I met with a cool cat today for some coffee. We were introduced by Jason (check out this post), and talked about being a PM, what that means, how to represent oneself well on a resume, and the like.
I told him about a role we’re looking for that involves a lot of storytelling, and it made me realize how hard it is to represent storytelling as a thing on a resume.
I remember last year when I was hiring the first two folks that I found how I’d talk to pretty much every resume that came through just to get a read on whether I liked the person or not. I think the reason was as simple as I had no idea what to look for in a resume.
Since, I’ve realized that the value of a resume is mainly in understanding how people see themselves. When you challenge someone on a role that is labeled as Project Manager applying for a Product Manager job, then they can immediately bring up points that had nothing to do with moving a ticket between working and complete. And yet, they took a job called Project Manager, and didn’t think about the label that that put on them.
Byrne told me once that the role at TokBox let him re-establish how he marketed himself for the future. That’s a really forward looking approach to taking a step back, and then being able to jump into a gig knowing what you’re hoping it does for you.
In that regard, titles are really important regardless of what other folks in Silicon Valley may say. It has nothing to do with who you are, and yet everything to do with who you could end up being.
So back to the point – whether your resume says it or not, if you’re a great storyteller, who can speak developer, and help folks fall in love with a real-time communication platform, then let me know.
In search of storytellers 🙂