Fast Company | Business + Innovation: When Shara Senderoff, CEO and cofounder of Intern Sushi, was a college sophomore, a hiring manager said there was no way she would land an internship with producer Scott Rudin.
She called before applying and had been told it would be impossible for her to beat out 600 other applicants. So she wrote a cover letter that included visuals and opened with: "I know you said you wouldn't look at this, but..."
7 comments:
David has been talking to us a lot in ptm professional practice about resumes and advertising ourselves, and what I've taken away thus far is that yes, our industry expects certain standard things (resume, cover letter, etc), but all bets are off if you can make it cool. Disney has been looking for infographic resumes lately. Video resumes are all over YouTube. It sounds like intern sushi could help this cause and help students stand out, but if we all start using It, won't it stop being exciting? Once it becomes the norm, it'll be as obsolete as resumes are now. That might just be the way the trend goes, but I will be interested to see if sites like this catch on more in the entertainment production industry.
I have questioned for a while the efficacy of resumes at conveying true potential and talent. It seems as though the system offers many ways to manipulate the process, and relatively few ways to verify the information within them. Similarly, vague words like “assistant” or “collaborator” can have a multitude of meanings, making one’s true qualifications even more of an enigma. I really applaud this effort at both simplifying and streamlining the process to better accomplish the end goal. This is a clear example of technological enhancement, the internet has created a platform by which in the same amount of time taken to review a resume, the employee can better display and employer better understand qualifications and talents. Similarly, it levels the playing field, as someone with only one credit but heavy involvement can display their work just as easily as someone with many smaller accomplishments. This project brilliantly makes the whole process user friendly, ultimately a benefit for all.
Maybe it's just because I hate writing cover letters, but I think Intern Sushi sounds like a fantastic idea. In an age of technology, the world is changing and conventional ways of applying for a job and showing a portfolio just aren't always cutting it anymore. I'm still skeptical about video resumes because they are either really effect or will completely ruin a person's chances at getting a job. I think Becca is right though, if Intern Sushi starts to become the norm it wont have as much effect when people apply for jobs. However, for the time being, I think it's a great idea, and eventually something else will come along that will be even cooler than this.
I think regardless of the medium it is hard to market yourself and boil yourself down to just a cover letter and a resume. I don't know that making videos or Intern Sushi will really make this process better (on another note intern Sushi has very few theater internships on it). You can't perfectly sum yourself up in words. It just can't be done, that is why most job hiring processes include an interview. I know of a couple companies that use hiring processes that incorporate everything from a Meyers Brigs test to asking you to do logic puzzles. This seems much more reasonable to me. That way they can see how someone thinks and makes decisions not just what they have done in the past. This should be more informative for a company, because it shows an employees thought process and not just experience.
I think technology is presenting a lot of interesting new takes on the resume. The reason the resume and cover letter are so tried and true is that they could be around before technology was really very accessible. IT's not hard to find a way to get your past work and accomplishments down onto a piece of paper. However, now, especially in the more creative industries, people are more receptive to a unique presentation of work. I have not yet looked at programs like Intern Sushi very closely, but, from what I have seen, the way it compiles what you enter in seems easy to read and aesthetically pleasing. I'm not sure if I wold ever use one of these programs, at least to bring and present at a job interview, but they would be an interesting project to try out for fun.
I watched a TEDTalk one time on academics and the speaker mentioned how a lot of times in schools nowadays, students are losing their creativity due to the structure they are put through in grade school. I think this method of "resumes" can coincide with this loss of creativity idea. Not everyone does well in school and so for some I agree it can be harder to find merit based internships. This form of resumes however seems to allow for a person's creativity to shine which could also showcase problem-solving skills and work ethic. I am definitely curious to see an example of an Intern Sushi resume.
I suppose if a resume is about making yourself stand out, this is definitely one way to do that! Everybody has a different working style, so I suppose different resume types work for different people. I find it interesting that this article heavily stresses that this is for interships. That being said, I question if this should just be limited to internships. I wonder if multimedia resumes will one day become standard in multiple fields.
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