I pitched myself to a startup and landed a role
I learned about Hudled through my friend. She sent me their job posting on Linkedin, encouraging me to apply. I dove deeper into the company and saw they built a product to manage SaaS subscriptions, went through the Antler accelerator, and closed seed funding with $640,000. They were looking for a content marketing hire and I was pretty keen to join the team.
Preparing for the interview
The process of job interviews is a laborious one. I didn’t want to get lost in the sea of applicants. Having done my fair share of interviews, I knew they were going to ask me the standard questions:
- Tell me about yourself.
- Why do you want to work here?
- What do you know about our company?
I dreaded memorising my answers and having to regurgitate them to the founders. I wanted to show I was capable of doing the work, but I knew the traditional interview format wouldn’t be strong enough to highlight that.
Making a lasting impression
How can I stand out? What do these founders care about? What are some things startup founders do? The concept of pitching sprung into my mind. Startup founders pitch regularly — what their problem is, how they’re solving it, why you should care.
I decided to speak their language and pitch myself — how I can add value to their company, how I can solve their problems, why they should care. I would be one step ahead, already answering the questions they’ve prepared.
The interview
As I suspected, the first question they asked was ‘Tell me about yourself.’ I whipped out my presentation, shared my screen, and told them to sit back for the next few minutes.
1. Cover Page
This is pretty standard: Name and logo.
2. Tell me about yourself
I talked about my past experience, the work I did, and how it was transferrable to the role.
3. What do you know about Hudled?
I did my research, pooling together all the information I had read from news articles, LinkedIn, and their website.
4. Why do you want to work at Hudled?
Three’s a magic number. I made sure my reasons were clear and concise.
5. Why should we hire you?
I talked about my professional achievements that made the most tangible impacts.
6. What I would do at Hudled if I started today
This slide was the hook. It showed how I thought, my skills, and what value I could bring to the company.
7. Outside of work
In a limited amount of time, I also wanted them to get a better sense of who I was. I highlighted some hobbies and interests outside of work.
8. Thank you!
It worked! I got a call from Hudled to say that I will be starting with them this June. The next time you’re applying for a new role or going for that startup job, try this approach! You may end up getting the yes.
If you have any questions and wanted to chat, feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn, inbox always open!
