Career Tips from a Hiring Manager @ Lime
All of my prior experience was in startups. I worked on building my own startup, helped my Dad with his sports memorabilia company, competed across the world in entrepreneurship programs, and have continued to mentor startups.
Trying to jump ship to a formal job was a frustrating process to start, but once I figured out how the process worked, the offer letters started flying in. My goal is to give you some tips about the job process that will help accelerate your growth, as well as give you inside tips into what I look for as a hiring manager at Lime.
Cast Your Net Wide
When I first started the job search I was far too specific. I set out to become a venture capitalist as an associate. This is one of the hardest industries to break into, I had little operating experience and needed more knowledge on term sheets, deal-flow, and other finance-related activities. After about two weeks of realizing this could be a nice end goal — which I could work towards — I decided to start applying to anything and everything that interested me.
Consulting firms, marketing, business development, partnerships, account executive, sales development, and customer success roles. This not only helped me decide what I like and dislike but gave me options. Options are a nice ego boost to your morale and give you leverage in the job search.
After I started casting my net wide I had 6 job offers within six weeks all within the Bay Area, which, to me, is the hardest place in the world to start your career.
Overall tips
- Be specific, yet open-minded
- Keep hustling and accept that companies have very specific needs
Make Your Resume Stand Out
The first thing I look at is the level of effort put into your resume. If you do not put effort into getting hired it likely will translate to a lack of effort once we hire you.
- Did you take the time to format?
- Did you put effort into a design?
- Did you quantify your work so we can understand how well you actually contributed?
- Did you highlight your skillset either via a blurb at the top or bolding certain text
I read through resumes quickly. If you catch my attention, I go into more detail and pass it along to a recruiter.
Overall tips
- You don’t have to use an image but I did. Can cause problems with HR so I took a risk
- The design really stands out for me and how you organize your life story onto one page
Know the Role and Hiring Manager
Before applying to a company I would put together a one-page brief on their mission, funding stage, team and size, PR about the company, and what their current needs are.
When applying I would reach out to ask questions to someone on the team. Now I have help, a referral, and a friend :).
If you receive the interview, research the person you will be speaking with so you have talking points and can relatable. If they play soccer, talk about soccer. If they love eating ramen, talk about your love for food. Be human. Teams thrive on culture fit and skills can easily be acquired in the process.
Overall tips
- Hiring managers have a lot on their plate, meaning, please be patient
- Don’t go overboard and relate on every point. You are allowed and encouraged to showcase your unique self
Have your 90 to 120-Second Pitch Ready
One of the most common questions any recruiter will ask you at the start of the call is “Tell me about yourself.” Here is my direct response so that you have a basis point:
“I promise this will be the longest answer I give and I am happy to go into more details about certain points after. Since I was 2 years old I have been a type 1 diabetic, which helps define who I am and peaks my interest in social impact. Going into high school I was an athlete, broke the growth plate in both of my knees three months apart, and my athletic career ended right there. Still being competitive, I decided to give eSports a try. Within 4 years I had won 6 MLG season brackets ranging from 5,000 to 60,000 teams. Going into college I became interested in entrepreneurship after working with my Dad on his sports memorabilia company. From a business development perspective, I helped him 20x [redacted] his business. This led me to Babson College where I lived in eTower, which housed the top 21 entrepreneurs on campus and alumni have raised $500m over 15 years. In the summer of 2016, I took part in a Babson summer program in San Francisco. After demo day I was invited as the youngest Hive Global Leader and was welcomed back to be a group leader 3 times. I represented Babson as a whole at the Forbes conference and got the school 45 free tickets. A month later my startup formed a six-month partnership with Microsoft. In the spring I was selected out of 6000 people, went to Brisbane, Australia for the MIT Global Entrepreneurship Bootcamp, worked 101 hours over 5 days and won the event. I moved back to San Francisco in June of 2017 and worked on my own startup. In April of 2018, I decided I wanted a change and here I am :).
Overall tips
- I wanted to be vulnerable to show that I am human
- This was not scripted and was all natural for me — it’s easy to catch if you script this
- Highlight and quantify your experience. I chose to pick a few key moments from when I was younger and then hone in on my college experience since I am one year out of school
How to Follow up After the Phone Screen
- Be persistent and patient. Not a nuisance.
- Provide real value to the people you talk to. In Silicon Valley value creation is crucial. Prove your worth and show what you can do.
- Be a hustler. Never give up. Find a way.
- Always follow-up to say thank you after every conversation via email.
If I Were Searching for a Job
- Utilize your network. Warm introductions are everything in Silicon Valley. When a person that is trusted introduces you, there is a higher chance person you wish to speak with take the time to chat.
- Talk to people at the company. Message them on LinkedIn, hop on a call, and do whatever it takes to learn more about the company — and now you have a reference if you do well.
- Your resume is the foot in the door. Once you use your resume to understand what career to go after, you will complete phone screens and on-sites where you cover your experience. Make sure it relates to the position! I mention this again because your resume is the base and your conversations and ability to perform are what will get you hired.
- Keep relationships warm and stay in touch. Do not talk to someone one time, gain value, and never talk to them again. Find ways to create value for the other party and frequently stay in touch. Even if it is a “Hey, was thinking of you and hope you are well” or sending them an article they might be interested in.
If you want any tips: brendanbarbato@gmail.com
About the author: Northeast Marketing Manager at Lime, took a small family business from $50k to $1m in revenue in 3 years, have a failed startup under my belt (lot’s of lessons), winner of the MIT Global Entrepreneurship Bootcamp, Babson College ’17 graduate who lived in eTower (houses top 21 entrepreneurs on campus, alumni have raised $500m), partnered my startup with Microsoft while in school, Kairos and Forbes fellow, and played competitive Call of Duty in high school and led my team to six championships.
