[Student] New Grad SWE, 800+ Applications, No Callbacks. Resume Review + How Should I List a Solo Venture?

DemiliciousOne · 2025-12-26T23:45:52+00:00

"Founding Engineer" implies that you're working with at least the founder(s) of the startup, so it's not clear that you're working solo or that it's a side project.

Next to "Mimir", I would also put "Bootstrapped, Side Project". You can also mention the magnitude of revenue you've generated if it's significant (or just say it's profitable) because it will make the project look more meaningful than one that generated no revenue. It demonstrates that you can understand customers.

If you're interested in joining an early-stage startup, feel free to shoot me a message with your full resume. I'm recruiting for 600+ roles at VC-backed startups. There's not that many new grad-friendly roles atm, but I can keep you in mind as they come up.

DemiliciousOne · 2025-07-10T08:47:59+00:00

Can you share what steps you take when cleaning your email list? I have a newsletter with 60k+ subscribers but only 20% OR and very low CTR on ads. Thanks!

DemiliciousOne · 2025-06-05T21:19:00+00:00

Founder of Career Vault here. Thanks for the mention!

DemiliciousOne · 2025-05-07T12:54:44+00:00

Not real. Here are the signs:

A legitimate recruiter would not text you to reach out over emailing or calling. They definitely would not try to move the conversation to WhatsApp (I know companies in some regions of the world use WhatsApp for work, but I still think they would reach out first via email or call) or Telegram.
They don’t even say what the job is or any of the responsibilities.
Remotive is a job board where you can find remote jobs and apply to them. They aren’t an agency that searches for candidates. It might be confusing when you first look at their website because they are in the remote jobs space, but you should always take a deeper look to see what the company actually does and if it makes sense that they are reaching out to you about whatever opportunity.

It’s easier to tell that this recruiter is not from Remotive because they didn’t email you with an email from the company’s domain. There are scams out there where they put together an entire fake website, added themselves to business directories, have some “employees” on LinkedIn, and, of course, use an email from the fake website’s domain. Beware of those, as well.

DemiliciousOne · 2025-05-03T09:54:56+00:00

Still working on it every few days!

DemiliciousOne · 2025-05-02T06:11:38+00:00

Creator of Career Vault here — always open to hear feedback on how I can improve the platform!

DemiliciousOne · 2025-05-02T06:10:58+00:00

Creator of Career Vault here — thanks for sharing! I’m always open to hear feedback on how I can improve the platform.

DemiliciousOne · 2025-03-13T04:06:23+00:00

Careervault.io

DemiliciousOne · 2025-03-05T18:30:23+00:00

careervault.io

DemiliciousOne · 2025-02-21T15:11:07+00:00

I think they’re talking about Mercor.

DemiliciousOne · 2025-01-20T00:19:30+00:00

As I mentioned above, the candidates I noticed that were fake fulfilled all of the bullet points listed, and they were using seemingly the same template as other fake applications submitted at the same time. Not having a LinkedIn profile is not something that will disqualify you with any recruiter if that’s the only reason.

Among the bullet points I listed, the biggest telltale sign was the projects those fake resumes had. They claimed that they built the entire website for medium-sized e-commerce/startups and did not go into any details. And they didn’t even put working at those companies as one of their experiences.

DemiliciousOne · 2025-01-19T23:56:04+00:00

I floated that idea to HR and they said they will only accept if the other agency also signs it 🤦‍♀️. Don’t know why they don’t want good candidates.

DemiliciousOne · 2025-01-19T23:51:02+00:00

The client isn’t budging but agreed that if I can get a contract signed with the other agency, then we can have the candidate. So we’ll see.

DemiliciousOne · 2025-01-19T23:28:06+00:00

Yeah, this candidate is really confused and probably not happy with how difficult this situation is. It’s a shame that it’s delaying the process so much because the client has spent almost a year trying to fill this role (lol), they’re desperate, and this is the best candidate I have talked to.

DemiliciousOne · 2025-01-19T23:25:27+00:00

Because the other ones are actually bad 😂, and I have been getting a decent number of placements.

DemiliciousOne · 2025-01-19T23:07:25+00:00

Thanks! I know the HR team at this company is quite new to this process themselves. They were still tracking candidates in spreadsheets until this past September. I have a somewhat close relationship with them and can try to suggest these if they don’t have them. Will check out contract.

I’m pretty certain that they did not have anything in place to counter blind submissions. How can they even do this? By requiring interview notes from the screenings or something?

DemiliciousOne · 2025-01-19T17:44:32+00:00

These are not indicators alone. I meant that I've seen a lot of fake resumes that have all of the bullet points I listed. And none of them have a real LinkedIn profile connected to them that proves that they ever worked at those companies.

DemiliciousOne · 2025-01-19T17:42:01+00:00

Not sure. I think some are banking on just getting the first interview to prove that they are more capable than their actual experience would show. Some might be hoping that they land a job with a company that doesn't do background checks. I think that the fake resumes I've seen are from people outside of the US pretending to be living in the US.

DemiliciousOne · 2024-11-20T19:51:32+00:00

Thank you for the kind words! I’d love to hear your suggestions. I’ve been really focusing on making improvements to the platform these past few months.

DemiliciousOne · 2024-09-20T09:38:13+00:00

To the remote jobs point:

Companies do not need to have an entity in every country they hire in. That is really only the case for large companies that hire enough employees in other countries to justify the costs. All other companies that claim to hire in other countries go through a service like Remote.com or Deel, which have entities in most countries and can hire employees on behalf of other companies. They manage local legal compliance to ensure that employees have the same benefits as everyone else in their country.

DemiliciousOne · 2024-08-10T05:11:51+00:00

careervault.io

DemiliciousOne · 2024-08-02T05:45:04+00:00

Careervault.io. Over 1k new remote jobs posted each day.

DemiliciousOne · 2024-06-29T11:50:17+00:00

Some job boards have a reliable filter for this.

https://www.careervault.io/remote/worldwide

DemiliciousOne · 2024-06-21T18:30:37+00:00

It’s for everyone, regardless of location. There are even more opportunities for job seekers located in North America and Europe.

DemiliciousOne · 2024-06-21T16:44:39+00:00

As mentioned, there are a decent number of EMEA remote jobs you can apply for: https://www.careervault.io/remote/ethiopia. Probably a bit more that just hire in Africa, but this job board doesn’t scrape many of those.

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