My name is Andy, and I was recently laid off. Awesome.
In the days following the most scripted meeting in the world, I sent out 41 applications. I was feeling pretty confident in my outreach - there was a TON of turmoil at my previous company, so I had kept my resume up to date and periodically sent it through ATS checkers.
What I refused to believe at the time, was nobody wants to hire the mullet-guy.
For years, I've been of the mind that any company that hires me for me will be participating in a much more comfortable and sustainable relationship. Or at least it would if I didn't unironically like the 80s Mullet/Mustache combo, and scare away all my potential employers.
I flew too close to the sun. It turns out leaning too far into a theme verges on "weird and unprofessional." I imagine the people who took their time responding were probably passing around my resume picture to poke fun (it was totally warranted though - I may as well have sent along headshots for Senior Engineering positions).
The "No" emails started to arrive in droves over the next week, and I pretty quickly fell back down into that familiar pit of despair.
As it happens, I'm not the only one to go through "organizational changes," and neither are you if that's why you're here.
A couple of dudes - who seem pretty cool by the way - used to be fancy recruiters for some of the bigger tech companies; Apple, Amazon, Facebook, etc.
Well one of them posted on reddit offering some general advice on how to make your resume more attractive to employers without making up positions like Senior Executive Engineering Principal at Fry's Electronics (R.I.P. Fry's).
In the 6 years it's been since that original post, they've helped thousands and thousands of people - in the 2 minutes I took to grab a copy of their template, I saw 16-17 other active viewers.
Also in that 6 years, Colin started a bedding company and seems to be super busy with it. Despite the hectic schedule, he routinely makes himself available for 1-on-1 consults and has helped TONS of people land jobs across the world.
Nate started a software design studio way back, Sidebench. He's got a crazy work ethic and is still clocking in for another 9-5 while offering his insight and interpretive abilities to job seekers. Nate is actually the guy that first hired Colin, two separate times.
Thousands of people every month go and visit their brainchild, SheetsResume.com.
I found Colin's original post on Reddit before finding his website and 1-on-1 services. As quickly as I could, I slapped together a new resume using his template, and sent it off to each recipient of the next round of applications, and within DAYS I was still unemployed, but much happier with the quailty of my resume.
My resume is now being viewed 2, 3 times by many of these places - I'm still in the running for multiple Senior positions, wheras before I'd get that "thanks, but no thanks" email. I attribute the turn around in positive attention to Colin and Nate's blog posts and to a redesign of my portfolio, to match my newfound professionalism.
It's not all sunshine and rainbows, there was a painful but fully expected penalty due immediately - the mullet has joined it's fallen comrades; socks with man sandals, and way-above-the-knee denim dad shorts.
I'm still of the mind that a company that hires me for me will ultimately end up with both of us happier for longer, but I've realized I need to keep some of the more egregious quirks in check, until they make an offer at least.
