I got rejected from 50 jobs. Then I deleted everything on my resume except one story — and the callbacks started.

Description and use

<p>For about two months, the first thing I did every morning was refresh an inbox, looking for a word that wasn't there.</p> <p>"Unfortunately." "We've decided to move forward with other candidates." "While your background is impressive." I could recite the rejection template from memory because I'd received roughly fifty versions of it. Some took three weeks. Some took an automated four minutes. A few never came at all, which is somehow the worst one.</p> <p>And every time, I did the same thing: I opened my resume and made it <em>more</em>. Added the side project I'd shipped that weekend. Add

Problem

<p>For about two months, the first thing I did every morning was refresh an inbox, looking for a word that wasn't there.</p> <p>"Unfortunately." "We've decided to move forward with other candidates." "While your background is impressive." I could recite the rejection template from memory because I'd received roughly fifty versions of it. Some took three weeks. Some took an automated four minutes. A few never came at all, which is somehow the worst one.</p> <p>And every time, I did the same thing: I opened my resume and made it <em>more</em>. Added the side project I'd shipped that weekend. Add

Outcome

<p>For about two months, the first thing I did every morning was refresh an inbox, looking for a word that wasn't there.</p> <p>"Unfortunately." "We've decided to move forward with other candidates." "While your background is impressive." I could recite the rejection template from memory because I'd received roughly fifty versions of it. Some took three weeks. Some took an automated four minutes. A few never came at all, which is somehow the worst one.</p> <p>And every time, I did the same thing: I opened my resume and made it <em>more</em>. Added the side project I'd shipped that weekend. Add

Evidence

I got rejected from 50 jobs. Then I deleted everything on my resume except one story — and the callbacks started.

Source