How to get a Job at a Startup as a Student?
Short and sweet guide on getting a job at a startup 🙌
Before working on my own startup — I spent 4 months trying to apply for roles at startups. I tried cold emails, applying to an endless number of internships on job board and I didn’t get anything.
After speaking to founders, students at startups, recruiters and careers teams. I’ve come up with the best ways to get a job at a startup. This is so you don’t make the same mistakes as I did and have a better chance of succeeding.
The key point for everyone reading is that the criteria for getting a job at a startup is quasi-unpredictable. By this — it really depends on the individual company and the role.
Here are key things startups want to see:
- Demonstration of Intelligence
- Passion for the role/industry — you need to show this on LinkedIn or a personal website.
- Demonstration of the skills needed
- Company values & mission fit — this is something that may or may not be. 🤷♂️
The things listed below will help you demonstrate most of these factors above.
Attend Events
Startups often hold events — particularly consumer based startups which students have better sense of knowledge around.
Many software consumer startups host in person hackathons where sponsors, investors and recruiters all love to attend.
If you have a passion for a certain industry you should look at related events on ‘Eventbrite’. For example next week I am going to a Fintech related hackathon in the Web 3 space as this is something I want to learn more about.
Now if you are an aspiring Blockchain Dev — there’s a place where you can show off your skills and create warm connections with recruiters. Instead of sending a cold CV.
In Person Connection > Online Connection
After speaking to Taylor who is ‘Head of Community’ at Groove 💃🕺 — a co-working networking app. Events play a crucial role in finding your community. Taylor attended on-campus events and also started to help run different organization events. After she found her community, this lead her to a connection that got her a job working with Bestseller Author: Seth Godin.
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.” — Steve Jobs
Building a Skill + Personal Brand
These two things come hand in hand.
For example, if you are an aspiring UI designer — start creating projects on Figma and create a portfolio through dribbble.
It’s okay if you aren’t amazing at the start, you have to keep progressing and find fulfillment in what you are doing. If you find yourself still creating and maybe have started to get traction from it — well then you have found a passion. When you feel this, you must keep a hold of it. This is what gets you through all the up & downs of the job search.
Maybe your goal is to be a startup ‘Community Manager’, then make it clear on LinkedIn. Connect with community experts and ask them to share their journey to their current role. This will give you an indicator whether you are on the right path.
If you are student — join a society and apply to become the events manager at the society. Now every week, you can post about the events you help coordinate.
The purpose of this is one main thing: Social Proof. 🤝
When you have a digital footprint of your professional development — it gives recruiters more credibility into your ability.
Finally… Persistence
Whether you are applying for roles on job boards or sending messages to founders/recruiters. It will be likely that you get 200+ rejections but all it takes is one yes.
Keep applying for roles, getting feedback, making improvements and repeat. 💪
Quick Tip for DM’s: It’s expected when messaging startups to not get a response after the 1st time.
I spoke to the co-founder of Tuck: mobile marketplace that connects users with hospitality businesses. Dhruv said it took him 7 Facebook messages to get an interview at the first startup he worked at. He eventually got the role but could have turned to nothing if he stopped trying.
