back up for a moment.
I joined Blue Apron in August of 2015, a time when the meal-kit startup was growing extremely quickly — at our peak adding 5 to 10 new corporate employees weekly, easily. Not to mention the thousands we were hiring at our fulfillment centers across the country. Needless to say, I had just stepped onto a rocketship headed straight for an IPO and all I was trying to do in those first few weeks was hold on.
By the time I left in mid-2018, I had successfully grown their online community over to two million people, created an internal project that morphed into the 2018 national TV campaign, and much more.
